After arriving in the LCS in December 2016, popular support Kim “Olleh” Joo-sung said today that he’s returning to Korea. The 25-year-old is most known for his support play on the championship-winning roster of Team Liquid, but he’s moved to coaching as of late.
Olleh played in multiple regions around the world—including the LCK, CBLOL, and LMS—before finding his way to the LCS. He was first acquired by Immortals in 2017 to round out its roster that included veteran NA players Dardoch, Pobelter, and Cody Sun.
I decide to go back to Korea.
I got everything I wanted in USA.
Thank you for everything.— Olleh (@Olleh) June 24, 2020
After Immortals failed to win a championship, the organization was denied entry into the league via franchising and dropped out of professional League of Legends. Olleh signed with Team Liquid at the end of 2017, becoming the final piece of a star-studded roster that featured Doublelift, Impact, Xmithie, and Pobelter.
In the Spring Split Immortals was for the most part a middle of the pack team. Although they showed promise they could never break into the Top 3. The team finished in 7th place, barely missing out on the playoffs. In the Summer Split after bringing in SSONG as their new coach, Immortals’ performance turned around completely and they stayed in the Top 3 throughout the whole regular split. Olleh was praised for his improved play and synergy with his AD Carry Cody Sun.
The team finished the regular season in 2nd place with a 14-4 record with Olleh receiving the Summer Split All-Pro Support award. Their performance in the Summer Playoffs was also excellent as they took down Counter Logic Gaming 3-0 in the semifinals and became the first team in NA LCS history since 2013 outside of CLG, TSM and C9 to reach the finals.
Despite their accomplishment however, they were defeated 1-3 by TSM in the finals and finished 2nd place. Despite the loss they still managed to qualify for the 2017 Season World Championship via championship points. At Worlds Immortals was seeded in Group B along with Longzhu Gaming, Fnatic and GIGABYTE Marines. Despite a good 2-1 start in Week 1 they couldn’t follow up on it in Week 2 and went 0-3. Having to play a tiebreaker in order to advance forward, Immortals faced Fnatic and lost the game which knocked them out of Worlds. Olleh left Immortals in November of 2017 after the team was not accepted in the newly franchised NA LCS.
He then joined Team Liquid within the same month. That roster ended up winning both splits in NA in 2018. But after a poor showing at that year’s World Championship, Olleh was eventually replaced by star Korean support Jo “CoreJJ” Yong-in.
Although Liquid continued to dominate the LCS throughout 2019, Olleh ended up with Golden Guardians for the year. The team failed to accomplish much that year, however, and he was later dropped by the organization.
Olleh has played a bit for Dignitas’ Academy roster but recently became a positional coach for the team at the start of June. Although it’s unknown if he’ll try playing professionally again or remain a coach, the support is leaving behind a good legacy for North American fans to remember.
