Ceros Announces Retirement From Professional League

Kyohei “Ceros” Yoshida, a long-time League of Legends mid laner for DetonatioN FocuMe, has announced he is retiring from professional play. The announcement surfaced on Sunday, February 6, when Ceros officially ended his nine-year career.

Ceros has become one of the most popular League of Legends esports players in the Japanese scene. He first entered the professional LoL scene in April 2013, when he joined DetonatioN FocusMe as a mid laner and has remained with the organization ever since.

Over the nine years, Ceros helped DetonatiN FocusMe establish itself as one of the most successful Japanese LoL esports organizations. With the team, he won nine LJL titles and qualified for two LoL World Championships in 2018 and 2019.

But after nine years, Ceros decided to hang up his mouse and keyboard, officially retiring from professional play. However, while Ceros will no longer be entering the Rift, he will remain involved with DetonatioN Focus Me as a coaching staff member.

“To be frank, I have decided not to register as a player for this upcoming LJL split,” said Ceros.

“I have retired as a player and will be involved with the team as a coach. In 2013, FocusMe, which was an amateur team, joined DetonatioN Gaming, and that’s when DFM started working as a professional team.

“That was in 2013, so it’s been nine years. I’ve been active until today. I believe the reason I have been able to be active for so long is because of all the people involved with the team, LJL, and all the fans who have supported us. So I’m really grateful for that.”

Ceros has noted that while he has been a substitute player for DetonatioN Focus me since the arrival of Lee “Aria” Ga-eul last year; he has been already acting as a coach. And even though Aria ended up leaving the team to join KT Rolster, Ceros decided against re-entering the active lineup and will instead continue to serve as a member of DetonatioN FocusMe’s coaching staff.

DetonatioN FocusMe was one of Japan’s first LoL esports teams and served a crucial role in the foundation of the Japanese LoL League. DFM publicized the game in the country and was also the first Japanese team to appear in an international event, namely the Intel Extreme Masters.

Since Ceros joined DFM, the team started reaching new heights and quickly established itself as the strongest LJL LoL team in history. Over the nine years, Ceros has achieved more than any other Japanese LoL player, including nine LJL titles, three LoL Worlds appearances, two Mid-Season Invitational appearances, and a title of the 2017 Rift Rivals champion.

“I have a strong attachment to DFM, and I want DFM to be the team that wins the LJL and be successful in international tournaments,” said Cero.

“Up until now, my priority has been the results in the competitive scene, and to be honest, I haven’t been too enthusiastic about fan exposure or fanservice. I feel pretty bad about that, but when I was a player, I always tried to put the results first.”

Even though Ceros will no longer play for DFM, he will continue helping the team alongside coach Kazuta “Kazu” Suzuki and analyst Haruhiko “Gismo” Aoki.

Ceros will make his debut as a coach of DFM on Friday, February 11, in the opening round of the LJL 2022 Spring. DFM will play their first match of the 2022 season against Rascal Jester at 18:00 local time (JST) when the team will showcase their new roster.

Most notably, DetonatioN FocusMe signed a new mid laner Lee “Yaharong” Chan-ju, who joined the team last month from Fredit BRION as a replacement for Aria.