Nongshim RedForce Release Its Entire LoL Roster

Korean esports team Nongshim RedForce announced on Tuesday, November 22, the departure of the entire LoL roster. The list of departees includes all five players, as well as coach Lim “Comet” Hye-seong, who will enter free agency.

The 2022 League of Legends offseason has only just begun, and it has already seen a plethora of unexpected roster changes. While the League of Legends European Championship (LEC) and League of Legends Championship (LCS) have tier own exciting storylines, those hardly compare to Asian regions.

In one of the most recent developments, Nongshim RedForce shocked the LoL esports scene with the announcement that the team is parting ways with its entire Lol division. The decision sees Gwak “Bdd” Bo-seong, Kim “Canna” Chang-dong, Lee “Dread” Jin-hyeok, Jang “Ghost” Yong-jun, Lee “Effort” Sang-ho, and No “SnowFlower” Hoi-jong all leave the team and enter free agency.

Besides releasing all five of its players, Nongshim RedForce also decided to cut ties with coach Comet after one year.

The recent actions make it clear that Nongshim RedForce is looking to build its 2023 roster from scratch, which was made possible due to a plethora of LCK and LoL Pro League (LPL) players leaving their teams ahead of the next season. And while a shock announcement, seeing Nongshim RedForce looking for a fresh start makes a lot of sense, given the team’s lack of success in 2022.

Nongshim RedForce first entered the LoL scene in 2021 as a new team that was set to challenge LCK’s top squads. And even though Nongshim RedForce got off to a solid start to their campaign – claiming silver from KeSPA Cup 2021 – the team failed to achieve much in the domestic league.

In the first season, Nongshim RedForce placed sixth in the LCK 2021 Spring regular season, only to crash out from the LCK 2021 Spring Playoffs in the first round. However, things looked up in the summer split, when Nongshim RedForce finished the regular season in third place, yet again failed to win the title, ending the playoffs in fourth, before ending the Regional Finals in third place.

For the 2022 season, RedForce rebuilt its roster in hopes of achieving more success, but the team failed to reach new heights. In LCK 2022 Spring, RedForce managed a disappointing 5-13 record, which was good for an eighth-place finish.

Things didn’t improve in the final split of the season, as RedForce recreated their 5-13 record, again finishing in eighth place. As a result, the Korean LoL team missed out on both playoffs, thus ending another season without a fair chance to compete for the LCK trophy.

The team’s showings in 2022 were highly disappointing, not only because RedForce didn’t show up but mainly due to the high expectation that was put on the team. Ahead of the 2022 season, RedForce signed star players in Bdd and former world champion Ghost, yet despite fielding one of the most stacked rosters in the region, RedForce fell flat.

It’s currently unclear what Nongshim RedForce’s plans for the future are. The organization currently has no active members in its LoL division besides head coach Heo “Irean” Yeong-cheol and coach Shin “Coco” Jin-yeong, who will seemingly remain with the team heading into the 2023 season.

But while RedForce now has its hands full, assembling a new lineup, the Korean organization likely won’t struggle too much to fill in the gaps. This offseason has seen many of the region’s top players leave their teams and enter free agency, which includes the entire DRX roster, who recently won the LoL World Championship.

Despite the uncertainty of RedForce’s 2023 roster, we should get more information on which path the team will take in the coming days.