Rookie Joins Victory Five

The former League of Legends world champion, Song “Rookie” Eui-jin has officially joined Victory Five. The news surfaced on Wednesday, December 22, confirming the 24-year-old mid laner’s new home for the 2022 season.

The 24-year-old made his debut in the League of Legends esports scene in October 2013, when he joined KT Rolster Arrows in the Korean league. After a year, Rookie moved to the League of Legends Pro League (LPL), where he joined Invictus Gaming.

Rookie arrived at Invictus Gaming in December 2014 and has remained with the Chinese organization since. Over his seven-year tenure with IG, Rookie has established himself as the key player of the team.

Most notably, Rookie helped IG win the 2018 LoL World Championship, won the LPL 2019 Summer and two NEST tournaments in 2016 and 2017. Unfortunately, Rookie’s tenure with IG came to an end after the team opted for a complete roster rebuild.

The roster shuffle follows the team’s disappointing performances in the 2021 season, marking IG’s worst season to date. The former world champions failed to qualify for the LoL Worlds and missed out on the LPL 2021 Summer playoffs, finishing the regular season in 13th place.

The roster overhaul saw IG part ways with most of its core players. That includes top laner Kang “TheShy” Seung-lok, jungler Gao “Ning” Zhen-Ning, support Wang “Baolan” Liu-Yi, and ADCs Zhang “Wink” Rui and Ding “Puff” Wang.

Rookie was initially rumored to remain with Invictus Gaming. His contract ran out at the start of the month, and while IG was negotiating an extension, the deal didn’t come through.

Rookie left Invictus Gaming on December 3 and needed just three weeks to find a new home at Victory Five.

Victory Five enter the 2022 season with an entirely new lineup, having rebuilt its roster following humiliating showings in 2021. After placing top-five in 2020, Victory Five fell on hard times in 2021, ranking 12th in the LPL Spring and 17th in the LPL Summer.

The lack of success led V5 to release all of its players and start from scratch. And it soon became clear that the Chinese squad meant business.

The first addition to the team got announced on December 13, when V5 revealed the return of support Guo “ppgod” Peng. Just a day later, V5 started filling in the missing gaps with jungler Hung “Karsa” Hao-Hsuan and ADC Ying “Photic” Qi-Shen, with the second jungler, Li “XLB” Xiao-Long joining the team on December 15.

Since adding XLB, Victory Five stayed quiet until this Wednesday, when the Chinese esports organization announced the addition of Rookie. The 24-year-old mid laner joins V5 as the fourth signing of the offseason and the fifth member of V5’s 2022 roster.

With the addition of Rookie, Victory Five are now missing only a top laner to complete its 2022 lineup. Although several rumors are floating around about which player V5 will pick up, the team has yet to announce who that might be.

Victory Five’s decision to replace its entire roster for the 2022 season comes as no surprise. Not only have V5 struggled to achieve much in 2021, but the organization is also set for a major overhaul.

As already announced in the August season, Victory Five will no longer operate under its current name but rebrand to Ninjas in Pyjamas. The Swedish esports organization has already confirmed a deal with the Chinese team to take over the brand and compete in the LPL.

It will mark Ninjas in Pyjamas’ first appearance in the League of Legends scene since 2018 when NiP competed in the Nordic Championship.