Korean representatives for Masters Reykjavik, NUTURN, make the first change since their inception seven months ago.
NUTURN player Kim “Lakia” Jong-min has stated on Twitter that he would be leaving the team in a post on July 1st, 2021. The departure comes as a surprise to the community considering the 20-year-old was NUTURN’s finest performer during their run in Masters Reykjavik. Lakia put on a show against the likes of Sentinels, fnatic, and other top teams, finishing with the 9th highest Average Combat Score (ACS) in the whole tournament.
A veteran of Korean FPS and captain of NUTURN, Kang “solo” Keun-chul, was the first to reveal that Jin-Woo “10X” Choi would be Lakia’s successor on the team. In the same tweet, ‘solo’ also expressed his intention to continue playing with the lineup for the foreseeable future, thus ruling out the idea of him retiring soon.
While the squad did not have much success during the VCT 2021 Korea Stage 1 Challengers 1, they soon established themselves as one of South Korea’s emerging giants in the following Challengers, placing second in the VCT 2021 Korea 1 Masters, falling short of Lakia’s previous team, Vision Strikers.
More recently, the squad beat Vision Strikers in the semi-finals of the VCT Korea – Stage 2 Challengers, winning the overall event to represent Korea at the VCT Stage 2 – Masters Reykjavik. In the most prestigious VALORANT tournament to date, Lakia led the Korean side’s scoreboard in three out of four appearances versus Version1, Sentinels, and fnatic.
“My journey with NUTURN has come to a close today. To NUTURN Gaming, who gifted me such wonderful memories and experiences, I express my perpetual gratitude and with them the luck in the future. Regarding the next chapter of my career, I will return with some exciting news soon.”
– Kim “Lakia” Jong-min stated on his official Twitter account.
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Meanwhile, Lakia’s replacement, Choi “10X” Jin-woo, is an ex-player from T1 Korea and Rio Company. The 24-year-old also competed professionally in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive under the MxM banner. He was most recently seen competing in the VCT 2021 Stage 2 Challengers Korea, where he finished 3-4th with Rio Company.
NUTURN’s first showing with the new roster will be in the VCT Stage 3 Challengers 1, which is set to kick off on July 2nd.
With the departure of Lakia and the arrival of 10X, NUTURN will have the following lineup going forward:
- 🇰🇷 Choi “10X” Jin-woo
- 🇰🇷 Park “allow” Sang-wook
- 🇰🇷 Seo “Suggest” Jae-young
- 🇰🇷 Jung “peri” Bum-ki
- 🇰🇷 Kang “solo” Geun-chul
- 🇰🇷 Jeong “Jaemin” Jae-min (Coach)
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Cover photo courtesy of Colin Young-Wolff/Riot Games
