Under the new single team per organisation ruling in KR, several players were left without a choice but to not renew their contracts with organizations in fear of not end up playing because their peers were considered "better than them". In some cases, the organizations chose specific players over others. This is how the Huya Tigers were formed at the beginning of the year. Formed by 4 former Najin members and 1 IM member, the KOO tigers took OGN by storm and were capable of reaching the finals in spring and semis in summer to secure themselves enough circuit points to go to Worlds (unless KT Rolster were to win the summer split of the LCK).

Top - Song “Smeb” Kyung-ho

Never really amounting to anything more than a strong Riven player, Smeb had a lot of question marks surrounding him during the early parts of the spring split. His performances on his previous team (Incredible Miracle) were by no means spectacular and left us all with the image of a mediocre top laner. That view of Smeb that KR LoL fans had changed drastically and fairly quickly. Smeb was decimating competition left and right during the first weeks of spring on whatever he played. From a one-trick Riven pony to one of the best Rumble and Lulu players, Smeb was demonstrating not only his skills, but also his versatility as he could play mages, tanks and even supportive champions in the top lane. In fact, one of the reasons the infamous JuggerMaw compesitions got popular was because of how well KOO (specifically Smeb and PraY) played with Lulu and Kog'Maw.

Jungle - Lee “Hojin” Ho-jin / Kim “Wisdom” Tae-wan

Without much competitive experience outside of a few games on Najin Black Sword during Summer 2014, Hojin was put on the roster as "Lee". Early in 2015, Hojin was unleashed as one of the most aggressive junglers OGN had seen in a long time. His quick thinking and pathing allowed him to exert pressure on several lanes simultaneously, making him look like the best jungler in KR...  Until the Cinderhulk patch hit. Ever since, Hojin was exposed as not much of a versatile player. His timing and pathing wasn't as creative as it had looked early in the spring when he could duel enemy junglers on his own. Most of summer saw Hojin in a much clearer light. He was simply average.

On the flip side, Wisdom was part of the IM roster during spring that was playing surprisingly well. Timing his wards and pathing, Wisdom was one of the main reasons IM was capable of challenging some of the teams above them in the standings. Unfortunately, Wisdom suffered from wrist injury halfway through spring, keeping him away from competitive play for several months. Upon returning to full form, Wisdom was picked up by the KOO Tigers in an attempt to find a more suitable fit for their team. While it’s true that Wisdom is a much better team player than Hojin, results didn’t follow through as much as fans of KOO would’ve hoped for.

Mid - Lee “KurO” Seo-haeng

Both Smeb and KurO are prime examples of some the random talent that KR has in some of its team. Both of these players were former Incredible Miracle players and were never truly given a chance to shine. In KurO’s case, he had only shown very good performances on Syndra and had been labelled as a one trick pony with that champion. Ever since joining Najin Sword and eventually the KOO Tigers, KurO demonstrated he’s more than just a very good Syndra player. His play on LeBlanc, Kassadin and Viktor during spring and summer demonstrated his talents as a player. It’s true that KurO is not the primary carry of this team but neither does his team need him to be. As long as KurO remains relevant during all stages of the game, the KOO tigers will win the game the majority of the times.

AD Carry - Kim “PraY” Jong-in

Once a legend in Korea amongst AD carries, PraY has returned to the highest level of competitive play, and it looks like he's not missed a beat. Pairing him with one of the premiere supports in the league seemed like a good idea, and boy did it ever succeed. PraY's performance during 2015 showed us that he was still a laning powerhouse. To his laning prowess we add the fact that his teamfight positioning looks even better than it ever has in the past. PraY has had his up and downs during the spring split. His performances have been most impressive on Kog’Maw and Corki during spring and summer respectively. PraY was also one of the first AD Carries to make Kalista a popular pick-up, showing us what a great Kalista is truly capable of at all stages of a game.

Support - Kang “GorillA” Beom-hyeon

It was a surprise to many when Najin e-mFire either couldn’t keep or didn’t decide to keep GorillA on their roster as a starting player. He’s undoubtedly one of the best supports in Korea even prior to the massive Korean exodus. GorillA was in charge of bringing Janna back into relevancy just before the 2014 World Championships (in which Janna was a highly contested pick, yet wasn’t really played across regions in summer). GorillA is versatile support, capable of playing tanky champions like Alistar and Braum as well as more squishy position-oriented champions like Janna. Alongside PraY, KOO’s bottom lane was one of the teams who used and popularized the Kennen/Kalista combination, which proved extremely strong. Simply put, one of the best supports attending worlds (which, considering the level of talent going in from this position, is even better than it sounds).

Player to look out for: Hojin or Wisdom

With the jungle talent attending Worlds being extremely weak, these two junglers have the perfect opportunity to re-instate their names as very solid junglers from KR. Hojin specifically could really use the boost considering how mediocre he’s looked ever since the start of the summer split. It’s almost even easier for the jungler to shine in their group ever since we found out that CLG’s jungler will possibly not even make it to worlds in time to compete in the group stages.**

Conclusion:

The KOO Tigers may not be favored to win, but that doesn’t mean any team should take this squad lightly. On their side, they have one of the best minds for the game in their coach, NoFe, as well as being a team with excellent late game shot calling. While their transitions to mid game are fairly rough, most of their late game decisions are solid and on point, allowing them to turn the tides of almost every unfavorable situations.

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Images courtesy of thescoreesports.com, inven.co.kr, the KOO Tigers' Twitter,