The acquisition of River is another example of solid business by Golden Guardians.
Golden Guardians last night announced the acquisition of LCS jungler Kim "River" Dong-woo. The transfer of River to GGS was made official last night on the official League of Legends Global Contract Database. It was then confirmed later that evening by the organization themselves.
The move comes as a surprise to many considering Dignitas' position in the standings. DIG currently resides in tenth place with a 1-9 record. Although they were unlikely to make playoffs with River in the lineup, he is a player you would want to build around for 2023.
Dignitas is yet to announce its future plans following the departure of River to Golden Guardians. Although itis expected that academy jungler Lin "eXyu" Xu will be promoted to the starting roster. The North American rookie has LCS experience in the form of the Lock-In tournament where he started for the side until River could travel to North America.
It has not been confirmed if River will go straight into the starting roster, but many could assume if they are going to be spending money to make this trade happen, then it would be odd to see River ride the bench in Academy.
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Smart business by both sides heading into 2023
Golden Guardians have once again made a smart business decision ahead of a new season. In 2021, GGS signed Licorice from FlyQuest ahead of the 2022 season. This gave Golden Guardians time to not only embed Licorice into the GGS system but also plan with their new star top laner ahead of time.
Golden Guardians have once again been able to upgrade their roster while also getting River considerably cheaper than what they would have had to pay for him at the start of the season.
The move also allows for Dignitas to move into a new period with promising young talent at their disposal. Both eXyu and Spawn are a solid foundation for Dignitas moving into 2023. Making these roster moves now allows for them to embed the young guns into the LCS quicker.
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