Recently, Riot Korea announced the list of teams that have submitted applications to participate in the LCK Spring 2021 tournament (the first season applying the franchise system and abolishing the promotion/relegation format).
The tournament organizers also stated that as of now, the application list for LCK Spring 2021 has received 21 names. Naturally, all 10 teams currently participating in LCK Summer 2020 have submitted their applications. Additionally, there are 7 teams from the lower tier (CK) and 4 organizations not currently within the professional League of Legends competition system.
The list of organizations applying for LCK Spring 2020 is as follows:
Organizations currently competing in LCK:
1. T1
2. Gen.G
3. DragonX
4. DAMWON Gaming
5. KT Rolsters
6. Afreeca Freecs
7. Hanwha Life Esports
8. SANDBOX Gaming
9. DYN
10. SP
Teams currently competing in CK:
1. ESC Shane
2. JinAir Greenwings
3. OZ Gaming
4. Awesome Spear
5. Element Mystic
6. hyFresh Blade
7. RunAway
Organizations outside the professional league system in Korea:
1. Gamer Republic
2. World Game Star (WGS Phoenix)
3. WDG
4. Omaken Sports
However, the most notable point is that among the teams from CK that submitted applications, the name Griffin is absent. This means that when the final approval list is closed, GRF will certainly not be able to participate in LCK Spring 2021.
This is truly unfortunate news for fans of this team. Perhaps internal issues and a series of disappointing results in the previous spring tournament have caused Griffin’s parent organization to lose interest in professional League of Legends, or it could be that the organization is facing a financial crisis, as well as a brand severely affected by a series of scandals.
Currently, the roster of Griffin competing in CK Summer 2020 consists of relatively unknown players or team trainees. The lineup that once finished as LCK runners-up three times and participated in the 2019 World Championship now only has Sword remaining in the GRF roster. The team’s performance is also quite poor, as they are currently at the bottom of the table, having lost both of their first matches with only one game win.