What’s next for Brion, the 2022 ‘underdog’?

Brion 2023 Roster
(TOP) Rookhan “Morgan” Park
(JUG) Uhm “Mumty” Sung-hyun, Jeon “Raptor” Ji-eun
(MID) Hong-jo ‘Charis’ Kim
(BOT) ‘Henna’ Park, Hyung-hwan
(SUP) Lee “Eport” Sang-ho

If DRX was the upset at last year’s LoL World Championship, Brion was the upset in the LCK. After seemingly never breaking out of the bottom half of the standings, they made waves in the 2022 LCK Spring Split by making the playoffs. They also have a unique track record of pulling off upsets against strong teams. They had a disappointing finish in Summer as they found their colors late, but they’re back this year to challenge for the PO once again.

This year’s roster doesn’t have many changes. They’ve kept the original Morgan-Umty-Hena and added mid laner Hong-jo “Charis” Kim and support Lee “Efort” Sang-ho. Uhm “Umty” Sung-hyun played an important role on the team during the Freddie Brion era, and now that he’s back on the team, it looks like he can bring back his old colors.

Brion has some hopeful words ahead of the LCK. Choi Woo-beom singled out Park “Morgan” Ryu-han as one of the players he’s most excited about, saying, “Unlike last year, he talks a lot in-game,” which he sees as a positive change. ‘Morgan’ will be playing as a solo starter for the first time in the LCK. “It’s a position that requires more responsibility,” he said, expressing his intention to “make this 2023 different.”

For Brion, the most important thing is to choose the team’s colors. Brion isn’t the only team to go through roster changes, and he emphasized the importance of finding a team that fits together and plays to their colors and strengths. “Brion is still a team that is very strong in the engage phase, and the challenge is to showcase those colors so that we can get through the engage phase smoothly,” Morgan said.

And with that, the centerpiece of the Brion movement, Mumtee, returned. After looking at the North American team for a while, he eventually rejoined Brion. In Morgan’s words, “Brion in the 2022 season felt like we were coming together under his leadership,” and he greatly appreciated his role. With ‘Mumty’ back at the center of the team, it’s possible we’ll see some of Brion’s signature colors again.

One concern is that Umty rejoined the team late. He’ll need to find his groove with new teammate Efort-Karis. The team has been teaming up with rookie jungler Raptor for a while now. Therefore, how quickly Umty can bring the team together in such a short period of time will be key to their early Spring performance.

Joining them is Efort, who is known for his aggressive moves. ‘Efort‘ was part of the Reveal Sandbox sensation in 2021, but had a disappointing time at Nongshim RedForce. He’s a player who shines when he’s playing aggressively, but he’s also had his moments of slippage, so it’ll be interesting to see what kind of synergy ‘Umpty-Eport’ can bring to the table. It’s also important to see how he will work with Henna, who has been a stalwart of Brion’s bot lane.

From the new Morgan, to the returning Mumty, to the new Eport, there are a number of keywords that will make up Brion’s colors in 2023. 고스톱 With the ability to elevate the lowest-ranked teams and take down the strongest, we’ll see what kind of magic Choi Woo-bum and the Brion can create in the 2023 LCK.