After a year of national domination and international disappointment, Han “Peanut” Wang-ho decided to stay with Gen.G.
In 2022, Gen.G had a spectacular year with Peanut in the LCK. The team made it to the playoffs with a 15-3 record in Spring Season. They finished the season in 2nd place after losing to T1 in LCK 2022 Summer Playoff Finals. However, they looked unstoppable in LCK Summer Season 2022, finishing the season with a 17-1 record. Their seasonal success was followed by total domination of the LCK Summer Playoffs 2022. After beating LSB 3-1 in the semifinals, they moved on to the Finals to face LCK Spring Season champions, T1. The matchup was nothing short of destruction where Gen.G beat T1 3-9 to become the LCK Summer Champions.
Peanut was an important piece for Gen.G throughout the year. His understanding of the jungle paths and sacrificial playstyle enabled his star carries like Chovy and Ruler to become their best. His facilitating playstyle made his role very clear in the team and he played his role perfectly throughout the season.
Peanut and Gen.G were looking great going into the LoL World Championship 2022; they were the clear favorites coming from LCK. With their recent domination of the region, they were clearly the best LCK team. This made everyone think that their only rivals are LPL teams in the tournament. They ran through the group stage with a 6-1 record. After that, they went to game 5 against DWG and bested them 3-2 in the quarterfinals. However, this successful run came to an end when they faced the miraculous dark horse DRX in the semifinals. DRX bested Gen.G and ended their LoL World Championship 2022 run in the semifinals.
What is next?
Although they lost Ruler after the tournament, the team wanted to keep their strong pieces. After discussions between the organization and the team Peanut stayed in Gen.G for 2023. Gen.G’s 2023 roster is not known yet. But if they can keep all 4 players and sign an ADC like Prince from the free-agent pool, they will have a high chance of repeating their successful LCK 2022 run.