TSM’s 2021 star signing Hu ‘SwordArt’ Shuo-Chieh is leaving the team with a year left on his contract, as reported by Dot Esports. It comes as the LCS squad announced a rebuild with young talent in 2022, including the departure of Soren ‘Bjergsen’ Bjerg.
SwordArt, whose $6 million deal at the end of 2020 with TSM made headlines following his Worlds 2020 finals appearance, is leaving the organization with a year left on his contract, it was announced on October 29. The move was first reported by Dot Esports.
It comes after TSM failed to qualify for Worlds 2021 in Iceland despite having won the LCS Summer 2021 regular season. The NA outfit also missed out on an MSI appearance earlier in the year.
Today we bid farewell to @TSM_SwordArt
Thank you for everything you contributed to #TSM during your time with the org. We wish you all the best with your next challenge. pic.twitter.com/KUMHTk1kIj
— TSM FTX (@TSM) October 29, 2021
The support player is the second member to leave TSM in this off-season. On October 28, the team announced long-time mid laner turned coach and co-owner Soren ‘Bjergsen’ Bjerg would be departing.
Bjergsen is reportedly signing with Team Liquid, with Nicolaj ‘Jensen’ Jensen role swapping to bot lane in a move akin to G2 Esports’ big signing of Rasmus ‘Caps’ Winther in 2019.
“I wanted to rebuild our League of Legends culture from the ground up,” owner Andy ‘Reginald’ Dinh stated in an October 28 video.
TSM intends to build their LCS 2022 roster around “rising stars,” focusing on younger talent.
“We’re currently looking at a variety of options. We intend to focus on up-and-coming players to build our team culture around these rising stars,” Reginald said.
An update from @TSMReginald and @parthenaan on our LCS roster. pic.twitter.com/1C0ji7cfGL
— TSM FTX (@TSM) October 28, 2021
However, the organization still wants to be competitive and make a return to Worlds.
“This does not mean that TSM will be an all-rookie development roster. We will continue to invest into the best possible roster for us to win, but with a bigger focus on the long-term,” GM Parth ‘Parth’ Naidu added.
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