KEANE ON NA DOMINATION

Jang "Keane" LaeYoung began his League of Legends career in South Korea, after being picked up by Jang ‘Woong’ Gun-woong to play for MiG Wicked

The team participated in the HOT6iX Champions Summer 2013 qualifiers, but failed to make it into the top 8. However, Keane’s brief foray into the Korean League of Legends scene was not without positives. It was Woong who suggested Keane become a mid-laner - Keane had previously played top - and it’s mid lane where Keane excels today.

In November 2013, Keane moved to New Zealand - a set of islands to the east of Australia, commonly known for sheep and Lord of the Rings - to study at the University of Auckland. Thankfully, Riot’s Oceanic server had opened in late June of that year. When Keane was recently asked on Reddit how many hours he played a day while he was at university, he answered, “I ditched all lectures and went for solo queue.” Regardless of how it may or may not have affected his education, It paid off - Keane achieved rank one on Oceania. This caught the attention of the team manager of Oceanic team Little Wraith, and Keane joined them in February of last year.

Little Wraith was one of a handful of teams in the Oceanic region making waves, finally challenging the dominant Oceanic representatives at Worlds Wildcard 2013, Team Immunity. Enter Curse. The entire Little Wraith roster and their manager were picked up and rebranded as Team Curse OCE.

Then LCS Rule 3.1 was put into place, and Curse had to leave almost as soon as they arrived so as not to violate ownership rules.

But not before they noticed Keane.

Keane was recruited into Gravity -- then named Curse Academy -- top-lane position in June. When Mancloud left the team in August, Keane was tasked with filling the giant shoes left behind in mid lane.

He chose horseshoes.

Keane’s most infamous moment was his Hecarim mid pick against CLG in the NA LCS Spring Promotion tournament, in their must-win fifth and final game. Twitter exploded with horse and pony puns, pro players and analysts begged the public to “not try this at home”. All the while, Oceania’s veterans just nodded sagely. They were fully aware of how strong Keane’s Hecarim could be, having seen it themselves in solo queue on the Oceanic server.

Keane later explained that Gravity's composition was built around Hecarim, who is his preferred champion against melee ADs. Unfortunately, in that game, against the Ziggs of CLG’s Link. Despite that, and even though Gravity lost that game, the Hecarim play from Keane was not only entertaining, but made his champion choice look strong and viable under different circumstances.

After the loss, a fan asked Keane on Reddit what his plans were personally if Gravity couldn’t make it into the LCS. Keane plainly responded, “I have no plans after the expansion tournament because I know we are going to make it.”

Three months on, Keane and the rest of the Gravity boys have made it through the expansion tournament, into the NA LCS proper, just as Keane predicted.

When you check Gravity's roster, you see a little Korean flag next to Keane’s name. It doesn’t seem to do justice the long, loopy, roundabout journey he took to get to where he is - on the cusp of entering NA LCS proper with his team. His story spans years, across three regions, and is about to begin an exciting new chapter.