Buzz
Another former SofM teammate is also facing challenging circumstances.
Rarely has there been a transfer window where former teammates of SofM have faced such unfortunate fates as at the end of the 2023 season. As mentioned recently, TheShy announced his retirement, skipping the Spring 2024 split after contract negotiations with Weibo Gaming fell through. The departure of TheShy officially marks the departure of all members of WBG who were former teammates or worked with SofM in the past.
However, when considering Top Laners who have been teammates with SofM, perhaps TheShy's fate isn't the most tragic in the upcoming 2023 - 2024 season. Accordingly, one recently discovered name may face even more difficulties than TheShy, that is Flandre - former star of Edward Gaming who once won the 2021 Worlds championship. Flandre is also one of SofM's closest teammates since they both played for Snakes Esports and later LNG Esports. For those unaware, Flandre made the move to join JD Gaming after a year-long break from competitive play.
Flandre's transfer to JDG at the time truly baffled the LPL community. Everyone knows JDG's goal is always to reach the top of competitions. Meanwhile, there's no guarantee that Flandre's form won't be affected after a long period of rest. Moreover, JDG's opponents are getting stronger and it's clear that putting trust in Flandre might be reasonable but not necessarily achieve maximum effectiveness.
Suspicions about the conspiracy theory 'JDG recruits Flandre only to bench him for young talent Sheer' are even more plausible. Before JDG, teams like Bilibili Gaming also played similar tricks when they signed both Uzi and Doggo in the same season. Afterwards, Uzi had to be a 'full-time benchwarmer' for Doggo. Moreover, there have been reports that JDG falsified Sheer's age. Surely, JDG wouldn't go through such trouble if they were only intending to put Sheer on the bench.
Certainly, putting faith in Flandre could still help JDG achieve new glories compared to a young player. However, with the current trend of team rejuvenation, prioritizing Sheer for high-level competition is understandable for JDG. Furthermore, Flandre has already enjoyed accolades and may have experienced a decline in form. He's no longer the superstar who lifted the World Championship trophy with EDG in 2021 and will have to compete fiercely to avoid being benched by Sheer.
