The plucky, tenacious, second-best team in the world of the past two years is no more.
The ROX Tigers, 2016 League of Legends World Championship semifinalists and 2015 Worlds runners-up, announced they will allow their players to seek better and more comfortable club conditions for the 2017 campaign. This spells the end of, at least, the current core of the team, which has produced one of the finest legacies in the history of professional League of Legends.
"After the winning of KeSPA Cup, the coaching staff and players have discussed many times over the plans following 2016," the Tigers organization announced through a message on its official social media channel (translation). "As a result, ROX Tigers have decided to cooperate as much as we can to find the players, who've made such great results this year, better environments and conditions for them."
The team's star jungler, Han "Peanut" Wang-ho, also took to social media to discuss 2017.
"My contract was originally supposed to end on 11/30," Peanut wrote. "It would have been ideal for me to have continued [to] play with my teammates, but as that has not become a realistic option, I talked to the organization and got official permission to talk with other teams."
Over the past year, the Tigers have constantly swapped back and forth with their main rival, SK Telecom T1, for that precious No. 1 status. In the spring season, following a loss to SKT T1 in the 2015 Summoner's Cup Final, the club won its second regular-season championship in League Champions Korea, with the addition of Peanut adding a new dimension to the team's configuration.
Although the Tigers would once again lose to SKT in the final and miss out on attending the 2016 Mid-Season Invitational (which T1 conquered), the team ultimately did become domestic champions in the summer. After its third regular-season crown in four seasons of existence, a mighty feat in itself, the team dispatched KT Rolster in the 2016 summer South Korean final to finally earn the title of top club of the nation.
"But more importantly, above even the results, the Tigers will be remembered for the joy they brought to every studio and arena they visited."
The Tigers will be remembered in two ways.
On the one hand, the team's legacy will be forever marked by the inability to overcome SK Telecom T1 in a true showdown. The core of the roster stayed together in 2016 to dethrone SKT T1 from its royal dais despite larger contract offerings from other teams. And while the Tigers did end up as the domestic champion in summer, it was over KT Rolster, not SKT, after KT upset the titan in a reverse sweep during the semifinals.
When ROX had a chance to defeat SKT T1 once and for all at Madison Square Garden at the 2016 Worlds semifinals, it got close, as close as it would ever come to beating its rival, but failed. The team went up 1-2 and was on the verge of righting 2015's wrongs, yet couldn't close the door on the reigning world champion, losing in 2-3 fashion in one of the most memorable best-of-five matches in the game's existence.
Years from now, when people are discussing the history of this era in League of Legends, the Tigers will be known as the second-best team in the world. The team that almost vanquished SK Telecom T1. The Tigers' greatness is what will make SKT T1 even more of an esports legend. However, regardless of how well the Tigers played or how far the team progressed, in the end, it wasn't enough.
But more importantly, above even the results, the Tigers will be remembered for the joy they brought to every studio and arena they visited. From the early days, when the team attempted to gain notoriety by wearing a variety of flashy uniforms -- including a Valentine's Day special where they dressed up as bunnies in bright pink clothing -- to the team's constant singing before games, warming up like you'd expect them to do at home, but in front of thousands inside a sold-out foreign arena.
They laughed and fought together. They yelled and wept together.
When the team lost to SKT T1 in a one-sided Worlds final in 2015 and captain Lee "Lee" Ho-jin retired, the team could have splintered. Song "Smeb" Kyung-ho could have capitalized on an amazing Worlds performance by moving to North America, China or the newly cash-infused Longzhu. Instead, he stayed. So did the rest of the team, deciding to continue playing as friends, welcoming Peanut into the family and setting out for one more year to finish what they started.
The story didn't have the perfect ending. The Tigers didn't defeat SKT, move on to the 2016 Worlds final in Los Angeles and beat Samsung for the Summoner's Cup, putting a ribbon on the adventure before the best friends took their new paths. ROX did go on to win the KeSPA Cup, the preseason tournament that links together the old year to the new, and the Tigers did defeat SKT in the semifinals to get there, but it wasn't the ending they wanted. SKT was using subs to compete in the less-significant offseason event. Still, ROX beamed on stage after it bested Kongdoo Monster in the final, holding up an oversized novelty check, next to each other for the last time as a team.
Throughout the two years as a team, the Tigers went through numerous name changes, but were never identified by a big-name sponsor or company. They were simply friends, playing side by side, laughing and having fun, providing entertainment while entertaining themselves. Their final name, ROX, symbolized the team's bond, as strong as a rock. And if it is the final time we see ROX, it's a fitting name to end on. No matter where each road takes the players and coaches in 2017 -- a new LCK team, China, North America, even retirement -- the bond the members shared from the starting five to the substitutes to the coaching staff will never be broken.
In terms of in-game skill, no one in the world can play like SKT T1. But when you're playing with your friends and yelling each other over Skype, blaming your friend for stealing your multi-kill, the spirit of ROX will always live on.