Evil Geniuses have acquired top laner Heo "Huni" Seung-hoon from Dignitas, marking the end to a saga that saw the second-highest-paid player in the League of Legends Championship Series available for trade or buyout, league sources told ESPN.
As a part of the move, Huni will come to new contract terms with Evil Geniuses, sources said. In November, Huni negotiated a deal with Dignitas that saw him entitled to $2.3 million over a two-year deal. Those terms, however, are expected to be much lower as he moves to Evil Geniuses and works under an amended contract with less compensation, according to sources.
With the addition of Huni, Evil Geniuses will have four import players across their LCS and Academy team lineups: Huni, AD carry Bae "Bang" Jun-sik, mid laner Daniele "Jiizuke" di Mauro and Academy mid laner Ahmad "Giyuu" Charif. Given Riot Games interregional movement policy restrictions, EG can start no more than two international players on their team at one time.
Since both mid laners are international players, in order to play Huni in the LCS, Evil Geniuses would have to start Academy AD carry Matthew "Deftly" Chen -- an American player -- on the LCS team in place of Bang.
Read more: Dignitas sign Dardoch
Huni is not guaranteed to start in the 2020 LCS summer split, which kicks off June 12. If Huni competes in either the LCS or LCS Academy for 50% or more of the games this summer, he will become eligible to declare North American residency ahead of the 2021 season.
Over the past four-and-half years, Huni has competed in seven LCS splits since he joined Immortals in December 2015. Riot Games allows players who have competed for 50% of regular-season matches across eight of the past 12 splits to declare as a resident. Huni played two splits as a member of South Korean team SK Telecom T1 in 2017, but he has otherwise competed on Immortals, Echo Fox, Clutch Gaming and Dignitas, which are all North American teams.
With Huni gone, Dignitas acquired top laner Omran "V1per" Shoura from FlyQuest, the two teams announced on Wednesday. V1per is expected to compete for the starting spot on Dignitas's LCS roster with Dignitas Academy top laner Samson "Lourlo" Jackson, sources said.
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On April 4, Dignitas announced it would allow Huni to explore other opportunities after the team placed seventh in the 2020 LCS spring split. That news came after Huni's extension in November with Dignitas, which made him the second-highest-paid player in the LCS, after Team Liquid top laner Jung "Impact" Eon-yeong.
The 2020 spring split marked a slump for Huni, who has often been regarded as one of the best top laners in North America throughout his time in the region.