Back in 2021, there was one South Korean player making his mark on NUTURN Gaming, leading a Korean team to their highest international finish to date. Despite a disappointing time on Vision Strikers just after, this former Challengers MVP is back in tier-one VALORANT.
South Korean team Gen.G Esports added Kim “Lakia” Jong-min to its roster today, marking the org’s second signing of the offseason and third player on the roster. He’s joining Gen.G just after competing on Dplus in Korean Challengers, winning both Korea Splits but getting knocked out in the groups at Ascension Pacific.
Lakia has always been regarded as one of the best talents to come out of Korea, and it showed earlier on in his VALORANT career. He began on Vision Strikers in mid-2020, but his career took off after joining NUTURN Gaming at the start of 2021. He battled against his former teammates to see who would take the title of the best squad in Korea, earning Stage Two Challengers MVP as NUTURN reached Stage Two Masters in Reykjavík.
The team continued their form from Korea, ending the tournament in third place—only behind Fnatic and Sentinels, two other powerhouses in 2021. When the event came to an end, Lakia was top 10 in plenty of stats, from rating and average combat score to headshot percentage. He even earned an MVP for day four of the tournament after NUTURN’s victory over Version1.
After moments like a return to Vision Strikers and a year in Japan, Lakia went from well-known top talent to underrated and lost in the shuffle of franchising, unable to make a franchised team for 2023. Thus, he competed in Challengers for Dplus, with some familiar faces on the coaching staff from his NUTURN Gaming days. The team cleaned up shop in Korean Challengers but couldn’t make it to the knockouts of Ascension Pacific, where they were eliminated by a map differential of one. Lakia looked to be back in that conversation of star talent, though, and Gen.G is betting on him returning to his old form.
Considering how Gen.G is rebuilding its team, the org has filled its duelist role and now just needs to get everything else. Lakia is an initiator who can flex if need be, so Gen.G can build a team around him easily. Add that to the mix alongside Kim “Meteor” Tae-O and Kim “t3xture” Na-ra and it looks like Gen.G is improving on the talent front for 2024.
If Lakia returns to MVP form, the league better watch out, both regionally and internationally.
