Mata Leaves Samsung White

After winning the League of Legends Season 4 World Championships in their home soil, Samsung White was still in their preseason honeymoon being champions when a major bombshell wrecked the entire professional gaming landscape. Cho “Mata” Se-Hyeong announced in his Facebook post this week his departure from Samsung White breaking up what is possibly considered the best League of Legends team today.

Mata is considered to be the best support in the world and his exodus from the squad will leave Samsung White with a huge void to fill. Mata was instrumental in Samsung White’s rise to the Worlds stage with his magnificent shot calling and support play which easily dovetailed with ADC superstar imp. Imp has credited Mata as someone who covered up for a lot of his mistakes allowing him to be overly aggressive without being punished too much for it.

Mata is still undecided whether if he will retire from the competitive gaming scene and start his mandatory military service, become a full time streamer or join another professional gaming organization. He is also open to moving to the North American gaming scene as he seeks to improve his English fluency. He cites that he has achieve everything with the team having won the OGN title and the World Championships.

His departure from the organization may not come as a shock to those who listened closely to his victory speech at Worlds. He had alluded to wanting to stop his career at this point, possibly expressing his intention to retire while on top and at the peak of his powers. Mata could just be trying to avoid the disappointment former champions usually have during the course of the succeeding season.

If recent history is to be analyzed, the champions at Worlds tend to grossly under-perform the season after. All former champions in Fnatic, Taipei Assassins and SK Telecom T1 have all failed to qualify for the Worlds in the season after they won the championship. Mata’s departure could put Samsung White in a downward spiral at the start of the next season.

During the course of Season 4, Samsung White was unable to overcome their sister team Samsung Blue in the domestic season. Though they have managed to climb over this hurdle during the Worlds semifinals, losing Mata could put Samsung White in the back foot once more.