TheShy announces break from LoL esports in 2026

Jack Stewart, Senior Editor

Last Updated: 10/12/2025

Former League of Legends World Champion Kang ‘TheShy’ Seung-lok has announced he is taking a break from LoL esports.

Invictus Gaming announced that the top laner will be taking a break from competitive play.

Though the decision is described as temporary, it appears that TheShy will sit out the entirety of the 2026 season.

The LPL team released a statement to announce the news, saying:

“While we cherish our time together, we also respect every journey chosen.

“We wholeheartedly understand and support TheShy’s decision to explore new horizons in this new chapter of his life, and we thank him for always carrying the passion and dedication he first brought to the competitive stage.”

TheShy then released his own statement on Weibo, saying:

“Thank you all for your attention and support. It makes me truly happy to return to the stage in 2025 as IG TheShy again.

“I will continue to participate in public welfare activities. For me, IG is like my hometown team, so please keep supporting IG.”

“Lastly, thank you once again to everyone who has supported me. I hope each of you will have a wonderful life, and I hope that in the next chapter, I can experience an even more colourful life myself.”

Having previously won Worlds with IG back in 2018, TheShy returned to the organisation for the 2025 season and reunited with Song ‘Rookie’ Eui-jin.

Together, they qualified for Worlds again but were eliminated in the Play-Ins by eventual tournament winners T1.

The series with T1 broke LoL Worlds viewership records for the Play-Ins stage as IG lost 3-1.

This is the second long-term break TheShy has taken after sitting out of the 2024 LoL season too.

Though that break came after making it to the LoL Worlds final with Weibo Gaming, where they lost to T1 again.

Invictus Gaming re-sign the core of their LoL roster

While TheShy has stepped down, IG has managed to retain the majority of its 2025 roster for next year.

The LPL team has kept hold of its other former World Champion as midlaner Rookie has signed a new contract until 2027.

Meanwhile, jungler Yan ‘Wei’ Yang-Wei and support Tian ‘Meiko’ Ye have re-signed for the 2026 season.

That leaves IG with the top lane and bot lane carry roles still to fill.

And those roles could be especially important with the new Role Quests in the 2026 LoL update.

Jack Stewart, Senior Editor

In my seven years of esports writing, I've introduced esports coverage to newspapers, interviewed some of the biggest names in the industry, and driven viewers mad with the puns in my YouTube scripts. I'm most proud of the latter.

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