Victory Five (NIP) looks strong for LPL 2022

For their LPL 2022 roster, Victory Five changed everything, and they have their eyes on the biggest prize. Together with teams like Weibo, Bilibili, RNG and LNG, V5 used the free agent opportunities in the offseason to finally create a team that could aim for the championship after three years.

There is one superstar, however, who increases their chances of winning the LPL, Rookie.

During August, Ninjas in Pyjamas and Victory Five announced their merger. Although the promised rebranding still didn’t happen, V5 is a part of Ninjas in Pyjamas, the famous European organization who had LoL teams before, but not in the LPL. If the rebranding is on the way, NIP shows that they’re not at LPL only to get some points from Chinese fans but also to compete with the best.

Rookie joins Victory Five

Iconic mid laner of the iconic Worlds 2018 winners Invictus Gaming, Rookie, has left his team after many years. The Korean mid laner who has Chinese residency will fight for Victory Five, or Ninjas in Pyjamas after the rebranding. He is still considered as one of the best mid laners in the world, and with a brand new roster, Rookie has the chance to prove it again.

When I say a brand new roster, I mean it. All six players who are included in the first team of V5 joined the team in December 2021. The team constructed a strong roster around Rookie, with great names from the Korean and Chinese professional scene.

New roster explained

In the top lane, we will see NongShim RedForce’s hot commodity Rich, who made himself a name with the team last year and showed his potential. It isn’t wrong to say the 23-year-old top laner has been a great weak side player for his team in 2021, but he also had the flexibility to pick carries and make use of them throughout the year, using Jayce the most in the  Summer Season.

One of the iconic figures in League of Legends, Karsa, joins them in the jungle. Flash Wolves’ flashy jungler has been fighting in the LPL for almost four years now, starting his journey with RNG and leaving TES at the end of 2021. Karsa might just be the jungler Rookie is looking for after him, not being able to maintain the synergy he had with Ning in 2018 with any of his junglers, including Ning in 2019 and 2020.

In addition to Karsa, a familiar name from LPL will also be included in the roster. XLB, formerly xiaolongbao, will be the second jungler in the first team. It is not clear whether he will get any playing time in the LPL, but we never know.

Victory Five’s bot lane also looks strong, with ppgod coming back to the team after leaving in May. If you are a fan of Chinese League of Legends, you know his name, and you know what he is capable of. If you aren’t, I suggest you watch V5. His ADC, Photic, played for TES Challenger, Top Esports’ LDL team, last year and I am sure that ppgod is getting him ready for the challenge of LPL. Completing this roster with a high-potential bot lane was a great decision from V5, or Ninjas in Pyjamas.

Victory Five’s coaching staff

Of course, after changing the roster drastically, Victory Five changed the coaching staff as well. Korean coaches NoFe and Zero joined V5 in place of Domo and Zero.

NoFe worked for Invictus Gaming during the LPL 2021 Summer Season. Before that, he coached Hanwha Life, Afreeca Freecs and EDward Gaming. If his name didn’t ring a bell for the old-school LoL fans, he was the head coach of the legendary Korean team, (HUYA/GE/KOO/ROX) Tigers. NoFe has been away from success for a long time now, and thus, he connects with the team very well in my opinion.

Zero is a Korean coach with less experience. Starting his career as a mid laner for KT Rolster, Zero swapped to support and played for Star Horn Royal Club, Team King and Team WE, where he retired and became a coach for the team. Since May 2019, Zero hasn't had an official role in any professional League of Legends team. It is time for him to come back.

Full roster and coaching staff of Victory Five

You can check out some information about Victory Five’s new roster below.

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