Byeon ‘Munchkin’ Sang-beom No Longer a Member of Laser Kittenz

Laser Kittenz is one of the youngest eSports organizations when it comes to Overwatch competitions. They launched their team back in March this year when players from Bench Boys signed contracts with the organization together with Herman ‘Nesh’ Kobrin, Nikolaj ‘Zaprey’ Ian Moyes, and Christopher ‘Spazzo’ Infante. In the first month, the team’s management worked on establishing good infrastructure for the team and because of that, they decided to sign another player.

The last player that signed with Laser Kittenz’s Overwatch team was DPS player Byeon ‘Munchkin’ Sang-beom. This transfer was announced in April when Laser Kittenz was already preparing for the Overwatch Contenders.

Obstacles

Munchkin joined Laser Kittenz after he was released from Lunatic-Hai’s team. By joining Laser Kittenz, Munchkin became one of the first players who joined European Overwatch team from the Korean region. When his transfer was announced, many wondered whether or not Munchkin will be able to adjust to the new environment which was very much different than the one he got used to while playing for Lunatic-Hai.

It soon became clear that the language barrier is one of the biggest problems. Even though Laser Kittenz tried to solve that problem, it continued to grow and it seems that it might have been one of the biggest reasons why Munchkin left Laser Kittenz. Because of that language barrier, Munchkin was not able to help his team in situations when they needed his help.

Besides that, a couple of weeks ago, reports indicated that Munchkin might have problems with the wrist injury that prevented him from giving his best while playing for Laser Kittenz. Apparently, the wrist injury was one of the main reasons why Munchkin was released from Lunatic-Hai in the first place. So far, neither Laser Kittenz nor Munchkin have confirmed nor denied the talks about the injury being the main reason for his departure. Some clarification of this issue is expected in the upcoming days.

Search for a New Player

With Munchkin leaving the team, Laser Kittenz is left with seven players on the roster. Lee ‘claris’ Keon-ho, another Korean player who joined Laser Kittenz around the same time as Munchkin, will remain in the team. According to the statement that Laser Kittenz told ESPN, they are already looking for a new player that might be filling in instead of Munchkin.

So far, there have been no names reported as potential replacements but it is safe to assume that Laser Kittenz already have somebody in mind. Considering that Season One of Overwatch Contenders will be starting in less than 20 days, Laser Kittenz do not have a lot of time to fill in the DPS position in the team. Laser Kittenz finished in the third place of the Season Zero of Overwatch Contenders after they were eliminated by eUnited in the semifinals.

Because of that, this team and their fans will have huge expectations for the Season One but the big question is whether their new DPS player, whoever that might be, will be able to connect with the rest of the team before the competition actually starts.