Song #SyAIL Dong-seon has left APAC North squad SANDBOX Gaming ahead of next month’s APAC Six Invitational 2023 closed qualifier.
The change follows SANDBOX’s two straight group stage exits from Six Majors, where the team finished third in the Berlin Major and fourth at the just finished Jönköping Major. It also comes after losing the Charlotte Major and being in last place in their 2022 Six Invitational group.
The Road So Far
SyAIL joined the Korean team in March 2020, having been a part of it since Cloud9’s inception. He stayed with them during the team’s time with mantisFPS till SANDBOX became their new representation in October 2021.
He participated in two Six Invitationals and three Six Majors with the squad, reaching his highest point in the quarterfinals of the Sweden Major in 2021.
Throughout the 2022 season, SyAIL routinely ranked among SANDBOX’s worst players, particularly at international competitions. Despite predominantly playing Iana, Zofia, and Jaeger, he had official Ratings of 0.84 and 0.67 at the Berlin and Jönköping Majors, respectively.
His APAC North official Ratings were just 0.98 in Stage 1, 0.95 in Stage 2, and 0.93 in Stage 3, which weren’t much better. He was now ranked second-worst, worst, and worst on his squad as a result.
However, despite only having an official rating of 0.94, he was the top player on his team in the Six Invitational this year. This comes after a drastic decline in performance from his first two seasons with the organization, when he was regarded as one of the game’s most dangerous Korean players.
It seems probable that this was performance-related in advance of the APAC Six Invitational 2023 closed qualifier next month, even if the move’s formal justification was not revealed in the public release. Dire Wolves, FURY, Knights, and Fnatic will be formidable opponents for SANDBOX, and there may be other teams competing in that qualification as well.
Although it is unknown who SANDBOX will choose to replace SyAIL with, the recent collapse of Spear Gaming and its effective dissolution provides them a choice of players, including Park #Mephi Ju-wan.
