LoL - LCK: Duke joins OKSavingsBank BRION as Head Coach

Longtime fans of LoL and the LCK will recall Duke, a veteran Korean toplaner with an impressive history. That includes his dominant 2016 run on SKT T1, winning trophies in the LCK, MSI, and the World Championship. After Duke’s sixth year competing, he left his then-team Invictus Gaming in 2020, seemingly the end of a long and storied career. That’s why it was so surprising when three years later, Duke reappeared as the head coach of Ninjas in Pyjamas, before leaving after just one split. Now, another two years later, Duke is back again, this time in his home region of the LCK, as the new head coach of OKSavingsBank BRION.

BRO have struggled to find results in the LCK for several years. Since their rebrand with OKSavingsBank two years ago, they’ve yet to place higher than eighth in a ten-team league. Previous incarnations, like Fredit BRION, paint a similar story of ninths and tenths. Their challenges this year have come despite fielding exciting prospects, like Byeon “Hype” Jeong-hyeon, who dominated the LCK Challengers League in 2024. But even hyped players like Hype couldn’t find success on BRO.

BRO’s latest brand is in fact one of many rebrands for the shifting organization, previously having competed under names like just BRION, which acquired Kongdoo Monster, previously e-mFire, and NaJin e-mFire. That original brand, NaJin, is a familiar one to the team’s new head coach: Duke actually spent his early career playing there, his second and third team being NaJin Black Sword and NaJin e-mFire respectively, all the way back in 2014 and 2015. So Duke, now coaching the team in the spot he played for over a decade ago, has now come full circle.

The team’s previous head coach, Choi “Edgar” Woo-beom, had spent that same decade coaching, including nearly five years on BRO. While Edgar’s recent years coaching have seen few positive results, he does have major successes in his history, like Samsung Galaxy’s 2017 Worlds win. Duke, on the other hand, is an unproven coaching talent, with only one split to his name, missing playoffs with NIP.

In placing their trust in Duke, BRO is looking to turn things around with a different strategist at the helm, one that led the “same” team years ago. That’s why in their announcement post, OKSavingsBank BRION didn’t give Duke a “Welcome,” but instead a “Welcome Back.” If Duke, now joining as the team’s new head coach, can really reinvigorate BRO and turn their results around, it would certainly be a very happy reunion.