TSM to Reportedly Replace Support Pro Shenyi With Mia for LCS Summer

Update: TSM signs Mia as Academy Team Support, Shenyi is not being replaced

On 3rd May, Team SoloMid (TSM) announced that it has signed support player Choi “Mia” Sang-in to its League of Legends roster. It stated that Mia will play on the TSM Academy team, which suggests that TSM’s League of Legends Championship Series (LCS) support Wei “Shenyi” Zi-Jie shall remain on the organization’s main roster heading into the Summer Split of the 2022 LCS season.

It wrote on Twitter, “Please give a warm welcome to our new LCS Academy support @Mialol98! Boasting experience across different leagues and an engage-heavy playstyle, Mia is the perfect fit for our Academy roster. His knowledge and leadership will be incredible assets to the development of the squad.”

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The once-heavyweights of the League of Legends Championship Series (LCS), Team SoloMid (TSM), struggled constantly in the 2022 Spring Split. Towards the end of 2021, TSM announced that it was roping in two Chinese players – mid-laner Zhu “Keaiduo” Xiong and support Wei “Shenyi” Zi-Jie – to round out its League of Legends roster. Now, after a very unsuccessful and tumultuous split, TSM is reportedly replacing Shenyi in the LCS roster. According to a report by Upcomer, former Estral Esports member Choi “Mia” Sang-in will be joining TSM as its new support player.

Who is Mia?

Choi "Mia" Sang-in is a League of Legends pro who was previously playing the support role for Estral Esports in the Liga Latinoamérica (LLA) region. In the closing split of 2021, Estral Esports finished second in the playoffs after losing to Infinity Esports with a scoreline of 3-2 in a best-of-five series.

According to Fandom, Mia has been playing League of Legends in a professional capacity since 2017 and he has played for teams like the Japanese team SCARZ, Korean squads Kongdoo Monster, KT Rolster, APK Prince/ SeolHaeOne Prince. Mia was reportedly removed from the League of Legends Global Contract Database (GCD) on 25th April.

Upcomer also added that TSM was also looking for a new mid-laner in the place of Keaiduo after the pro player struggled to find success in his first season. Notably, the team experimented with Academy players Ji “Takeover” Cha Hyeun-min (mid-laner) and Wang “Yursan” Sheng-Yu (support).

Notably, Shenyi was also benched for a few weeks by the TSM management after he locked in a champion on-stage without communicating with his coaches or teammates. His attitude was considered “negative and disrespectful.” TSM coach Wong "Chawy" Xing Lei clarified that Shenyi was benched for this sole reason and not for his gameplay.

He was later brought back into the starting roster in March and Chawy stated, “I think Shenyi has made several improvements in addition to communication. We believe he’s ready to come back to the main roster.”

While the roster changes were happening, the fans were speculating that TSM jungler Mingyi "Spica" Lu and Shenyi were not getting along very well and that the team was against Shenyi’s shotcalling, but TSM addressed this by talking about Shenyi’s behavior.

Nevertheless, Shenyi’s time on TSM has been a rollercoaster ride, filled with ups and downs literally since he was being moved between the LCS team and the Academy team.