Evil Geniuses’ jojopyun wins his first LCS MVP award at the age of eighteen

Joseph Joon "jojopyun" Pyun has won his first LCS MVP award after a dominant 2023 summer split. This historic victory marks only the second LCS player to win the award at eighteen, following in the footsteps of an LCS icon in Søren "Bjergsen" Bjerg. When the ballot came down to five players, it was fairly obvious who would be picking up the MVP award this split.

This has not been an easy period for a young player like jojopyun to deal with, given the controversy surrounding the organization amongst the poor performances during the spring split. It would have been the easy route out for jojo to write the season off knowing he will be on a significantly better roster next season, whether that be with EG or another LCS organization.

Losing was not an option for jojopyun, however, who took it upon himself to rise to the occasion despite seeing every member of the star-studded roster on the chopping block. And while their replacements were not bad players by any means, they were not of the caliber that is expected to win a championship.

With the veteran leadership of Philippe "Vulcan" Laflamme and co out the door, it was on jojopyun to step up and elevate his game. And this is precisely what he did as the rookie sensation that dominated the league in 2022 was back. Many of the successful plays from Evil Geniuses came off the back of jojo having a substantial lead in the mid-lane. Jojo also took it upon himself to be more of a shot caller for the team, which is incredible for a player that young.

According to Oracle's Elixir, jojopyun led the league in his role in the majority of the laning statics. Jojopyun was able to gain leads through strong laners like Ahri and Tristana. This allowed him to shove in the lane and be the first to roam every time to help his team with taking objectives and diving towers. Forming a strong partnership with Jonathan "Armao" Armao during the regular season.

Here is where Jojopyun ranked amongst his fellow mid-laners:

There were mixed reactions specifically on X following the announcement that jojopyun had won MVP, with suggestions that either Cloud9's Robert "Blaber" Huang or Kim "Berserker" Min-cheol should have won the award. One of the main points about the LCS MVP award is that it is a regular-season award. This means performances in playoffs have no weight on who wins the MVP. Unfortunately for jojopyun and Evil Geniuses, they did not have a great showing in the playoffs and were unable to qualify for Worlds 2023.

LCS caster Isaac "Azael" Cummings-Bentley was quick to come to the defence of jojopyun, reminding the fans that this is a regular-season award.

While there is a debate about who had the "best" split, Immortals support Erik "Treatz" Wessén weighed in on how he personally sees the MVP award.

Jojopyun's rankings were based on players who played the majority of the LCS summer split regular season.

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