Paul “sOAZ” Boyer is looking to make his return to professional League of Legends. After spending a year coaching for the French LFL team LDLC OL, the organization has allowed sOAZ to talk with other teams going into 2022. According to a recent Tweet by sOAZ, his plan is to compete as a player, listing several different leagues. The leagues in question sOAZ highlighted are the LEC, LCS and LFL. His ultimate goal is to return to the LEC and compete at Worlds.
With a career competing for almost a decade, sOAZ is one of the most experienced and successful top laners in Western League of Legends history. With long histories on organizations such as Origen and Fnatic, he has been a mainstay especially in the European scene, with additional playing time in North America.
sOAZ's accomplishments include competing at Worlds six times, winning the EU LCS/LEC Championship four times, and at two times playing in the Worlds Finals.
Fellow players, analysts, and journalists have been excited by the announcement, with many dubbing it as “The Return of the King”.
Over the past year, sOAZ’s tenure as a coach did not yield the strongest results for LDLC OL. Over the 2021 season in the LFL, LDLC OL only achieved a ninth place finish in Spring, and a fifth place playoff exit in Summer.
The move comes in line with a recent phenomenon of older retired players rejoining the game. The most recent notable examples include European veteran Kiss "Vizicsacsi" Tamás competing with the Oceanic team PEACE at this year’s Worlds, as well as Korean player Noh "Gamsu" Yeong-jin winning LCS Proving Grounds 2021 Summer with 100 Thieves Academy. At the age of 27, sOAZ will be one of the oldest players competing if he is to return to the LEC.
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