Søren “Bjergsen” Bjerg has retired from professional League of Legends, Team SoloMid announced today. After nearly seven years under the TSM banner, the legendary mid laner will transition to being the team’s head coach. With six domestic titles, Bjergsen is one of the most successful League of Legends players in North America.
In the announcement YouTube video, Bjergsen states that he is grateful for what playing League of Legends professionally with TSM has given him. The 24-year-old explains how he got into League of Legends as a “depressed kid in Denmark” who would continue playing competitively just to keep himself from having to go back to school.
Bjergsen joined Team SoloMid ahead of the 2014 North American LCS Spring Split, taking over as the team’s mid laner. TSM finished second overall that year, with Bjergsen taking home the Finals MVP title. TSM came back even stronger in the Summer Split, as Bjergsen and co. earned their first domestic title after taking down Cloud9 in the Final. The victory earned TSM a spot in the 2014 World Championship, where they reached the quarter-finals.
TSM continued their good placings in the years that followed, finishing first or second in every regional split through 2017. Despite those good performances, TSM struggled to make an impact on the international stage. The team never improved on their 2014 Worlds finish, and placed fifth in both Mid-Season Invitationals they competed in.
Having not won a domestic Split since 2017, TSM turned heads when they lifted the 2020 LCS Summer Split trophy, defeating Cloud9, Team Liquid, and FlyQuest to do so. The victory earned TSM their first World Championship appearance in three years. Mirroring his early TSM years, Bjergsen earned the most regular season and play-offs MVPs of the Summer season.
Despite their good showing at home, TSM struggled to find similar results at Worlds. The team was eliminated from the group stage with an 0-6 record, becoming the first pool one team to go winless in Worlds history. While this was a hot topic in the League world, Bjergsen assures fans that this is not his reason for retiring. The mid laner states that he’s been thinking about retiring “for a long time,” and he doesn’t want it to seem like a “sudden reaction to [their] poor Worlds run.”
Bjergsen, a stakeholder in TSM, will return to the organization’s League of Legends division as the team’s head coach beginning in 2021. The 2021 LCS Spring season is expected to start sometime early next year.
Source: TSM