Prominent Korean StarCraft II team Slayers has announced that it will be disbanding next month, following a number of player disputes and confrontations with the Korea eSports Federation.
According to a statement from Slayers co-owner Kim "Jessica" Ga Yeon, who formed Slayers last year with boyfriend and legendary Korean player Lim "Boxer" Yo Hwan, Slayers will shut down on November 3, after taking on MVP in the GomTV StarLeague.
Reasons cited for the move include clashes between Boxer and star player Mun "MMA" Seong Won, confrontations with the Korea eSports Federation, and various issues with the rest of the team's members.
Meanwhile, Boxer has announced that he will be the new head coach of SK Telecom.
According to Jessica, star players MMA and Yang "Alicia" Joon Sik have been demoted to the B team, where Alicia will be removed from the team soon for an undisclosed reason. Choi "CranK" Jae Won, who recently joined Axiom Gaming, is said to have been kicked off the team. Players Kim "Puzzle" Sang Jun, Choi "CoCa" Jong Hwan, and Hwang "Min" Doh Hyung have reportedly switched to League of Legends.
In the statement, Jessica stated that issues arose for Slayers initially when the Korean eSports Federation was being constructed, electing not to join the organisation. Disparagement between Slayers and the Korean eSports Federation continued over boycotting players into NASL Season 2 and Season 3.
The federation, led by StarTale Coach Won Jong-Wook, had reportedly forced all eSports Federation players and teams not to practice or speak with Slayers team members over the dispute.
Contractual issues within Slayers had star player MMA call the player contracts a "slave contract". Vastly different than contracts of KeSPA teams or Western professional teams, players signed to Slayers reportedly had no salary and less opportunity than other teams.
Jessica lays out that current Axiom player Crank told her he was leaving the team due to neck pain, and claims he is only going to play StarCraft II until the end of the year. She says she has a taped phone conversation "in case he denies it". Jessica also alleges that Crank is one of the leading reasons MMA has had these feelings regarding the team.
Team Axiom owner Genna Bain says she has heard nothing from Slayers management.
"Neither Axiom, nor CranK have received any correspondence from Slayers, legal or otherwise", she told GameSpot. "CranK was released from his contract due to medical reasons earlier this year. Since joining Axiom, CranK attends regular physiotherapy appointments and trains in a less stressful environment."
GameSpot has reached out for comment from Coach Won, and will continue to update this story. Details on other the future of other players will be announced soon on GameSpot.
