YellOwStaR was willing to stay with TSM if needed

TSM is one of the best organizations in Esports because they know how to grow their brand, and one of the ways they do that is with their very insightful YouTube series TSM:Legends.

The episode to conclude the split that just ended finally came out last night, and it was a fantastic 40-minute episode that followed the team during their finals trip in Las Vegas.

That was the main thing of the episode, but it also dealt with something else that was a big deal: Bora “YellOwStaR” Kim’s departure from the team.

It was nearly a week ago since the announcement of YellOwStaR leaving TSM, but we never got any specifics as to why it happened. TSM fans everywhere so desperately wanted closure, and they finally got that last night.

The last few minutes of TSM:Legends was spent with YellOwStaR talking about the situation.

What’s really sad to hear is that his confidence was at an all-time low after the regular season and he thought the team might be better off without him. “Even before practicing for playoffs, I asked the management what I could do better. I even asked if it was a good decision for me to step down and let someone else maybe be replaced. It was a really short amount of time right before playoffs, so we came to a conclusion that it would be the best for the team, for me to continue and give it everything so we might have a shot to actually win the Spring Split,” said YellOwStaR.

He went on to explain that the decision was absolutely not because of any of his teammates or anything like that. YellOwStaR confirmed that he had a great time with everyone and is leaving the team with no issues at all. As YellOwStaR so sadly put it, the reason he left TSM was because, “I just wouldn’t think that I would miss Europe that much, because it’s the first time I’m living abroad.”

Poor guy. He just wants to be home, and you can’t blame him for that. Putting yourself in a completely new world can be quite difficult, and it looks like YellOwStaR realized that North America simply wasn’t for him.

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What was really shocking to hear was that he was willing to stay with the team if everyone thought it was best. “If it really hurts the team and you guys don’t find someone else, then I’m willing to continue playing for the team because I see how everyone work really hard. They do the best they can. If we were not finding a replacement to fill the spot then I would be glad to help out the team,” said YellOwStaR.

However, it sounded like Andy “Reginald” Dinh wasn’t going to stop YellOwStaR from being happy. “Reginald was also respecting my choice and he’s making sure that he’s trying his best to help me out. I find it fantastic that he’s willing to give me a chance to return to Europe even though it might hurt the team,” explained YellOwStaR.

It was a kind gesture from YellOwStaR to continue offering his services to the team, but Reginald made the right choice. Not only is it good to let YellOwStaR go where he is most comfortable, but having a player that you know would rather be somewhere else doesn’t seem ideal. What if Reginald did ask YellOwStaR to stay for the next split and things went bad again – or perhaps even worse. Does TSM just suck at World’s? Would they even make World’s? Who knows, but that’s not a risk worth taking, and Reginald understood that.

It’s a shame that the YellOwStaR, TSM pairing couldn’t work out for the long haul, but that’s just how things go. Hopefully this is a move that helps out both TSM and YellOwStaR in the future.

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