A major figure of the Japanese scene and the first Japanese player to join a major region, Shunsuke "Evi" Murase announced on Friday, September 4 that he is ending his career as a professional player.
At 30, Evi confirmed on stream, then on his socials, that he is hanging up the keyboard at the end of this season. Eleven years as a pro, twelve LJL titles and six Worlds appearances.
The face of Japanese LoL
Starting out in 2015, the top laner established himself as the cornerstone of DetonatioN FocusMe, the team with which he dominated the LJL for years and represented Japan on the international stage. Alongside Yutapon and Ceros, he embodied that generation of Japanese players capable of rattling teams ranked far above them on paper.
In his farewell message, Evi himself looks back on the moments that defined his journey: the first win over the Brazilian representative that got DFM through the Worlds qualifiers, a DWG KIA pushed to the brink at MSI 2021 before pulling off a comeback, and then the victory over Cloud9 at Worlds 2021 that sent a Japanese team to the group stage for the very first time.
