Seraph is the username of South Korean professional League of Legends player and former Twitch streamer Shin Woo-yeong who was known as one of the best Nidalee top players in his early career. He has played as a top laner for teams such as NaJin White Shield, Counter Logic Gaming, Team Dragon Knights, Team Impulse, Renegades, Team Envy and RunAway. He became a coach in December 2021, although he last played for LSB Challengers for five months in 2022.
Career
Seraph joined the Korean professional gaming team NaJin White Shield in November 2013 as a top lane substitute, although he played only one game with the team in OGN before his tenure with them ended in February 2014. Learning that Counter Logic Gaming was searching globally for a new top laner, he approached them for a tryout and was flown to North America for it in May 2014. He joined the team the same month. Amid high expectations, the team initially did well, only to eventually fail to qualify for World Championships, due to which Seraph's performance was called into question. In November that year, CLG announced that they would not renew Seraph's contract for the 2015 season and replaced him with ZionSpartan.
Changing his alias to kina, Seraph joined Team Dragon Knights in January and played in the NACS Spring Qualifier, where they defeated Team Frostbite and Storm to qualify for the spring season of NACS, following which he resumed using the alias Seraph again. They finished the season second, behind Enemy eSports, with a 7-3 record. They next went to the summer promotion tournament, where they won 3-1, successfully qualifying for the NA LCS Summer Split. As Emperor and Ninja were unable to join the team initially due to visa issues, the substitute team of TDK registered a 0-9 record, but they later won three matches, including one against first-place Team Dignitas, after the two rejoined the team in the fifth week. Nevertheless, they finished in the last place and were relegated to the 2016 NA Challenger Series Spring Season.
He stayed with TDK when they briefly changed their name to Team Arena Online in late 2015 and continued to play with them in 2016. However, he was loaned to Team Impulse for 8 days in January 2016 and was again loaned to Renegades for a week in March 2016, and represented both teams at the 2016 NA LCS Spring regular season. He subsequently joined Renegades that very month and played with them for two-and-a-half months. He then played with Team Envy between May 2016 and November 2017. Following a long gap due to military service, he played for RunAway in December 2019 before becoming a coach. However, he later played as a top laner for LSB Challengers in 2022.
Family Life
Seraph was born as Shin Woo-yeong to parents who own a restaurant in South Korea. He eventually returned to Korea to serve his mandatory military service and was discharged from the army in September 2019.
