Kanavi LoL: Career, Champions and Worlds 2026

Kanavi (Seo Jin-hyeok, 서진혁) is a South Korean jungler who plays for Hanwha Life Esports in the LCK. Born on 2 November 2000, he built his name in China with JD Gaming from 2019 to 2024, spent 2025 with Top Esports, and joined Hanwha Life for 2026. He won MSI 2023 in the LPL and MSI 2026 in the LCK.

His identity is the early-fighting jungler. Lee Sin, Vi, Xin Zhao, Wukong and Viego define his career, and every one of them wants to start fights, not wait for them. That has made him one of the few junglers who won titles as the main early-game threat in both of the strongest regions.

Kanavi’s results have survived the move to a new region almost untouched. In 2025 he played 200 games at a 62.5% win rate with Top Esports, and his 2026 win rate with Hanwha Life sits very close to that mark. Changing organization, league and teammates in one off-season and winning at the same rate is the clearest sign that his level travels.

The shape of his games has changed more than the results. He dies more often per game this year, so his KDA has dropped below the 3.83 he posted in 2025, and his kill participation is lower than last season’s. At the same time he farms more, earns more gold per minute and places more vision. Read together, that describes a jungler spending more of his time on camps, wards and objective setups, and less time attached to every skirmish.

His share of his team’s damage is almost exactly where it was last year, so he is not a carry-first jungler at Hanwha Life any more than he was at Top Esports. He has also kept a tighter pool, using fewer champions than the 28 he played in 2025.

Jarvan IV is his most played champion of 2026, but it is not where he wins most. His record on it is even, which makes Jarvan IV a draft tool more than a win condition: it gives Hanwha Life a reliable engage and a safe early pick that hides the rest of the composition.

Vi and Naafiri are the standouts on a real sample. Both have double-digit game counts and win far more often than they lose, and Naafiri has the highest win rate of anything he plays regularly. Naafiri is also the champion where he deals the most damage, which makes it his clearest carry option when the draft allows it.

Pantheon and Lee Sin round out the main rotation with comfortably winning records, while Xin Zhao, a long-time staple, has been closer to a coin flip this year. Nocturne and Trundle are the pocket picks: few games, but winning records on both. Qiyana is the riskiest pick in the pool, with an even record and more deaths per game than any of his regular champions. Cho’Gath, Skarner, Shyvana, Wukong, Aatrox and Sejuani all sit below five games this year, which is too few to judge.

Across his whole career, Lee Sin is the champion he has played most, with Vi, Xin Zhao, Wukong and Viego completing his signature list, and Nidalee holding one of the best long-term records in his pool.

Kanavi builds the same core on all three of his most played champions. On Jarvan IV, Vi and Pantheon he opens with Black Cleaver and Sundered Sky, adds Guardian Angel in most games, and turns to Maw of Malmortius when the enemy team has magic damage he needs to survive.

That core says a lot about how he wants games to go. Black Cleaver shreds armor for his whole team in long fights, Sundered Sky rewards him for trading in melee range, and Guardian Angel lets him be the first one in and still be alive at the end of the teamfight he started. It is a fighter’s build, not an assassin’s: he expects to stand in the middle of the enemy team rather than pick off a single target.

The runes follow the same logic. He takes Conqueror in Precision with Triumph and Cut Down, picking Legend: Haste on Jarvan IV and Pantheon and Legend: Alacrity on Vi. The secondary tree is Inspiration for Magical Footwear and Cosmic Insight, which trades early durability for free boots and extra haste so his ganks and objective setups come around sooner. Flash and Smite are fixed on every champion.

His latest games come from the LCK 2026 Season Playoffs, in series against Gen.G and T1. Alongside staples such as Jarvan IV, Lee Sin and Naafiri, he reached for Cho’Gath, Skarner and Qiyana, a sign that Hanwha Life used his flexibility to win draft phase in its biggest domestic series of the year.

Watch his best Jarvan IV, Vi and Pantheon wins of the season below.

Kanavi’s career runs through two regions and three organizations. He joined JD Gaming on 1 June 2019 and stayed until 30 August 2024, the longest spell of his career and the one that made him a fixture at the top of the LPL. With JD Gaming he won domestic titles, an MSI and reached two Worlds semifinals.

He moved to Top Esports on 16 December 2024 and played there until 9 November 2025. It was a single season, but a full one: Top Esports won the LPL 2025 Split 1 Playoffs, Split 2 and Split 3 with him in the jungle, and reached the final four at Worlds 2025.

On 6 December 2025 he signed with Hanwha Life Esports, bringing him to the LCK as a South Korean player who had built his whole career abroad. The fit was immediate, with domestic titles in the first half of 2026 and an MSI trophy by July. You can find more LCK and LPL players on the esports hub.

Kanavi’s record is defined by winning wherever he has played. MSI 2023 with JD Gaming and MSI 2026 with Hanwha Life make him an MSI champion with two organizations from two different regions, which very few junglers can claim.

Domestically, he has LPL titles from 2020, 2022, 2023 and 2025, including both the LPL 2023 Spring and Spring Playoffs. In Korea he added LCK 2026 Rounds 1–2 and the LCK 2026 Road to MSI in his first season with Hanwha Life.

The missing piece is Worlds. He finished 3rd–4th at Worlds 2022, Worlds 2023 and Worlds 2025, results that place him among the best junglers of his generation while leaving the one title he has not yet won.

Kanavi is at Worlds 2026 with Hanwha Life Esports, which qualified as Korea #2. The team goes straight to the Main Event and starts in the Swiss stage on 23 October 2026, with the knockouts to follow for the teams that advance. Follow every stage on the Worlds 2026 hub.