Two rising jungle talents had their Champions Spring 2016 debuts today. One was significantly more impressive than the other.

Flawless and the horrible, no good, very bad day

One of the more talked about Korean talents prior to the start of Champions Spring, jungler Sung "Flawless" Yeonjun's professional debut with a much-improved SBENU Sonicboom went much more poorly than he would have liked.

First joining the team for the Champions Spring 2016 Qualifier, Flawless was a much-needed upgrade from previous jungler Yun "Catch" Sangho. He was aggressive, decisive, and helped lead SBENU to a 3-1 victory over Ever, requalifying the team for another Champions season. SBENU's first professional season was miserable for both the team's players and Champions audiences alike, with only one series win in 18 total across the entire season. The addition of Flawless offered hope that SBENU could find increasing success now that one of their greatest opportunity areas had been addressed.

Flawless only furthered this notion with SBENU's performance in the KeSPA Cup where they swept the Tigers in the first round and managed to take a game off of SK Telecom T1 before falling to the recently-crowned World Champions 1-2. Obviously, offseason tournament results should be taken more lightly than in-season professional games — the KeSPA Cup specifically was played shortly after Worlds, giving both the Tigers and SKT T1 little to no practice time — but for SBENU, it was proof that improvement would follow practice and preparation. With Flawless creating opportunities in the jungle, mid laner Oh "SaSin" Seungju and AD carry Sin "Nuclear" Jeonghyeon shone brightly and the entire team looked revitalized.

Of all junglers to shut down Flawless in his Champions debut, Score is an interesting choice. A veteran AD carry, Score only transitioned into the jungle role last year and had glaringly obvious weaknesses that were only helped by subsequent upgrades to his support. However, in these games against Flawless, Score had his adversary in his sights at all times. Flawless was given little to no room to breathe in his own jungle in both of SBENU's losses to KT Rolster thanks to stifling pressure from Score's Kindred and Elise respectively. It's still too early to tell just how good Score can be, but signs point to him no longer needing a constant buddy — like Lee "Piccaboo" Jongbeom in 2015 — to aid with map pressure and vision control.

Another KT player to keep an eye on this season is new mid laner Song "Fly" Yongjun, and not only for his apparent singing prowess in the booth. Fresh off of strong showings on both Lux and Kassadin in KT's series against the Afreeca Freecs, Fly played Viktor both games against SBENU and held mid with constant waveclear, supplemented by an occasional flash of strong team fighting. He looked well-coordinated with the rest of KT, and hopefully can have more of a steady presence than KT's previous mid laner, Kim "Nagne" Sangmoon — whose play notably suffered when not placed on a few key champions — aiding Score in controlling the map early.

Additionally, Score's attention to top in these games reflected not only a desire to get Kim "Ssumday" Chanho ahead of his opponent, Lee "SoaR" Gangpyo, but the easy identification of SBENU's greatest weakness. Neither SoaR nor SBENU's other top laner, Seo "Soul" Hyeonseok are particularly impressive. With the rest of SBENU ready to move forward from their abysmal 2015, SoaR and Soul aren't going to cut it against other Champions tops.

Peanuts

There's little to say about the husk of CJ Entus that hasn't already been said until their younger players are permitted to start for the team. However, as they count down the days until mid laner Gwak "Bdd" Boseong can sweep in like a fairy tale prince and save their season, it's time to remember a similar debut of last year, that of NaJin e-mFire's young jungler, Yoon "Peanut" Wanho.

With Cho "watch" Jaegeol presumably in the twilight of his career, NaJin fans eagerly awaited Peanut's debut. With the steady Lee "Duke" Hoseong in the top lane and rising star AD carry Oh "Ohq" Gyumin, Peanut was seen as a key component to help push NaJin towards another Champions title, or possible World Championship appearance. Initially, Peanut wasn't ridiculously impressive but showed strong mechanics and aggressive early decision making. He lacked coordination and experience in the mid to late game, but these issues presumably would be solved the more he played with the NaJin lineup.

Sadly, this was not meant to be. Peanut was subsequently benched for much of 2015 with both NaJin mismanagement and his own in-game attitude to blame. This attitude was the one reservation in calling him a perfect fit for this year's Tigers team, as they had previously struggled to integrate another jungler into their lineup for Champions Summer 2015.

Today's wins against a placeholder CJ Entus team might not mean a lot in the grand scheme of things, but provided an excellent test to see what this ROX Tigers team will look like with Peanut in the jungle. The Tigers were rightfully criticized for their lackluster to awful early game last year, and Peanut's inclusion looks to be a fantastic fit. The Tigers' second game clocked in at an approximately 21 minute victory, setting the stage for a stronger Tigers early game throughout this season. Peanut showcased his proactive style, taking Kindred into the jungle both games and making early plays for his team. Come mid game, he worked together with the Tigers instead of separating from his team and trying to force plays on his own, as he was prone to do during his NaJin tenure.

Emily Rand is a staff writer for theScore eSports. Her love for the 2013 KT Rolster Bullets will never die. You can follow her on Twitter.