Offseason moves make the world go 'round, as they say, and the LCS has already had plenty of those. With Season 7 fast approaching, we're highlighing the most important roster swaps.
North American LCS
Team SoloMid: The biggest news of the offseason was certainly Yiliang “Doublelift” Peng’s hiatus. Failing to make it out of Groups at Worlds this year was definitely a blow to TSM’s confidence, but Doublelift has to be feeling his years as well. As one of the oldest players in League of Legends history, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that he’s looking for some well-earned rest.
Replacing Doublelift is none other than Jason "WildTurtle" Tran, whose return to TSM has been widely speculated. While Turtle's performance at IEM Oakland left much to be desired, there's no denying that he's a world-class ADC and won't have to spend as much time to sync with his old team.
Team Liquid: After Joshua “Dardoch” Harnett left the team, Liquid was going to need a solid jungler to replace him. They might have found one in the form of Kim “Reignover” Yeu-jin, whose departure from Immortals has been watched with great interest. While there’s still no official statement from Yeu-jin or Team Liquid, his addition to the team would place Liquid in an excellent spot to finally break their fourth-place curse.
Immortals: Oh how the mighty have fallen. Despite finishing first in both of their LCS splits, IMT has suffered from two humiliating playoffs performances that must’ve left their team disappointed and frustrated.
What followed was an absolute fracturing of the Immortals organization. Adrian “Adrian” Ma has already departed to join Phoenix1’s squad, and Heo “Huni” Seung-hoon has left to play for three-time world champions SK Telecom T1. Kim “Reignover” Yeu-jin meanwhile will be heading off to Team Liquid. IMT should be considering themselves fortunate that Eugene "Pobelter" Park has resigned for the next two years - even with him staying, they'll need to do some serious restructuring before the next competitive split. The recent signing of Dardoch gives them at least a little hope for a good split.
Echo Fox: Despite a disappointing 7th-place finish in the 2016 Summer Split, Echo Fox may be looking to make big moves come spring. In a leaked video, Pobelter has mentioned that FOX may be acquiring Jang “Looper” Hyeong-seok and Lucas “Santorin” Larsen, in addition to discussing the possibility of going to play for them himself. If that’s the case, Echo Fox will be in a strong position to make a playoff run this year.
European LCS
Fnatic: It’s probably safe to say that Fnatic has fallen from the top of the table. The first blow was losing Huni and Reignover at the beginning of the Spring Split. The second was losing Bora “YellOwStaR” Kim to retirement at the close of the Summer Split. Now, with Febiven and Spirit leaving the roster as well, Fnatic is in the worst shape they’ve ever been in. Fans will have to hold out hope that they can rebuild their roster almost from scratch, but without a veteran like YellOwStaR to hold it together, it’s going to be difficult.
Origen: Origen have fallen alongside their sister team Fnatic. With Enrique "xPeke" Martinez removing himself from the roster, and the departure of Maurice "Amazing" Stückenschneider and Paul "Soaz" Boyer, Origen is left with barely a team to field.
H2K: Despite making it all the way to the semifinals of Worlds this year, H2K couldn’t keep the team together. Aleš "Freeze" Kn?žínek, Konstantinos "FORG1VEN" Tzortziou, and Yoo "Ryu" Sang-ook have all departed for greener pastures, though H2K was at least able to fill the hole in the midlane with Febiven. Finding a good ADC is going to be key for them going into the Spring Split.
