The Three Biggest League of Legends Roster Changes This Offseason
Professional League of Legends looks forward to the 2020 season with a number of exciting roster changes.
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The professional League of Legends offseason came in full force this year, bringing a multitude of exciting and unexpected roster moves. Though we won’t get to see these new lineups in action until 2020, we can speculate about which roster changes hold the most weight going into the new year.
Immortals Get Xmithie
Former Team Liquid member Jake “Xmithie” Puchero was by far one of the hottest prospects on the free agent market. The Filipino-American player first joined Team Liquid ahead of the 2018 season, taking over as their starting jungler. During his tenure with Liquid, the team won four straight LCS titles and reached the Grand Final of the Mid-Season Invitational in 2019. After such a dominant year in their domestic league, Team Liquid were heavily favored to make a deep run at this year’s World Championship. Many fans turned on Xmithie after Team Liquid failed to advance to the Worlds knockout stage. Xmithie’s contract ran out shortly after Worlds, and the jungler quickly became one of the most exciting players in free agency.
Immortals released their League of Legends team in 2017 since they had not acquired a slot in the newly-franchised LCS. Immortals Gaming Club rejoins the LCS after their purchase of OpTic Gaming parent company Infinite Esports and Entertainment. The organization turned heads after their signing of Xmithie, the single most sought-after free agent in North America. The veteran jungler will be joined by top laner Paul “sOAZ” Boyer, mid laner Jérémy “Eika” Valdenaire, AD carry Johnny “Altec” Ru, and support Nickolas “Hakuho” Surgent. As the shining star of the roster, Xmithie will be challenged to lead Immortals to the same heights he reached on Team Liquid.
Gen.G Rebuild
Gen.G Esports will go into 2020 with a goal of redemption, as their rebuilt roster hopes to lead the organization to League of Legends greatness. The Gen.G name has struggled to build a League legacy since their initial signing of the World Championship-winning Samsung Galaxy roster in 2017. Their middle-of-the-pack placings in 2019 were followed up by a roster overhaul during the offseason. With the starting lineup down to just an AD carry and support, Gen.G sought out some of Korea’s best to fill the roster.
Taking over the jungler position is former SK Telecom T1 player Kim “Clid” Tae-min, joined by former Kingzone DragonX top laner Kim “Rascal” Kwang-hee and mid laner Gwak “Bdd” Bo-seong. The new roster lacks no starpower, as each addition boasts an extensive career full of LCK season wins and World Championship play-off appearances. Rascal and Bdd will reunite under the Gen.G banner, having won LCK Spring 2018 together on Kingzone DragonX. Clid found his own success with SKT in 2019, having won both LCK Spring and Summer, and having placed 3-4th at both the Mid-Season Invitational and Worlds. The new-and-improved Gen.G roster will debut in LCK Spring 2020, looking to bring League of Legends prestige to the organization’s name.
New Look T1
Also known as SK Telecom T1, Korean powerhouse T1 was left searching as many player contracts ran out after the 2019 World Championship. Top laner Kim “Khan” Dong-ha and jungler Kim “Clid” Tae-min left the starting roster, while legendary coach Kim “kkOma” Jeong-gyun also parted ways with the team. Coming off an impressive 2019, T1 looked to fill those vacancies with players who could live up to the team’s name. While they found no shortage of talent, T1 will now have to take on 2020 without kkOma standing behind them.
Former Gen.G top laner Kim “Roach” Kang-hui links up with SKT, while Moon “Cuzz” Woo-chan joins as jungler. They will play on the starting roster alongside Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok, Park “Teddy” Jin-seong, and Lee “Effort” Sang-ho. Taking over for kkOma is World Champion coach Kim “Kim” Jung-su, who led both Samsung Galaxy and Invictus Gaming to World Championship Grand Finals, the latter taking home the title.
T1 now look to improve on their 2019, in which they won both LCK Spring and Summer, though failed to reach the Final of the Mid-Season Invitational and the World Championship. The new roster hopes to live up to the legacy built by some of the most formidable names in professional League of Legends.
Each of these teams will debut next year in their respective regional leagues. The most successful squads will fight for international glory at the 2020 Mid-Season Invitational and World Championship.
Link Source : https://www.thegamer.com/three-biggest-league-of-legends-roster-changes/