100 Thieves Roster Update: New management, new signings, same expectations

Of all the teams making offseason changes so far in Free Agency, 100 Thieves have taken a holistic approach to their 2020 ambitions with a top down approach to front office signings. Adding former LCK caster Christopher “PapaSmithy” Smith into the General Manager position late into the season was an ambitious move that highlights the new direction 100T were headed in this year. The management overhaul continued with the addition of Tony “Zikz” Gray at Head Coach earlier this month.

Since Free Agency officially began, 100 Thieves have announced the return of Kim “Ssumday” Chan-ho to the starting lineup. 100T followed up this news with the return signing of William “Meteos” Hartman to the roster. Rumblings on the team’s subreddit have pegged up-and-coming Oceanic talent Tommy “ry0ma” Le as the rumored Mid Laner for the team but no official statement has been made as of yet.

Return to normalcy?

In the first video interview with PapaSmithy and Zikz, the newly signed General Manager and Head Coach envisioned a 2020 season filled with expectations and challenges. From the beginning, PapaSmithy has made it clear his ambitions as a General Manager revolve around being ‘hands on’ with his approach to roster building and culture development. Zikz echoed those sentiments as they both agreed that the future of 100 Thieves would revolve around keeping a strong nucleus of players to grow for years to come.

With the additions of Ssumday and Meteos, 100 Thieves have secured that strong veteran base to guarantee them top side stability and the possible addition of ry0ma has nothing but upside if he commits himself to learning and growing throughout the season. In a recent podcast on the 100 Thieves Youtube Channel, Founder and CEO Matthew “Nadeshot” Haag stressed that next season is focused on restructuring and maximizing this roster’s potential on a budget. Spending money on big name players will not be on the table.

Taking that into account, it makes sense to see Bae “Bang” Jun-sik move on to Evil Geniuses as the budgetary restraints on player wages has forced their roster in a different direction. The Free Agency field for bot lanes is up in the air as multiple names have been shopped around at both ADC and Support.

What the future holds

With two-fifths of the roster now confirmed, and ry0ma more than likely floating to the Academy team under the new ‘emerging regions’ rule for the league, the options for Mid, Bot and Support are up in the air for 100 Thieves. Many old school fans of Cloud9 are hoping that Zachary “Sneaky” Scuderi and Meteos can make a reunion as one of the greatest troll duos in LCS history, but there’s no guarantee 100 Thieves can pull that off from a financial perspective thus far.

Meteos’ contract was apparently a highly coveted signing this offseason as over half of the LCS rosters inquired over his availability. Signing the LCS veteran jungler was no doubt a pretty penny, and Ssumday’s rumored wage of 700k is no small fee to pay regardless of his domineering presence in top lane.

If 100 Thieves opt to go for a budget route in bot lane, former Echo Fox bot lane Apollo “Apollo” Price and Nickolas “Hakuho” Surgent could be a viable option as they look to fill out their roster with an import mid. If ry0ma proves himself enough to earn a starting spot with the LCS roster, a move for Sneaky or Cody Sun could formulate depending on how team chemistry is going at this stage of the offseason. Whatever the options are, 100 Thieves are poised to capitalize on the market with their new management at the helm.