While many of theScore eSports' readers were taking a break from the offseason bustle to spend time with family and friends, the Chinese League of Legends transfer period ended. Several League of Legends Pro League teams publicized surprising changes from Jian "Uzi" Zihao joining QG Reapers to EDward Gaming shuffling their substitute players to their rebranded League of Legends Secondary Pro League team, EDE.

Now is the time to cut out the noise and isolate the most important moves before all the LPL rosters finalize. QG Reapers' new AD carry and Royal Never Give Up's ten-man roster have attracted the most attention, and rightfully so. Team WE's conservative, yet positive, moves haven't ruffled as many feathers but in terms of cost and efficiency, WE have made the smartest choices this offseason.

The swagger pickup: QG sign Uzi

Prior to Intel Extreme Masters Cologne, manager Li "LinkO" Linke told fans the QG Reapers wouldn't make major roster changes. The acquisition of QG by Chinese organization, Newbee, gave the team the assets to change that. Uzi, speculated to have one of the largest buyouts in the history of League of Legends, has joined the QG Reapers.

Since Uzi's signing, QG and Newbee are singing an entirely different song, and Newbee CEO Tong "CuZn" Xin recently told the Chinese publication duowan that QG Reapers will add one to two players per role to their existing roster. Like Royal Never Give Up, they're building a ten-man team.

As a result, it's impossible to completely assess Uzi's transfer to QG until their full roster is known. But given the fact that QG play a very interesting style of League of Legends, there's a lot to be said about how Uzi will integrate with the existing roster.

AD carry Yu "TnT" Rui joined the QG Reapers before any other player on the team. Initially, the idea was to build the team with TnT as its central figure, which is exactly what happened — even if the team doesn't appear to necessarily play around him. Building a team around TnT doesn't mean loading up on peel resources or always forcing the jungler to gank his lane; it means allowing him to function on his own in a fight and open up possibilities for the team to build other threats.

At Intel Extreme Masters Cologne, QG shifted more toward the composition of threats they used in the LSPL. Bao "V" Bo played a restricted pool made up almost completely of Maokai and Hecarim in the LPL, but has historically favored carries. At IEM Cologne, jungler Baek "Swift" Daehoon ganked his lane most often, just as he had in the LSPL. When he did not receive jungle pressure during the LPL, V would occasionally fall more behind in lane than TnT, limiting his effectiveness.

Swift and Uzi are similar players in different roles

While it's a fair criticism to say that the QG Reapers' drafts and playstyle made it seem as if they had prepared for Cologne by watching the World Championship — several patches behind — it's also true that the team played more toward their strengths. Using top and jungle as the main threats requiring peel and allowing TnT to play on his own have enabled QG to have more success and run as many as three threats per game.

Mid laner Kim “Doinb” Taesang and support Zhang “TcT” Hongwei have corroborated that QG’s more supportive players spend more of their energy following up on V and Swift. “QG’s jungler and top lane want to pick champions to rush into and engage fights,” TcT said, “so we really need someone to play more defensive roles like Janna.”

He also told theScore, “my job is to not only worry about TnT, but to take care of the other three on the team.”

When describing his in-game relationship with Swift, Doinb made it sound as if his primary focus is to follow Swift in fights. “I will just follow him if he goes in,” Doinb said.

With the rest of the team focusing on following up V and Swift's engages and keeping them safe, TnT is still able to be effective. TnT managed to earn 254 kills in the LPL this year, the most in the League. He also had the second fewest deaths of any player on his team at 117. It isn’t uncommon for TnT to get “Flame horizoned” in lane, but his strength is that his self-sufficiency allows his team to diversify outside one of their strongest carries.

By contrast, Uzi has almost always been the star of his teams. He’s done best when his mid laners play primarily supportive mages like Orianna and his supports provide area of effect lockdown and peel for him to have his way in team fights. Uzi gets resources because his team succeeds best when he has a lead, and so he seems to demand them.

Also unlike TnT, Uzi excels in lane where he has been known to contest nearly every creep against his opponents. This also makes him aggressive early, and Star Horn Royal Club only really succeeded last summer when the meta shifted back into 2v2s, and Choi “inSec” Inseok focused on hovering around his lane, ready to turn any engagement into a 3v2 or 3v3. Without this developed style, Uzi's aggression could sometimes punish him.

During the past year, Uzi’s self-reliance improved, but he also earned the highest percentage of team gold in the league, and a stylistic clash between himself and assassin player Yu “cool” Jiajun made OMG look, at times, more holistic with rookie AD carry Yan “North” Hong. Uzi, like Swift, is the kind of player who forces teams to adapt to him rather than the other way around. He takes fights that would be questionable if his team didn't jump in after him and support him

Uzi is certainly a better player than North, but North allowed the team to play differently.

Uzi’s aggressiveness will likely improve the QG Reapers’ early game pressure, which is something they never would have achieved with their old lineup. Yet the challenge will come in juggling V, Swift, and Uzi on one team. With only so many peel resources to go around, viewers might see QG’s teamfight cohesion decline, much as it did for OMG.

One of Uzi's most successful teams, Star Horn Royal Club, had a jungler who had a similarly awkward sense for engagement to Swift. inSec and Swift have been compared frequently for their tendencies to leap into disadvantageous situations. It took Uzi and inSec most of a split to find symbiosis and simply jump into fights together.

V poses an additional challenge. Jiang "Cola" Na's more reserved play made him less of a powerful asset than V, but both V and Swift can be described as "engage-heavy" players on QG, which is a trait Cola didn't share. A roster with V, Swift and Uzi poses the real challenge to work around.

Adding a jungler or top laner who may behave differently from Swift or V in teamfights to the lineup may be beneficial. After all, when asked recently about how he feels to be on team with TnT again, Uzi told a duowan reporter, “I think [TnT] is also very strong, and I told him we should rotate on the team. We will progress together, hoping to achieve good results as a team.”

If the QG Reapers do really plan to run an effective ten man roster, signing a jungler that complements Uzi the way Swift complements TnT should be the first priority.

Royal really never gives up: RNG's new ten man roster

While QG have only mentioned a ten-man roster in passing, Royal Never Give Up have actually unveiled their own. In addition to maintaining the five players who started for the majority of games in the 2015 LPL Summer, Royal have brought on players from their affiliated LSPL rosters: Team King and Star Horn Royal Club. Also joining them are two ex-Samsung White World Champions.

Royal Never Give Up at nVidia Galaxy Esports Carnival, announcing their Korean additions

To dispel misconceptions over Royal Never Give Up's two offseason tournament wins at the National Electronic Sports Tournament and World Cyber Arena, the team has improved since they were nearly relegated this summer — just not that much.

In the last three weeks of the LPL regular season, Royal made a convincing run from bottom two to ninth place and were one win against Vici Gaming away from earning a spot into the playoffs. Jungler Liu "Mlxg" Shiyu was allegedly in tears after the loss, as the team had truly believed they could make it.

In the last two weeks of the LPL, Royal Never Give Up seemed to suddenly re-acquire the spunk that had made them successful as Team King. Mlxg took daring invades that still occasionally backfired, their teamfighting improved and they just seemed to do something rather than passively lose. The team's Week 10 surge in which they split with the QG Reapers and Invictus Gaming and 2-0'd Snake coincided with the return of ex-Royal Club coach, Kim "VicaL" Sunmook. It could be an extreme coincidence, but something had put extra pep in their step.

Royal Never Give Up's tournament wins, however, may draw more on their nearly inexplicable offseason luck. Three of five of Royal's players were members of Team King, the team that demolished the 2014-2015 offseason, only ever losing to the indomitable EDward Gaming. With EDG dropping out of all offseason tournaments this year, RNG simply win them.

During the offseason, many teams lack focus and continuity. As Royal maintain their all-Chinese lineup, they can take advantage of less coordinated teams and appear stronger than they are. Either that or some strange coincidence makes the team magic in the offseason and incapable of placing above seventh in the LPL.

Regardless, Royal don't have bad players. None of the ten players they've signed are simply resource drains or holes in the lineup. Yan "letme" Junze's growth as a player in 2015 may allow him to compete with other great Chinese tops in the LPL like Tong "Koro1" Yang or Li "Flandre" Yuanjun. While Jang "looper" Hyeong-seok hasn't had the same growth as letme, it's no coincidence that almost all the top laners Cho "Mata" Sehyeong has played with have been known for their Teleports. Their reunion could reignite looper's ability to stretch the map.

Captain Mlxg's tendency to throw has its downsides, but his early game daring can give Royal monstrous leads. Choi "inSec" Inseok may not see much play time until he earns his "Chinese player" designation this summer, but his favorite aggressive champions are rejoining the meta.

I was happy to see Zhou "Sask" Yixiang return to the LPL, as his Ahri often kept King afloat in the Spring split. He has a similar skill level to Li "xiaohu" Yuanhao with complementary champion pools and playstyles that could actually give the team dimension if executed well.

If I write any more about why I value Zhu "NaMei" Jiawen as a player, readers are likely to revolt. Wang "wuxx" Cheng has shown a fair amount of his own mechanical promise, but his decision-making will benefit a lot from experience.

Mata needs no introduction, despite a rough 2015. Toward the end of summer, Mata, like Royal Club, had a resurgence, and viewers saw hints of his old play-making. Even if Mata doesn't play Le, "LeY" Yi has the shine of a rising Chinese support with astronomical kill participation numbers and a developing warding technique.

But a team's performance isn't based upon talent alone. With a similar roster, Royal Never Give Up still did poorly in both splits. Despite mild improvements, they face considerable challenges.

VicaL rejoining the team could prove beneficial, as he is one of the few Korean coaches with experience working with Chinese players, and Star Horn Royal Club had success under his leadership. Yet Kim "Fly" Sangchul will serve as the head coach, and his service to Team Impulse wasn't award-winning.

Mata and NaMei may look like they have the potential to be one of the greatest bottom lanes of all time, but NaMei considered retirement this offseason, and despite his recent apologies to fans, Mata has been notoriously uncooperative in China.

It would be a great final year for one of League of Legend's greatest AD carries if NaMei found his old motivation, but I expect wuxx to start for most of the year. If stories are true of his flagging motivation in Team King, NaMei may become RNG's window-dressing.

Even an RNG without NaMei and Mata would be solidly middle-of-the-pack, but at the moment that bottom lane is the eye-catcher of the team, and I doubt it will live up to expectations.

Under the radar: WE's quiet but promising changes

The main players of WE's 2015 Summer lineup

The loss of Lee "Spirit" Dayoon, indisputably one of the world's greatest junglers, should have devastated Team WE. Their lineup had too many notable weaknesses, and the apparent lack of communication between players always made them look more like a group of solo queue-ers that Spirit deigned to carry.

In the first tournament in which WE participated without Spirit with the rest of their roster intact, WE triumphed, defeating Invictus Gaming, Vici Gaming and Snake in the process. While I don't hold stock in offseason tournaments, improvements in communication and meta understanding were obvious.

Since the National Electronic Sports Open, WE held onto their main carries, Su "xiye" Hanwei and Jin "Mystic" Seongjun. Despite their flaws, xiye and Mystic showed obvious strengths, and they, along with Spirit, placed top three in Ionian solo queue toward the middle of the season.

WE built around their strengths by replacing their weaker Chinese players. Ke "957" Changyu had my eye since Team WE Future qualified for the LSPL last year and has developed into a strong new top laner who could progress well. Peng "Aluka" Zhenming's limited champion pool and awkward laning phase made the upgrade necessary.

Support Ke "Conan" Yi did his best work on mage-style supports like Janna, but his fumbles on tankier picks like Nautilus made his performances occasionally comical. WE were often berated by fans for their supports, and both Conan and Zhang "Yuzhe" Zhe expressed emotional exhaustion that may have worsened their quality of play.

Yoon "Zero" Kyungsup suffered the same struggles as his bottom lane partner, NaMei, last year, and his worsening attitude occasionally expressed itself with troll builds in professional games. Yet his obvious skill ceiling can still make him a choice worth gambling on if WE can promote a better environment — that's a big if, but continuing to play with Conan could create a different kind of problem for WE.

Zero's signing will also facilitate communication in the bottom lane, as both he and Mystic are Korean players. Chinese junglers Wang "WuShuang" Haili and Xiang "Condi" Renjie aren't the same caliber as Spirit, but both have shown great promise as rookies, and WuShuang's communication with his solo laners appeared powerful in NESO.

I should make it clear that I don't remotely expect WE to place at the top of the league. WE is not a top team, but they weren't before; before they were a bottom team.

Yet WE's quiet moves show a level of intelligence and understanding regarding the weaknesses of the team's roster that bode well for their development next year, and they likely didn't have to drop exorbitant amounts of cash to sign quality upgrades. WuShuang and Zero came to WE as free agents, and Condi and 957 transferred from a partner organization and a sister team in the LSPL.

The rushed laning phase that has emerged with preseason changes falls into the wheelhouse of solo queue stars xiye and Mystic, giving WE the potential to slip into a higher placing next year. With LGD Gaming, Snake and the QG Reapers in Group A, WE may be underestimated and overlooked when they should be applauded. No one should make that mistake.

Kelsey Moser is a staff writer for theScore eSports. You can follow her on Twitter.