The new season is upon us and with that comes a slew of new faces. With franchising, there has come a willingness to field new players and foster promising talent without the dismay of relegations being the ghastly beast breathing down from the shadows. These new players haven’t seen much spotlight, so many fans may not know what to expect from them. Here’s a compiled list of the rookies and what one can expect coming into the 2018 Spring Split.

Cloud 9 (Top): Eric “Licorice” Ritchie

Licorice has been on everyone’s radar for quite some time, from his beginnings in solo queue, with his carry top lane champion Fiora to most recently, the Challenger team, eUnited. Although he was previously known as a carry top laner, he’s shown proficiency on the champion Shen and also displaying his signature Poppy from time to time. Being a replacement for the veteran Jung “Impact” Eon-yeong, many have considered Licorice a downgrade from the former world champion.

The current meta might play to Licorice’s strengths, as a diverse number of picks from the top lane have appeared, one could see some stellar plays from Licorice. Once the patches stabilize , we’ll see if Licorice can adapt to the meta and play both tank and carry style at the LCS level.

Cloud 9 should look to allow Licorice to take the reigns of a carry champion eventually, but it would be unwise to put the massive burden on him during the start of the season. With pressure from Nicolaj “Jensen” Jensen and a possibility for new jungler Dennis “Svenskeren” Johnsen to return to his former carry style, there’s no need to rush Licorice into being a critical part of their damage compositions.

* Courtesy of Riot Games

Clutch Gaming (Top): Colin “Solo” Earnest

Solo (while technically not a rookie [see Echo Fox]) was previously on Gold Coin United, playing a variety of styles, but often falling back on his Rumble and Renekton picks. Solo is a well-rounded player, having had time on the Challenger team Cloud9 Tempest in 2015, it’s clear to see that Solo is a tenured player looking to prove that he has survived the different meta in order to reach the LCS. Solo’s play alone wouldn’t be enough for GCU to climb into the LCS, as they lost to eUnited in the loser’s bracket. During that time, Solo’s play was decent, showing that he could showcase some impressive moves, due to his knowledge of xp timings and minion wave management, but ultimately succumbing to eUnited’s superior teamplay and Licorice being more impactful around the map on the Shen pick.

Solo is the perfect pick for Clutch Gaming, as Nam “LirA” Tae-yoo will have the ability to carry the early game and only require Solo to function during the ladder parts of the game. With Solo being the rookie of the squad, he will get the chance to be an absorbent sponge of knowledge to escalate his own game play and be a structural schematic in the top lane.

* Courtesy of Riot Games

FlyQuest (Jungle): Andy “AnDa” Hoang

Not much is publicly known about AnDa other than being the cousin of An “Balls” Van Le. AnDa comes from the Challenger scene in 2016, on Dream Team, where he played in the top lane under the name “Chorong”, while his teammate Vincent “Biofrost” Wang played support. During his time on Dream Team, he played a majority of tanks, given the meta, but you could occasionally see him following in the footsteps of Balls with the signature Rumble pick. Ultimately, Dream Team fell short of making the Challenger playoffs, facing the likes of veteran squad Apex Gaming throughout the regular season. AnDa is known for being a jungler in solo queue, flexing his muscles on the mechanically-intensive Nidalee, which he used to climb to top 15 in the Korean solo queue ladder. AnDa’s inauguration is perfectly timed with the meta, as the Spellthief buff should allow him to play his comfort pick. AnDa could start off to a hot start in 2018 if his Nidalee isn’t banned.

AnDa is in a precarious position in regards to his teammates. Without AnDa to snowball an early lead for the team, one could see FlyQuest flounder during the early stages of the game. With top laner Lee “Flame” Ho-jong, we’ll most likely see pressure building through the top side of the map and it’s up to AnDa to make sure that the early game is played to their win conditions and help accelerate the game with his signature early game champions.

* Courtesy of Riot Games

FlyQuest (Mid): Song “Fly” Yong-jun

Fly takes the helm of the mid lane, while also having a more apt name than Hai “Hai” Lam for the new FlyQuest roster. Although he isn’t familiar to the NA LCS, he played in the LCK under Longzhu Gaming in the Spring Split of 2016, known for playing roaming champions such as Aurelion Sol and Taliyah. Fly would later join GCU and outclass his opponents in lane, often getting substantial lane leads. The key thing to consider about Fly is whether he will be able to adapt to the culture of NA and develop strong communication skills in order to properly take advantage of his roaming playstyle.

In conjunction with his teammate AnDa, he’ll have a large responsibility coordinating invades with his jungler. Knowing when to roam or establish strong lane priority for his jungler’s movements will be a key factor in how well AnDa can perform with his new teammates, but his roaming style may be just the thing to reignite Flame.

* Courtesy of Riot Games

Golden Gaurdians (ADC): Matthew “Deftly” Chen

Deftly was previously on eUnited with Licorice as his top laner. Deftly and eUnited failed to qualify into the LCS, after losing to Phoenix1 in the loser’s bracket. His Ashe has seen reoccurring play in the 2017 Challenger Series Summer Split, so be on the lookout for that pick this spring. He hasn’t been hyped due to his laning efforts in eUnited, losing to the likes of Noh “Arrow” Dong-hyeon which wasn’t know to be a particularly strong laner in the Summer Split.

The most promising thing about Deftly is his ability to teamfight and his positioning skills. He’s shown good spatial awareness when it comes to knowing what threats to be wary of and when he can dish out damage, so it will be up to Golden Guardians to point-and-shoot their ADC in the correct direction. With a namesake taking after Kim “Deft” Hyuk-kyu, he’s got a long way to go to match his idol.

Hungry Bright Eyes

Considering eUnited’s performance, one might be surprised at Deftly being my focal point out of all the rookies, but the caveat I see in his career is with support Tristan “Zeyzal” Stidam, as he was unable to unleash his full potential with the given lane restriction of his support. That’s not to say Zeyzal was incredibly bad, but under a support such as Matthew “Matt” Elento, who has previously been developed through the tutelage of lane bully Chae “Piglet” Gwang-jin, Deftly will be able to show a more aggressive style and not be inhibited by his support. Lane bullies have shown their presence during the Demacia Cup, so Deftly has a prime opportunity in coordinating with Matt to produce an unexpectedly adept bot lane duo.

Even in the absence of these rookies performing to lofty heights, with the removal of Bo1, we could see more success from rookies considering their champion pool won’t be extensively tested. With their arrival, they are largely unknown factors, so we should see some interesting games coming into the 2018 Spring Split.

Here’s to making legends.