General News League of Legends Player News

The 2019 season of competitive League of Legends is long over with Fun Plus Pheonix winning the Worlds Championship in Paris on Nov 10. Therefore, offseason with LCS major roster updates begins. For the North American region, things did not go as planned at Worlds and that saw the year end much sooner.

The region’s offseason is filled with a lot of major transfers from all 10 teams. Some teams are certainly making big-name splash moves for the 2020 season while others are doing the opposite. From major roster updates to bizarre roster changes, the LCS offseason has it all.

Team Liquid

Broxah Arrives at TL

The first on the list of roster updates is Team Liquid. Winners of the LCS 2019 Summer Playoffs have made some significant changes to their squad. TL said goodbye to Jake “Xmithie” Pochero and hello to Fnatic’s Mads “Broxah” Brock-Pedersen. Team Liquid’s decision to drop Xmithie may have to do with its need to build a team that can compete at peak League of Legends. Broxah’s jungler mechanics and experience playing at the highest level in Europe will add different dynamics to the team.

Team SoloMid

Farewell, @LolZven! Thanks for all your dedication and hard work over the last 2 years. Nothing but respect! 👊🤝 pic.twitter.com/uqqu7AAwGS — TSM (@TSM) November 19, 2019 TSM bids Zven farewell

The second team with changes is Team SoloMid. 2019 was not a good year for them and they are not slowing down with a roster upheaval. Support player “Andy “Smoothie” Ta was traded for CLG’s Vincent “Biofrost” Wang. Jesper “Zven” Svenningsen went out the door and in came Splyce’s Kasper “Kobbe” Kobberup and Joshua “Dardoch” Hartnett. With mid laner, Søren “Bjergsen” Bjerg signing a player-owner contract at TSM early in October, his influence on the team’s playstyle may increase.

Cloud 9

Fresh off of a Worlds top 16 appearance in his rookie year – Support player Philippe "Vulcan" Laflamme joins the Cloud9 League of Legends in the 2020 offseason!



Welcome to the #C9Fam, @Vulcanlol! #C9WIN pic.twitter.com/zemwMe9RQM — Cloud9 (@Cloud9) November 19, 2019

Cloud 9 is no stranger to roster changes as every year they relish a new challenge. After failing to qualify for Worlds playoffs for the first time ever, changes were almost inevitable. Colin “Kumo” Zhao, Tristan”Zeyzal” Stidam, Dennis “Svenskeren” Johnsen all left the squad. As a result, Phillip “Vulcan” Laflamme and TSM’s Zven replaced them. Cloud 9’s roster for 2020 seems pretty decent to put up a challenge. However, the team awaits the decision of bot laner, Zachary “Sneaky” Scuderi on his future. The arrival of Zven means if Sneaky decides to stay, he will see limited game time and fight for a first-team start.

Evil Geniuses

EG welcomes Zeyzal

The fourth team in the LCS major roster updates list is Evil Geniuses. This team is on a quest to overall LCS and World’s domination and their player signings suggest so. EG returns to the LCS after being absent since 2014 after buying Echo Fox slot. So far, they have signed Cloud 9’s Zeyzal and Svenskeren. Also, they signed 100 Thieves AD carry Bae “Bang” Jun-sik. With their roster not yet complete, the additions so far are good for a team looking to kick things off.

100 Thieves

100 thieves announce Coach Zikz

Another team with big changes is 100 Thieves. This team changes are not only in team roster but also in management. From new general manager to coach and addition of some players, 100 Thieves looks to put the past far behind them. They have signed former Immortals player, William “Meteos” Hartman and look to sign AD carry Cody “Cody Sun” Li-Yu in the coming days.

The rest North American Teams

Apart from these teams, LCS major roster updates have gone down at Immortals, rebranded Dignitas, Fly Quest, CLG and Golden Guardians.

Immortals signed mid laner, Jérémy “Eika” Valdenaire, TL’s Xmithie and are looking to finalize deals for three more players to join their 2020 squad. Dignitas let go of mid-laner Tanner “Damonte”. They also resigned Heo “Huni” Seung-hoon in a contract reportedly worth $2.3 million. Huni is rumored to start as Dignitas midlaner for the 2020 season.

In addition, former Counter Logic Gaming mid laner Tristian “PowerOfEvil” Schrage joins FlyQuest.

Golden Guardians offseason seems like the most underwhelming of all teams. They promoted Yuri “Keith” Jew from Academy roster to the main LCS lineup and bought jungler Can “Closer” Çelik and former Cloud9 mid-laner Greyson “Goldenglue” Gilmer. We’ll have to see what this lineup have to offer, will GG players silence doubters in the 2020 season?

As the 2020 season draws nearer, all teams are almost set to battle for LCS, MSI and World Championship glory.