The five members of Team SoloMids's new roster gathered for the first time in Los Angeles as part of a large press conference hosted by Gillette.

The upcoming NA LCS season is going to be a big one as every team have upped their efforts due to the first ever franchised season.

TSM have maintained the services of Kevin 'Hauntzer' Yarnell and Soren 'Bjergsen' Bjerg. On top of that they have signed American prodigy Mike 'Mike Yeung' Yeung and the exciting bot lane of Jesper 'Zven' Svenningsen and Alfonso 'Mithy' Aguirre Rodriguez.

We spoke to the brand new roster of the NA LCS champions TSM at Gillette's press conference

The European bot lane have been a big talking point for LoL esports fans as the high-profile duo joined the NA LCS champions from the EU LCS champions, G2.

Both teams had very similar seasons with both failing to escape their group at the League of Legends World Championships. Still, Mithy says he expects the team to achieve good things: 'I think TSM and G2 share the same mindset of being the best you can be.

'Being with G2 or TSM won't changes things much for us but I like the way TSM operate with their focus on the branding and the competition side of things. They always try to be the best and aren't afraid to make tough decisions - that's something that was really appealing to me.

'I feel like moving to North America is something that will put me out of my comfort zone and every single time that's happened to me I've been able to grow as a player and a person - that's one of the main reasons I joined TSM.'

There have been a lot of European players reportedly joining the NA LCS from Europe but the most controversial of all has been Tristan 'PowerofEvil' Schrage. Many fans have turned on the former Misfits mid-laner after he opted to join OpTic Gaming in America.

Europe's mid lane representative at Lol All-Star, PowerofEvil, has caused controversy recently

Fans originally expressed their annoyance after he successfully campaigned on social media to be voted in as Europe's mid-laner at the All-Star event - only to then leave for North America.

He then posted on Reddit to try and defend his decision but that only angered fans more who claim he only moved for financial gain. Zven had an interesting viewpoint of the incident: 'I'm really happy that PowerofEvil has taken most the EU hate, he's taken most of the blame away from us so I need to thank him for that.'

'I feel a little bit of empathy for Tristan because he didn't really expect to get the hate he got' added Mithy. 'I think he just did the campaigning for fun because the event itself is fun after all, but people are taking it too seriously - they try to vote for what's most European but at the same time they also voted for Ignar.'

Zven and Mithy joining the team saw the departure of Yilliang 'Doublelift' Peng and Vincent 'Biofrost' Wang to rival teams Team Liquid and Counter Logic Gaming respectfully. Jungler Dennis 'Svenskeren' Johnsen also joined on of TSM's biggest NA LCS rivals - Cloud9.

However, Hauntzer isn't worried about any of them coming back to haunt them: 'The rivalry between old teammates will always be there. We know their weaknesses so we know what to exploit against them and to be honest, there's a reason they're not on the team anymore.'

Hauntzer isn't scared of facing old teammates Svenskeren (left), Doublelift (right) and Biofrost

That's the sort of attitude TSM will need this year if they want to remain successful. The NA LCS being franchised has lead to more teams investing and could make every match more difficult.

That's a challenge that NA LCS rookie of the Summer Split, Mike Yeung is relishing: 'With franchising and more talent coming in, our region should be able to create a more competitive environment and I think that's the way to go if we want to succeed internationally.'

In a recent interview with Inven, Bjergsen said that Mike Yeung is a diamond in the rough and that the prospect admitted he doesn't know how to play the game after 15 minutes. Mike has had a lot of success on aggressive champions which has drawn comparisons to the man he replaced - Svenskeren.

It's a comparison that Mike is keen to overcome: 'I think people have the wrong idea about me because I was only able to play my Solo Queue style for my old team - I was brought into an environment with no experience at all. I feel like I haven't had a chance to develop and make the most of my strong habits such as being more vocal.'