Every new roster change going into the 2020 LCS Spring Split

Dec 12, 2019

Reading time: 9 min

Since developer Riot Games opened the doors for free agency announcements on November 18, the League of Legends community has been bombarded with rumors and official announcements of new roster changes and free agencies.

Some of the LoL Championship Series teams don’t have their full rosters officially locked yet, but the situation for the 2020 season is becoming clearer with every passing day. Here’s an overview of all the current changes within the 2020 LCS rosters based on the news that has thus far been made official.

Cloud9

C9 is one of the best teams in North America, and a known name to every League fan. The team hasn’t failed to qualify for a World Championship since it joined LCS in 2014, and it made many players into stars.

Even though C9 finished the LCS Summer Split in second place, the roster got shuffled in the offseason. With both top laner Eric “Licorice” Ritchie and mid laner Yasin “Nisqy” Dinçer likely staying on the team, the roster is looking solid. Licorice is one of the best top laners in the league, and Zven might shine in a new environment, so the team has a good chance to make it to Worlds again.

Jungler Robert “Blaber” Huang promoted from the academy roster
Bot laner Jesper “Zven” Svenningsen transferred from Team SoloMid.
Support Philippe “Vulcan” Laflamme transferred from Clutch Gaming/Dignitas.
Bot laner Zachary “Sneaky” Scuderi confirmed he won’t be playing for the 2020 roster.

CLG

Counter Logic Gaming is the oldest active team in the scene. In recent history, however, there haven’t been many titles for the organization. The team failed to qualify for Worlds 2019. CLG is hoping to change this going into the new season by bringing the 2017 world champion Crown.

CLG’s mid lane is looking a lot better going into 2020, but it’s debatable whether the same can be said for the bot lane duo. Stixxay isn’t quite the best ADC in the league, but he did build good synergy with Biofrost during the last two seasons. With the new support, however, the bot lane might struggle. Stixxay and Smoothie will need to gel quickly for CLG to keep up with the best teams in the LCS.

Top laner Kim “Ruin” Hyeong-min returned to the starting roster.
Mid laner Lee “Crown” Min-ho transferred from Immortals.
Bot laner Trevor “Stixxay” Hayes re-signs for two years.
Support Andy “Smoothie” Ta transferred from Team SoloMid.

Dignitas

Dignitas is back on the LCS scene after failing to establish a long-term partnership with Riot in 2018. The organization acquired Clutch Gaming and as the team climb from lows of the LCS to groups at Worlds 2019. For 2020, DIG prepared a roster mixing veterans and young players in hopes they will complement each other and succeed.

It took a while for DIG to announce its roster, and many believed it wouldn’t be a good one. Although it can’t be said with certainty that it will work, it surely isn’t as bad as some fans had anticipated. Both Huni and Froggen are strong solo laners, and Aphromoo and Johnsun might complement each other well in bot.

Much will depend on how well Grig can play now that he’s outside of TSM, and how quickly Johnsun can adjust to the LCS stage.

Top laner Heo “Huni” Seung-hoon resigned for two years.
Jungler Jonathan “Grig” Armao transferred from TSM Academy.
Mid laner enrik “Froggen” Hansen transferred from Golden Guardians.
Bot laner Johnson “Johnsun” Nguyen transferred from TSM Academy.
Support Zaqueri “Aphromoo” Black transferred from 100 Thieves.

Evil Geniuses

EG’s LCS history is far from rich, as the team only participated in one season before a required branding change, and that was five years ago. After acquiring Echo Fox’s slot in 2020, the organization has been working hard to catch the attention of new fans.

The new team has a lot of individual skill, but it’s unclear if the players will be able to synergize and perform well together. If the roster works out as planned, EG could easily be contesting top-tier teams in the upcoming season. Bang and Svenskeren have the potential to give the team a strong headstart, with the latter coming off of an MVP performance at Cloud9. Jiizuke could also make a big impact in his LCS debut after a successful run in Europe.

Top laner Colin “Kumo” Zhao transferred from Cloud9.
Jungler Dennis “Svenskeren” Johnsen transferred from Cloud9.
Mid laner Daniele “Jiizuke” di Mauro transferred from Team Vitality
Bot laner Bae “Bang” Jun-si transferred from 100 Thieves.
Support Tristan “Zeyzal” Stidam transferred from Cloud9.

FlyQuest

FLY joined the LCS in 2017 and has since struggled to consistently contest the North American league’s stars. This season, the team was unable to make it to the playoffs after a ninth-place finish. Unlike most other teams, however, FLY kept three of its players on the roster, and the situation doesn’t look much better overall moving into 2020.

The three players that stayed on the team haven’t shown many strong performances in the previous season. If the two new players don’t bring out the best in V1per, Santorin, and WildTurtle, FLY will be staying in the lower tiers of the LCS for yet another long year.

Top laner Omran “V1per” Shoura re-signed for 2020.
Jungler Lucas “Santorin” Larse re-signed for 2020.
Mid laner Tristan “PowerOfEvil” Schrage transferred from CLG.
Bot laner Jason “WildTurtle” Tran re-signed for 2020.
Support Lee “IgNar” Dong-geun transferred from FC Schalke 04.

Golden Guardians

GGS is a newer team on the LCS stage, having joined just two seasons ago. Since joining, the team has had only limited success, and it finished the LCS 2019 Summer Split in seventh place, which was still a step forward in comparison to the last place finish in 2018. The new roster doesn’t seem to have too much to offer either, but some GGS fans believe it will work out.

It’s not easy to see the reasoning behind GGS 2020 roster moves, but it’s probably that the organization couldn’t top the offers of others that picked up its stars. Most of GGS’ roster doesn’t have much to brag about, but the team at least might see a step forward from the last season.

Closer does bring a lot of hype with him from his player in Turkey, while Goldenglue will be looking to justify his spot on the roster after some fans criticized his being chose over other domestic mid laners Eugene “Pobelter” Park and Tanner “Damonte” Damonte.

Top laner Kevin “Hauntzer” Yarnell re-signed for 2020.
Jungler Can “Closer” Çelik transferred from Royal Youth.
Mid laner Greyson “Goldenglue” Gilmer transferred from Cloud9 academy.
Bot laner Ian “FBI” Huang re-signed for 2020.
Support Yuri “Keith” Jew promoted from the academy roster.

Immortals

Similar to DIG, Immortals missed two seasons of the LCS after not being accepted to the league’s new franchising model in 2018. The team is now back after the acquisition of OpTic Gaming’s slot and it has assembled a mixed roster, with some star players and some less successful additions. IMT probably won’t be at the top of the league, but the roster does have potential.

sOAZ and Xmithie could be IMT’s strongest assets. Xmithie is coming off a great run with Team Liquid, and sOAZ will be looking to recapture past glories had in Europe. But not the same can be said for the rest of the team. Eika is stepping on the LCS stage for the first time after a journemyman’s career in Europe, and there are big questions around the mid laner. The team will probably mingle somewhere in the middle of the league.

Top laner Paul “sOAZ” Boyer reported by Jacob Wolf.
Jungler Jake “Xmithie” Puchero transferred from Team Liquid.
Mid laner Jérémy “Eika” Valdenaire transferred from Team LDLC.
Bot laner Johnny “Altec” Ru joins from Echo Fox.
Support Nickolas “Hakuho” Surgent joins from Echo Fox.

Team Liquid

TL needs no introduction. For the past two seasons, it has been uncontested as the best team in NA, although they have yet to make a good run at Worlds. Liquid did manage to make the finals of the 2019 Mid-Season Invitational, but the pressure to break through at Worlds is only continuing to build.

The team keeps growing and fans have lots to look forward to coming in 2020. So far, Liquid has only announced that Xmithie’s slot has been filled with Broxah, but none of the other players were signed elsewhere.

With the success the roster has been achieving, there’s no reason for TL to search for players’ replacements. Broxah proved himself both in the LEC and on an international stage. Together with the other players dominating the region, teams will have to work hard if they want to take Liquid away from its highest position.

Jungler Mads “Broxah” Brock-Pedersen transferred from Fnatic.
Rest of the roster likely to remain unchanged.

TSM

TL might be the best NA team at the moment, but Team SoloMid holds the title of the best NA team in history with six LCS titles under its belt. However, TSM has failed to show off that strength over the past two years. As TSM’s star player and partial owner, mid laner Bjergsen still didn’t think of joining any other team.

TSM also has three new players for the 2020 season with which it hopes to return to its former glory. The team’s not looking as strong as fans would like, but settling on five main players might help TSM do better.

All eyes will be on Dardoch in the jungle, not only because he has to prove his skill, but also because of his poor reputation as a teammate.

Top laner Sergen “Broken Blade” Çelik re-signs for 2020.
Jungler Joshua “Dardoch” Hartnett transferred from OpTic Gaming Academy.
Mid laner Soren “Bjergsen” Bjerg resigned for two years.
Bot laner Kasper “Kobbe” Kobberup transferred from Splyce.
Support Vincent “Biofrost” Wang transferred from CLG.

100 Thieves

When 100T joined the LCS in 2018, the team got off to a very strong start. However, the results that followed have made many fans think it was just beginner’s luck. This past season, the team failed to reach the top five. By bringing Cody Sun back to the roster, 100T hopes for a better outcome in 2020.

And it might just work out. Cody Sun proved himself to be a highly skilled ADC during and before Worlds 2019, and Meteos and Ssumday have the potential to do great in their roles. If Stunt and ry0ma can carry their own weight, 100T could get back to being a threat to the top tier teams in the LCS.