Golden Guardians’ new mid laner Greyson “Goldenglue” Gilmer might be the only North American-born mid laner competing in the 2020 League of Legends Championship Series.
With most teams slowly finalizing their rosters for the upcoming season, mid laners getting signed to the North American league are coming from Europe, South Korea, and even Australia. Some teams, including Evil Geniuses and Dignitas, still haven’t announced their mid laners, so it’s possible there will be more domestic blood in the middle lane of the LCS scene.
Goldenglue has addressed the situation regarding the abundance of imports in the LCS on Twitter, saying the focus on foreign players is leaving good domestic players with few or no opportunities.
“It’s actually ridiculous that I am going to be the sole North American mid laner in the LCS,” Goldenglue said. “So many good players not being given opportunities.”
Other players and League of Legends influencers have been talking about this issue more and more, especially with two Korean players representing North America at the All-Star 2019 event after multiple withdrawls by top LCS stars.
Veteran mid laner Eugene “Pobelter” Park, who has recently parted ways with FlyQuest, commented on the situation through an emotional TwitLonger post in which he claimed that his talent had been wasted by LCS teams “making baffling decisions and signing random imports, washed-up players, players who don’t work hard and are just playing for a paycheck in NA.”
Team SoloMid’s new jungler, Joshua “Dardoch” Hartnett, also tweeted thta it’s concerning how some LCS teams don’t know how to scout domestic talent in North America and build proper rosters. Even Rogue’s social media team decided to meme on the whole situation.
Fans took the opportunity not just to criticize LCS teams for roster decisions, but also to shed light on a bad situation in the North American scene. The region lacks an amateur scene that would help develop and bring better opportunities to new and potential North American pro players, and many competitive players have complained about ongoing issues with much higher pings than those seen in some other regions.
Regional problems result in a relative lack of international success, and an ongoing struggle to right the LCS ship.
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