The biggest LEC roster rumors going into the 2021 Summer Split

William Davis Published 09/05/2021

While the 2021 Mid-Season Invitational is ongoing in Iceland, a lot of rumored roster changes in the LEC are starting to generate buzz.

The mid-season break is when all the biggest League of Legends organizations have a chance to swap out players for the 2021 Summer Split. In the LEC, several organizations seem to be working hard behind the scenes even though very few roster moves are official yet. It has already been revealed that former Schalke 04 mid laner Felix “Abbedagge” Braun will leave the LEC to play for 100 Thieves in the LCS, but the rest remains rumors.

To give an overview of what moves might be coming up based on rumors, here’s a list of some of the most significant ones.

Fnatic looking to pick up SLT, Bwipo swapping to jungle

One of the biggest and most unexpected rumors so far revolves around Fnatic. According to the French site Lequipe, Fnatic is set to acquire Karmine Corp top laner Adam “Adam” Maanane while other rumors state that Gabriël “Bwipo” Rau will be role swapping to the jungle. If these rumors stay true, it means big changes for Fnatic going into the summer split after a disappointing performance in the 2021 LEC Spring playoffs.

[Rumour] According to several sources, Bwipo is rumoured to be Fnatic’s starting Jungler next split pic.twitter.com/dw0wy9vMYj
— LEC Wooloo ???????? (@LEC_Wooloo) May 7, 2021

Adam is currently one of the most hyped talents from the European leagues after recently winning the European Masters with Karmine Corp. Not only is Adam a promising young player, he has also gathered a big French fanbase through Karmine Corp which helped to break all viewership records during EU Masters.

With Adam coming in as the new top laner, Bwipo will be forced to look at other options. While some fans expected him to join another team or even retire, it looks like the Belgian star player is looking to make a role swap that could be a big wild card for Fnatic moving forward.

BIG’s SLT and GameWard’s toucouille to join Vitality

The team that might look to make the most changes for the upcoming split is Vitality, who finished dead last during the spring split. Vitality has brought in a very young squad for the 2021 season and the inconsistencies during the recent split showed that lack of experience.

Because of the poor performances, Vitality even made a mid-split roster change by signing bot laner Juš “Crownshot” Marušič to replace Markos “Comp” Stamkopoulos but it wasn’t enough to avoid a bottom-place finish.

For the summer split, Vitality is looking to shake up the roster again with two potential changes. The most likely change is that Vitality will acquire BIG top laner Enzo “SLT” Gonzalez, who will be yet another French rookie in the LEC according to Dot Esports. SLT recently played at the EU Masters with BIG, where the team was knocked out against mousesports in the quarterfinals.

BREAKING:@TeamVitality is set to acquire @Slt_lol1 from @BIGCLANgg as the team’s new top laner for the 2021 #LEC Summer Split.

????Read more: https://t.co/Eb83O74VYj
— Dot Esports (@DotEsports) May 7, 2021

SLT joining Vitality will leave Mathias “Szygenda” Jensen without an LEC spot after his rookie split. It’s expected that Szygenda will take a spot on the academy team Vitality.Bee, that plays in the French LFL.

As if two new French players weren’t enough, it also looks like Vitality is in talks with mid laner Loïc “toucouille” Dubois. The 20-year-old mid laner has proven himself as a promising talent in the LFL after playing for Izi Dream, GamersOrigin, and most recently GameWard. toucouille won the 2020 LFL Summer Split with GamersOrigin, which left many fans expecting to see him during the most recent LEC split. Unfortunately, he didn’t get a spot. But the upcoming split might finally be his time.

To make Vitality even stronger for the next split, rumors state that the French organization is looking to pick up jungler Oskar “Selfmade” Boderek and mid laner Adam “LIDER” Ilyasov. Should all rumors regarding Vitality come true, the team is looking at a total of four new players for the summer split.

Former Misfits jungler Kirei rumored to join Schalke 04

The last big rumored roster change involves a former LEC player that might make his return. According to rumors on Twitter, Schalke 04 is looking to pick up Thomas “Kirei” Yuen for the jungle after a solid spring split. This would knock Erberk “Gilius” Demir off the team’s roster, and he might have gotten a better offer from another team in the meantime.

[Rumour] Jungler Kirei ???????? is rumoured to join Schalke 04 LEC team for the Summer Split pic.twitter.com/SslkrUbAHg
— LEC Wooloo ???????? (@LEC_Wooloo) May 6, 2021

While this swap could end up proving false, as picking up Kirei would likely be a downgrade for Schalke 04. While Kirei is known for being a mechanically gifted jungler, losing the leadership of Gilius would be a big blow for Schalke. The organization comes off of a great spring split, finishing fourth in the 2021 LEC Spring Split playoffs.

This result was great for Schalke who struggled throughout 2020 and now seems to be on an upward trajectory. Signing Kirei would raise a lot of questions going into the summer split, where Schalke will likely be chasing a spot at the 2021 World Championship. Schalke has already promoted a new mid laner to the team in Ilias “Nuclearint” Bizriken, so fans are guaranteed to see a new Schalke in a few weeks.