The off season may not be as exciting as most events during the regular season and the playoffs but there is still some fun to it. What I’m referring to mostly are the free agencies and the transfers that happen during this time.
Transfers can make or break a team and help give them the boost they need in order to either bring a winning season or hold the dominance that they put over a region. The best of the best can move to new places and this can completely shift the power rankings in a particular area. Free agencies and transfers can be so big at times that they can cause a region to either become the best or cause a region to fall to a level so low that it’s near impossible to come back up again and reach their former glory.
This year has been no different. The transfers and free agencies have been all across the board and they’ve been crazy to say the least. In order to get you ready for betting on the new teams in the 2019 season, here are the transfers and free agencies you need to know about.
North America packs the biggest punch when it comes to the action on-stage and off-stage. It has some of the biggest super teams that have some of the biggest stories to tell and in the off-season, that’s no different.
These teams are all moving and that being said, it can be a little hectic to see which ones are the best for you. After seeing some of the changes this season, you might want to switch up your betting list just a little bit.
Echo Fox is going to see a relatively new roster next year. They lost their main players such as their AD Carry and support duo of Altec and Smoothie as well as their top laner and mid laner, Huni and Damonte. That being said, they only have one key player remaining from last year and that’s Dardoch.
However, synergy won’t be an issue since they’ll be getting three of Clutch Gaming’s major players: their bot lane duo of Apollo and Hakuho alongside their top laner, Solo. Echo Fox has been playing great League of Legends since their arrival into the NA LCS but they’re definitely going to have to find a new way to keep their dominance up because with most of their main roster out, they’re back to square one.
The Golden Guardians are looking to acquire several big assets, the two biggest being TSM top laner, Hauntzer, and Team Liquid support, Olleh. Hauntzer was a very big asset for Team SoloMid during his time as their top laner.
His carry type playstyle should be able to help Golden Guardians shoot to a top six finish in the NA LCS if he applies his playstyle correctly. As for Olleh, he’ll be the perfect match for boosting GG’s AD Carry, Deftly, to a better performance for the 2019 year.
Golden Guardians is going to be able to make major moves for next year’s season if they can secure these two players and keep them on the roster. One of them can carry the team on his back while the other helps boost other players through his selfless playstyle.
If Hauntzer can play like he did on TSM and Olleh can play like he did on Immortals and Team Liquid, the two players will be extremely valuable assets for Golden Guardians and perhaps this could be the year that helps them make the playoffs.
100 Thieves has seen very minor changes to the roster, keeping the main pieces to the collection such as Aphromoo, AnDa, Cody Sun, and Ssumday. However, the addition of South Korea Telecom’s Bang could be the big difference between 100 Thieves winning a Summer Split and 100 Thieves winning a World Championship.
Yes, that’s right. You heard me say it. 100 Thieves managed to acquire two-time World Champion and former SKT member, Bang. Alongside that, the team also managed to grab Counter-Logic Gaming’s Huhi who can be a valuable asset to the team with his wide array of mage champions.
But it’s the addition of SKT’s former AD Carry, Bang, that is really the attention-grabber for 100 Thieves. This is the first time that a North American team has acquired a world-class player that can single-handedly bring an American team to the World Championship finals.
After all, if you look at Bang’s history as a player, you’ll see that he has some very strong statistics in every field. He can team fight. He can farm. He can position well and he can deal the damage that he needs to deal. Bang has everything in the arsenal. During his time on South Korea Telecom, especially in 2015 and 2016, Bang was able to carry his team in team fights so that if they fell behind, Bang would be there to pick them up.
He was the last lifeline for SKT and time and time again, he came through to help them reach the other side. The acquisition of Bang to 100 Thieves is possibly the most exciting transfer of the 2018 off season. People can’t wait to see him perform for the 2019 season.
While it is scary to say, Team Liquid could continue their dominating season largely due to the two main transfers they received: Jensen and CoreJJ. Jensen was a key piece to Cloud9’s success in the 2018 season at the World Championship because he could match the Korean and Chinese superstars.
CoreJJ is a world-class player that has had his fair share of World Championship debuts. With two international threats joining Team Liquid, it’s safe to say that they’re not going to be going anywhere. After all, they’re still retaining several of their key players.
They still have their star AD Carry, Doublelift, and their veteran jungler, Xmithie, is still on to dominate. Furthermore, former World Champion Impact looks like he’s going to be staying for a while. That being said, it’s a fact that Team Liquid is going to be the team with the most raw talent on their roster. They’re still going to face opposition from 100 Thieves since they were able to grab SKT’s Bang, the biggest transfer into North America right now. But that doesn’t mean that Team Liquid won’t be able to take them on.
Team Liquid will probably go into the Spring Split guns blazing. There’s going to be only a few teams in the NA LCS that will truly have a chance at stopping them and that’s because they’ve grabbed Jensen and Bang, two of the biggest players in the world right now.
Team SoloMid has been a powerhouse since season one. They crafted a lasting legacy in the NA LCS of making the World Championship every single year…until 2018. 2018 was possibly their worst season yet. Despite grabbing World Championship semi-finalist duo, Zven and Mithy, TSM wasn’t able to produce the results they wanted to secure a spot at the 2018 World Championship.
Their mid laner, Bjergsen, found it hard to carry the team during those circumstances and Team SoloMid’s bot lane duo hasn’t shown synergy to match that of the 2016 TSM year. Now, with the off-season fully in place, TSM was expected to grab some strong picks.
But did they? Most critics would say no and there’s perfect sense in that. They grabbed a hotshot rookie “Broken Blade” and a veteran support Smoothie from Echo Fox. Broken Blade has shown promise in the solo queue seen but his style of playing carry style champions such as Irelia, Riven, and Yasuo can possibly break TSM considering that Team SoloMid has a notorious reputation for breaking rookies.
As for Smoothie, he’s going to have to synergize well with the TSM AD Carry, Zven, if they want to produce some type of good result for the 2019 season. Bjergsen won’t be a problem. Even though he struggled to carry his team like he did in 2017, he still put up solid results that will brand him a top three mid laner in the NA LCS. In my opinion, Team SoloMid pulled off some pretty disappointing transfers. Considering the fact that they could’ve pulled a world-class support like CoreJJ or a strong AD Carry like Bang, TSM really missed out on the jackpot.
And maybe it’s the fact that TSM has proven to have shaky coaching and management in the past that they weren’t able to secure such players. But one thing’s for sure. If TSM wants to regain their spot as the top team in TSM, they’re going to have to change something for the 2019 season.
Right now, the EU LCS is going some major changes by bringing in new teams and kicking old ones out. Because of this, we’ll only be focusing in on the old teams and the roster changes that they’re going to be going through since the new teams haven’t finalized positions just yet.
There was a time where G2 Esports literally ruled the EU LCS. They destroyed every single team they went up against, including Fnatic. But after their star-studded duo of Zven and Mithy left for Team SoloMid, they’ve fallen off to become a smaller team. Don’t get me wrong. They still played well in the 2018 season and finished as World Championship semifinalists, a new record. But if they had their 2016-2017 roster in place, G2 Esports could have won the entire World Championship.
With the newest additions and moves to their team, this could become reality. They acquired Fnatic’s talented mid laner, Caps, and moved their old mid laner into the AD Carry position. While this may seem like a bad decision, the thought process behind this shows no flaws.
Caps is extremely strong in the mid lane when given the right resources and G2 Esports’ previous mid laner, Perkz, is a very crafty player, able to make something out of nothing. Furthermore, with his secondary position lying in the AD Carry spot, I don’t see Perkz struggling in that area.
They also managed to grab Mikyx from Misfits. While he isn’t the talk of G2 Esports right now, he’ll definitely be a solid addition to the team. His playstyle will definitely complement Perkz’s aggressive playstyle. I can see G2 Esports becoming a big powerhouse in the 2019 season. With the addition of Mikyx and Caps and the movement of Perkz into the bot lane, they’re going to have two huge power lanes that can dominate and take over teams in the blink of an eye.
Fnatic lost two of their biggest players during the off-season: sOAZ and Caps. These two players were key to the team working well as Caps was in charge of the mid to late game and sOAZ was an important factor in keeping the carries safe during the fights.
Now, with the two gone, the fate of Fnatic could become very uncertain. To replace Caps in the mid lane, they brought in a rising superstar: Nemesis. But he’ll have big shoes to feel as Caps did quite a lot for the team, even going so far as to be named “Baby Faker” during his time on Fnatic.
As for the top lane, Fnatic is going to bring in Bwipo, a familiar name in the EU LCS. The name’s familiar because he was a part of the roster that went to the World Championship finals this year. That’s right. Bwipo is going to be taking over veteran top laner sOAZ.
Bwipo has made a name for himself in his matches but sOAZ has created a legacy. Because of this, Bwipo is going to need to match the caliber of skill that sOAZ held. Bwipo can do it. He’s shown potential. The question is whether or not he can keep this skill level consistently.Fnatic is bringing in tons of hotshots onto the team. Because of this, Fnatic is going to have a ton of raw talent but they’re going to need to utilize it extremely well if they want to have any shot at staying in the top three for the next season.
Remember how I said G2 Esports could reclaim their title as EU LCS king? If they want to do so, they’re going to have to go through Misfits first and with the players they’re acquiring this year, it looks like G2 Esports is going to have one tough battle ahead of them.
First off, Misfits Gaming received three major players, one from the NA LCS, one from the EU LCS, and one from the LCK. For the mid lane, they managed to acquire Febiven, a former superstar for Fnatic and one of the biggest mid laners during his time in the NA LCS. As for the top lane, they grabbed Fnatic’s 2018 season top laner, sOAZ, a formidable team fighter and a strong split-pusher.
Finally, for the support position—and possibly their biggest pick up—they acquired GorillA from Kingzone Dragonx. Misfits Gaming probably got the best transfers out of all the teams in the EU LCS. Each of these players are World Championship status and their support, GorillA, literally dominated the LCK during his time on Longzhu Gaming.
Perhaps their biggest asset is going to be GorillA. Misfits Gaming’s Hans Sama is a world-class player and he even matched up against SKT’s Bang at the 2017 World Championship. The only thing holding back Hans Sama is a strong support and GorillA matches that. But GorillA isn’t just strong for Hans Sama. He’s strong for every single player on the team. With his utility picks and a strong understanding of the different champions in his kit, GorillA knows how to get every single lane ahead while making sure that his AD Carry is set in the team fights.
Febiven’s snowball-like playstyle will work perfect with GorillA since GorillA can pick up good roams and use them to his advantage. Meanwhile, in team fights, GorillA will match well with sOAZ since both of them know exactly what they’re supposed to do. Personally, in my opinion, I think that these three players will improve the Misfits Gaming roster drastically. In fact, it wouldn’t be surprising to see Misfits Gaming finish as the first seed for the EU LCS Spring Split.
Korea has been the frontrunner for League of Legends since Season 3 and if you want to see action at its highest caliber, you watch the LCK. While this year may not have gone in the way that Korea would have expected it to go, they still have some of the best teams in the world.
After all, they have world class players from SKT, KT Rolster, and Gen.G. But more interesting perhaps, are the players who are moving around. With so many top notch players moving to new teams, we could see a major powershift.
South Korea Telecom had one disappointing season. They finished the regular season with an 8-10 record and didn’t make it very far into the playoffs before falling. This was the first year since 2014 where they failed to make the World Championship. However, South Korea Telecom’s shaky era continues as some of SKT’s best players have left. The two most notable players on South Korea Telecom aside from Faker have left the team. Their AD Carry, Bang, left for 100 Thieves and their support, Wolf, left for free agency.
They also lost their top laner, Thal, but they’re going to make up for it with a potential powerhouse. That’s not the only player they lost though. Their jungler, Score, has also left and replacing him will be Haru and Clid, two junglers who will be vying for the spot.
As for top lane, the acquisition of Khan could either prove to be extremely fortunate or extremely terrible. Khan has had his on and off days and when he’s having an on day, he can completely take over the map. If it’s an off day, Khan could single-handedly lose the game for his team.
They also grabbed Haru for jungle from Gen.G but with Gen.G’s disappointing World Championship run, this acquisition could also be pretty uncertain. As for the bot lane, with the departure of their famous bot lane duo Wolf and Bang, SKT has replaced them with Mata from KT Rolster and Teddy from Jin Air.
These two have shown solid results but they’re going to have to improve by quite a bit if they want to match the legacy Wolf and Bang left for South Korea Telecom. SKT has seen changes at virtually every single spot except for mid lane where Faker resides. South Korea Telecom is going to start fresh and this can go either really good or really bad. With a fresh start, SKT can start anew and try new things but that can only happen if these new players can play to the level expected of them.
Kingzone Dragonx’s old roster that had Khan, Peanut, Bdd, PraY, and GorillA was considered one of the best teams in the world. After all, each player had made it to a World Championship at least once and they were each top three in their own respective roles.
But after a disappointing finish to the 2018 Summer Split, Kingzone Dragonx has completely revamped their roster. Of the entire roster, only two players are staying and these two players were substitutes for Kingzone Dragonx’s regular roster.
These two players are Rascal and Cuzz, the two of which are situated in the top lane and jungle respectively. However, the acquisition of PawN and Deft from KT Rolster and TusiN from Afreeca Freecs may shed some good light on the team.
PawN is a World Champion and one of the best mid laners in the world. He’s built of plethora of mastered champions that, when used, are threats that can take down a five-man roster. Furthermore, while PawN is a veteran to the game, his playstyle isn’t. He’s constantly evolved his craft and as a result, has stayed at the top of the ladder.
Their new AD Carry, Deft, has a large record of highlight plays that have made him notorious in both China and Korea. Perhaps his most recognizable achievement is his Mid-Season Invitational title in 2015 during his time on EDG.
It was here that he led his Chinese roster up against Korea’s SKT and largely thanks to the damage output and mechanics of Deft, they were able to edge past SKT’s dream-team roster. This goes to show how strong Deft’s carry capability can be. Give him the right resources and he can take on an international powerhouse.
TusiN and Deft should be able to synergize well together and because of this, Kingzone DRagonx’s bot lane should stay as threatening as ever. Like SKT, Kingzone Dragonx is starting and with the players that they’ve acquired, there’s a chance they can take over the LCK again.
Perhaps the most notable piece of Gen.G was the roster they held last year during the 2018 World Championship. That roster was the team that managed to win the 2017 World Championship under the name Samsung Galaxy. However, this year, under mostly the same roster, Gen.G failed to meet expectations and they flopped in the Groups Stage. Because of this, roster changes have been put in place and now, we’re going to see some new faces in the LCK roster of Gen.G.
The only two remaining players from last year’s roster are Cuvee and Ruler, two of the three main players on the roster last year. The other was Crown who left for North America’s OpTic Gaming. With this in mind, the mid lane, jungle, and support roles all need to be filled.
Of these three roles, only one truly had a roster change. The mid lane and support now have substitutes playing the main rule. For the mid lane, Fly is going to be taking over the spot in replacement of Crown and in the support role, Life is going to be taking over the spot in replacement of CoreJJ. However, their biggest and most notable change is bringing Peanut into the roster. Peanut has been a superstar on the Korean stage and his ability to play carries to highest potential has made him a very strong asset to all his teams.
During his time on ROX Tigers, he made the team a world-class threat that would have won the entire World Championship had it not been for the efforts of MariN, Bang, and Faker combined. That’s right. It took three players from the best team in the world at the time to take down one player.
Then, Peanut took his talents to SKT and he kept them at a world class level until his departure to Longzhu Gaming. It was here that he completely dominated the LCK, taking down his former teammates from South Korea Telecom with effortless style. Peanut’s aggressive playstyle and ability to open up parts of the map throughout the early game will serve well for Gen.G, considering that Ruler and Cuvee have playstyles that are similar to that of Peanut’s. As for the others, we’ll have to wait and see.
With two subs coming in and a superstar jungler, fate might look differently on the roster of Gen.G. Next year could be an eventful year for this roster with so many fresh faces but one thing’s for sure. With Peanut on the roster now, they can keep replicating the results they had on the LCK.
This year, KT Rolster was considered the best team in South Korea. Before, they were considered second or third best, usually falling to teams like South Korea Telecom or Kingzone Dragonx but this year, KT Rolster took it home and made sure that they were considered the best of the best.
However, because of the departure of Mata and Deft from the bot lane, PawN from the mid lane, and Rush from the jungle role, it could be extremely hard for KT Rolster to replicate results. To replace these roles, KT Rolster managed to grab some decent players.
The two biggest changes to the roster are Bdd in the mid lane and Score in the jungle. Bdd has proven to be a very big piece to every team he’s joined and perhaps his most notable time was his stay on Kingzone Dragonx and Longzhu Gaming. At this time, Bdd’s mid lane mechanics pushed Faker to the edge.
Some people even considered, for a time, that Faker was second-best in Korea to Bdd in several areas of the game. That being said, you can see the level that Bdd likes to play at and he doesn’t back off. The second big point of their roster change is in the jungle. With the departure of Rush because of free agency, Score will now be taking the main jungle role. Score has always been a very strong jungler and he’s been very good in getting his teammates ahead or restricting the jungler.
However, due to the power of Rush with his teammates, Score hasn’t had the chance to prove himself to the extent that he should be. But now, with Rush gone, Score could become the next big thing and he could very well be a strong centerpiece into ensuring that KT Rolster can keep their legacy alive in the LCK.
With these different transfers going on, we can get a good idea of how teams are going to be doing. I’ll be giving you my predictions on next year’s Spring and Summer Split and which teams are going to do the best.
For North America, I can see Team Liquid playing well and winning it all yet again this Spring Split. Each player they have on their roster is world-class, ranging from their top laner, Impact to their support CoreJJ. Last year, they were in the same situation: world class players throughout the roster. With Pobelter and Olleh gone and Jensen and CoreJJ to replace them, Team Liquid can keep a winning scene. After all, CoreJJ knows how to work with some of the best in the game.
Jensen has the experience and mindset of veteran but the mechanics and gameplay of a hotshot talent. That’s not even considering Xmithie in the jungle, Impact in the top lane, and Doublelift in the AD Carry position. CoreJJ will synchronize well with Doublelift. Jensen and Impact will have insane kill pressure throughout the season and Xmithie will continue his jungle dominance. I can’t see Team Liquid falling off the first place spot next year.
The only competition that they’ll have is from 100 Thieves since 100 Thieves is still keeping most of their roster, excluding the mid lane and AD Carry role. They replaced their former mid laner, Ryu, with Huhi from Counter-Logic Gaming who, while he may not be as good as Ryu, still shows promise.
As for the AD Carry role, the acquisition of Bang will make them a significant threat. In 2015, 2016, and 2017, as long as his teammates could hold down the frontline, Bang was the perfect one versus five player and he still is to this day. The only problem with 2018 was that his team didn’t perform to Bang’s expectations.
A lot of the players on 100 Thieves are very selfless and play for their teammates which works well with Bang. If he can utilize the opportunities given by players such as their support Aphromoo and top laner Ssumday, we could see 100 Thieves vying for a top two finish.
Finally, I don’t see Team SoloMid improving much from where they finished. They didn’t really pick any new strong players with the best one being a veteran support, Smoothie. Their top laner is a solo queue talent named Broken Blade and as we’ve seen before, solo queue talents usually don’t vie well on the competitive stage.
TSM let go of their second most important player, Hauntzer, and also got rid of former World Championship semifinalist, Mithy. The poor choice doesn’t come from letting them go, though. It comes from not picking up a better player to replace them.
I can’t see TSM finishing past a fifth place standing. In fact, I think that there is a very good chance that they won’t even make it into the playoffs. Sure, they may have Zven and Bjergsen—two very strong carries—but they don’t have anyone to keep them steady throughout the mid game.
This year could definitely be Misfits Gaming’s year as they picked up three major picks contested throughout the EU LCS, NA LCS, and even the LCK. Hans Sama will synergize well with GorillA since GorillA is a very all-around player and can adjust his playstyle according to his AD carry. Their mid laner, Febiven, was once the best mid laner in the EU LCS during his time on Fnatic before he left for Cluthc Gaming and their new top laner, sOAZ has had experience playing against international threats.
Furthermore, they still have two of their most important players, Hans Sama and Maxlore, on the team for the next year. This team can compare to Team Liquid’s and I think that it’s very possible this team can place first in the EU LCS. The only competition they’ll really be facing is probably G2 Esports who’s completely rearranged and revamped their roster to add in Fnatic’s old mid laner and talent hotshot, Caps, while moving Perkz down to his secondary role, AD Carry.
They’ve also kept their two other players, Wunder and Jankos, while adding in Mikyx from Misfits Gaming. Next year, G2 Esports is going to have a roster that is all around extremely solid. They won’t have any stand out players aside from probably the AD Carry and mid lane role but they’ll know how to hold their ground. As for Fnatic, with the departure of Caps and sOAZ, two new players are being put into the roster. Bwipo, a solid top laner in substitute of sOAZ, will finally get his chance to prove himself after living under sOAZ’s shadow.
In the mid lane, Nemesis will try to fill the shoes of Febiven and Caps before him. Nemesis is a hot shot player and has proven himself to be a strong mid laner that has the mechanics of the FNC mid laners before him. The only problem is he’s going to playing on the major stage now, not the minor stage.
Aside from that, they’re keeping a relatively old roster with Rekkles at AD Carry, Broxah at jungle, and Hylissang at support. For my predictions, I think that Fnatic will be competing for the second place seed with G2 Esports but won’t be able to match Misfits Gaming.
Next year might be SKT’s year again. After a disappointing Season 8 finish, SKT might finally bounce back and show that they aren’t out of the running for another World Championship. After all, the acquiring of Khan, Clid, and Mata from various teams will improve the team’s overall strength level.
They still have Faker in the mid lane and with so much talent dispersed across the three lanes, there’s a good chance SKT can retake the Spring Season and maybe the Summer Season. Who knows? Maybe they’ll even grab the fourth World Championship title they’ve been wanting. As for Kingzone Dragonx, they lost literally every single starting player on their lineup. The only two players who be on Kingzone that have some affiliation with the team are Rascal and Cuzz who were substitutes for Khan and Peanut.
But they’ll still be a significant threat as they’ll have PawN and Deft in the mid and bot lane respectively. Both of these players have been known to hold superpower mechanics when asked for. They both took down SKT when SKT was at their best. Kingzone Dragonx might have some problems rebuilding and becoming and world class team again but in my opinion, they certainly have the potential and if they can rebuild with the new players acquired, they could finish as a top three team.
KT Rolster’s new mid laner, Bdd, will be a good replacement for the departure of PawN and the replacement of Score for Rush in the jungling position will keep KT Rolster despite the departure of KT Rolster’s bot lane. KT Rolster will still be extremely strong and I can see them making playoffs yet again next year. Now, will they be able to replicate the results from this year? In my opinion, I don’t think that’s going to be feasible.
Gen.G is going to be keeping a relatively same roster as they’re only going to have one player who’s coming in from outside of the team. That player is Peanut who left from Kingzone Dragonx. Peanut’s time as a player has led to a large following thanks to his big plays that get his team ahead and his ability to prohibit the enemy jungler from making any major moves on his team.
As for the mid and support roles, Fly and Life are going to replace Crown and CoreJJ. They’re going to have some big shoes to fill and Fly especially is going to need to match the map pressure and damage output that Crown brought to the team. Gen.G will have some strong players on their roster, such as Cuvee, Ruler, and Peanut, but they’re going to have to play at a whole new level if they don’t want to flop liked they did throughout the LCK Summer Split and World Championship last year.
We’ve seen some pretty exciting moves across the three major regions. (China really didn’t have any changes. Most teams stayed the same) One of the biggest was Bang’s move to 100 Thieves after his time on SKT.
Another one is the movement of Kingzone Dragonx’s former support, GorillA, to Misfits Gaming. All of these moves and free agencies are going to be huge for next year’s season. In fact, we could see more action coming out of the NA LCS an EU LCS.
So many world-class players are moving into the NA LCS and EU LCS, in fact, that it could be very well possible that a North American or European team takes the cake next year for their region. With this being League of Legends, really anything is possible.
The San Diego Padres visit Chase Field as they open an NL West set against…
The Atlanta Hawks try again at the TD Garden on Tuesday night. The Hawks lost…
The Brooklyn Nets try again on Monday night. The Nets were outgunned 121-102 by the…
The Pittsburgh Pirates visit the St. Louis Cardinals for a four-game set beginning Thursday. The…
The Washington Nationals play the Los Angeles Angels in Game 2 of their three-game set…
The Los Angeles Dodgers will attempt to bounce back from a poor performance against Arizona…