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Season 7 already ended a while ago. Now during the offseason, Riot has announced the start dates for the EU and NA LCS. The NA LCS starts on 20 January. The opening game will feature Team Liquid against Team Solo Mid. The EU LCS starts a day earlier on 19 January. In it, the finalists from last season, G2 Esports, opens against Misfits.
In 2018, the NA and EU LCS is set to switch to a franchise model. The teams will receive permanent membership in the league. The revenues from the tournament will be distributed equally among the organizers, clubs, and players. The teams that saved the slot in the championship will pay Riot Games $10 million. However, the new participants will have to pay $13 million.
This time in the offseason, we will see remarkable changes. For example, some EU players will shift to NA. Tristan «PowerOfEvil» Schrage, Fabian «Febiven» Diepstraten, Jesper «Zven» Svenningsen, and Alfonso «mithy» Aguirre Rodríguez are all changing to NA. Furthermore, we will see completely new teams in the NA LCS. Not only other team names but also the composition of the older teams was thoroughly addressed. For example, C9 comes with new top-lane and jungler Eric «Licorice» Ritchie and Raymond «Wiggily» Griffin. CLG is investing in a new support and jungler.
The four new teams are Clutch Gaming, 100 Thieves, Golden Guardians, and OpTic Gaming. The players of these teams are also known in the league scene. The composition of 100 Thieves is amazingly impressive. Two former Phoenix1 players join 100 Thieves; William «Meteos» Hartman and Yoo «Ryu» Sang-wook. They also welcome ex-Team Dignitas member Kim «ssumday» Chan-ho and former CLG star Zaqueri «Aphromoo» Black. With this much experience from LCK, there is no doubt that 100 Thieves will be among the strongest teams.
OpTic Gaming published a new-year postcard on Twitter, which depicted the staff of the League of Legends team. In 2018 PowerOfEvil will be partnered with Noh «Arrow» Dong-hyeon, Daerek «LemonNation» Hart, Matthew «Akaadian» Higginbotham, and Derek «zig» Shao.
In order to start their 2018 with a bang, Team SoloMid has signed Mike «MikeYeung» Yeung. He played the role of jungler for Phoenix1. The player was core for the few upset wins of Phoenix1 last season. He managed a KDA of 3.23 last season, giving him the second-highest kills among junglers in the league. Being a jungler, he also had the third-highest percentage of kill participation.
To finalize the lineup, TSM has also gotten a new head coach, Kim «SSONG» Sang-soo. SSONG will be assisted by Ham «Lustboy» Jang-sik, the new strategy coach of TSM.
SSONG was formerly the head coach of Immortals in the 2017 Summer Split. Before that, he had coached ROX Tigers for two years from 2015-2016. He was the main weapon behind getting the Tigers to Worlds in back to back years.
To make things interesting, the founder of Team SoloMid, Andy «Reginald» Dinh, challenged the members of the NA LCS. The head of TSM suggested the teams make a bet of $10,000 for the victory in the Spring Split. With the participation of all clubs, the winner will send $90,000 to the charity fund of his choice.
In the EU, we also see a lot of shifts and news. Fnatic is the team with the least changes, only adding a new support to their roster. However, we will see a lot of changes with all the other teams. Most teams will keep one or two players from their 2017 roster. Since the LCS has now become a buy-in competition, we are also seeing new teams in the EU. Although the names are not new, the compositions of the teams are. Roccat, Schalke 04, Vitality, and Giants were either in the challenger series or no longer present last season. They, therefore, return to the LCS for the new season.
Newzoo published a ranking of the clubs of the old continent in relation to the rest of the world. G2 Esports, the team of Carlos «ocelote» Rodríguez Santiago, was the only one to enter the top 10 in the world.
The EU side won both the 2017 EU LCS split and finished second in the 2017 Mid-Season Invitational. However, they did not leave the group at the 2017 World Championship. After that, only Luka «PerkZ» Perković remained in the lineup.
Whether it was good or bad, the G2 Esports roster was destined to unleash passions during this offseason. After the departure of Zven & Mithy, the legendary European botlane, G2 became a bit weak. Then they faced the departure of the Korean duo Kim «Trick» Gang-yun and Ki «Expect» Dae-han. Rather than importing yet another Korean duo, they decided to return to a team that is 100% European (or almost). Without further ado, discover the G2 Esports of 2018!
IT’S TIME! ARE YOU READY? Meet our 2018 @LeagueOfLegends team! Read More » https://t.co/BkpFlVnk8g pic.twitter.com/6tjHsIrUQr — G2 Esports (@G2esports) December 8, 2017
IT’S TIME! ARE YOU READY?
Meet our 2018 @LeagueOfLegends team! Read More » https://t.co/BkpFlVnk8g pic.twitter.com/6tjHsIrUQr
— G2 Esports (@G2esports) December 8, 2017
So Martin «Wunder» Hansen (Splyce top lane), Marcin «Jankos» Jankowski (H2k jungle), and Petter «Hjärnan» Freyschuss/Kim «Wadid» Bae-in (Roccat duo bot) joined G2. These players make G2 an 80% European roster since only Wadid is Korean of origin.
Even if this team does not seem like a dream at first sight, it actually has a very good potential. Without being war machines, Wadid in support and Wunder in the top, are the two least impressive additions. However, they can still surprise us and are able to play as a team. Jankos is probably one of, if not the best, European jungler, and the same can be said of PerkZ at mid-lane. Finally, Hjärnan is one of the unsung heroes of the botlane in LCS EU. After many years spent with H2k and Roccat, among others, it has finally come time for him to reach the glory.
Lastly, x-trainer for Team ROCCAT, Fabian «GrabbZ» Lohmann, became the new coach of G2 Esports. He replaced Joey «YoungBuck» Steltenpool, who left the team after the end of the 2017 season.