After weeks of speculation and reported roster moves, League of Legends free agency is officially in full swing for the LCS.
With that comes North American organizations officially signing and locking in their rosters for the 2023 season. First up is one of the brightest teams in the LCS to date, Evil Geniuses.
According to EG themselves, former 100 Thieves top laner Kim “Ssumday” Chan-ho and AD carry Victor “FBI” Huang are joining the squad for 2023.
Coming into the latest League off-season, EG didn’t have too many big question marks when talking roster construction.
The 2022 LCS Spring Split champions already had star mid-laner Jojopyun, All-Pro support Vulcan, and reigning MVP Inspired under contract for the foreseeable future. Add on the fact all three of those players performed well in 2022, helping the team to an LCS title, reaching MSI semifinals, and participating in a Worlds run on home soil, and Evil Geniuses had a solid foundation for upcoming LCS splits.
The one big question mark that loomed over EGwas at the AD carry position. Star bot laner Danny missed much of the 2022 LCS Summer Playoffs and EG’s Worlds run due to mental health issues. As Nov. 21 and the start of free agency approached, no one knew if Danny was expected back for 2023.
With Danny’s future uncertain and Kaori heading back to Europe with Karmine Corp, EG had a void in the bot lane. Then, about a week out from the start of free agency, reports suggested Evil Geniuses might’ve found their future AD-carry in North America.
Those reports were then validated today when former 100 Thieves bot laner FBI officially joined Evil Geniuses for next season.
The move makes complete sense on paper. FBI gets to go from one top LCS team to another, Evil Geniuses grabs a third team All-Pro bot laner, and 100 Thieves can now bring Doublelift in for 2023.
The more shocking move from EG’s off-season comes in the top lane. Impact was not only the longest tenured member of Evil Geniuses at the time, but still one of the best top laners in North America in 2022.
For whatever reason, EG decided to make a switch, and initially went after Academy prospect Tenacity before the move was blocked by 100T. Not being able to grab the 100 Thieves Academy top laner, EG was able to switch Impact out for the starting 100T top laner, Ssumday.
Impact is reportedly moving on to FlyQuest—who are building quite the interesting roster— and Ssumday is now officially set to start in the topside for EG.
Regardless what fans make of the moves, the matter of fact is EG has now essentially formed an LCS All-Pro team. Every member of their starting five for the 2023 season finished last split on an All-Pro team. What’s even crazier is despite losing Danny, the team is still comprised of four first teamersthanks to Ssumday. FBI is the only non first-teamer, finishing as the third best ADC in the LCS last split behind Danny and Cloud9’s Berserker.
With the free agent window officially open, now is time for teams across all regions of professional League to begin locking in their rosters for 2023.
In the LCS so far only two teams, Golden Guardians and EG, are set for next split, so expect a ton more announcements from NA teams as 2022 comes to a close.
