As the year comes to a close, so does one of the most hectic offseasons in League of Legends history. Almost all of the defending champions roster leaving DRX, the formation of a new North American superteam, and two new organizations helming LEC spots for the upcoming season: it is time to see which teams are stacked as the dust settles on the 2022 offseason with spring splits across the globe right on the horizon.
T1 — Run it back
To no surprise at all, T1 is once again poised to be a juggernaut in both the LCK and on the global stage. Any team with the “Unkillable Demon Slayer” is going to make a list of this caliber. The off-season saw Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok once again become a free agent for a short time before returning to T1 on a three-year deal.
What makes this T1 team special and different from any other former squads is the complete lack of changes to the starting lineup. T1 has brought home three world championships in the past, and in all three of those offseasons, the roster changed despite the success. Now, after coming up a game short, T1 has decided to run the roster back, and it makes a ton of sense.
This is still a very young squad with Faker at the helm as the veteran leader. Mun “Oner” Hyeon-jun, Lee “Gumayusi” Min-hyeong, and Ryu “Keria” Min-seok are all 20-years-old. Choi “Zeus” Woo-je will turn 19 at the end of January. On top of that, last year was Keria’s first time on the roster and in the bot lane with Gumayusi.
Last year T1 as a squad was as close as possible to bringing Faker and the organization its fourth world title. Now with no roster changes, the team can focus on getting better for another run at the title in 2023. It won’t be an easy road, not even in theregion, but there’s no denying this T1 roster will be a juggernaut in 2023.
JD Gaming — Revenge tour
For years, the battle for regional supremacy has raged between the LCK and LPL. Everyone always tries to predict when the age of Korean or Chinese dominance will begin. Recently the two powerhouses of the east have traded blows back and forth. Heading into Worlds, many saw JD Gaming as the team to establish LPL supremacy with back-to-back Chinese champions after Edward Gaming hoisted the Summoners Cup in 2021.
JDG looked like a team on a mission throughout their tournament run. The LPL’s top seed only dropped a game in the group stage and swept out Rogue, the last hope of the West in the quarterfinals. Top laner Bai “369” Jia-Hao and jungler Seo “Kanavi” Jin-hyeok looked unstoppable—until they ran into the unkillable demon slayer Faker. All JDG could muster was one game win against T1 before dropping out in the semifinals.
With a Worlds title as the expectation, JD Gaming failed to even reach the finals. With the off-season in full swing, rumors swirled around all of the LPL’s top teams with so many contracts expiring. Once the free agency window opened, JDG was not messing around, it was revenge tour time. One of the biggest rumored moves was former Top Esports mid-laner Zhuo “knight” Ding swapping sides to JDG. What few League fans saw coming was Park “Ruler” Jae-hyuk also joining the team. With the roster confirmed, JD Gaming now field a superstar mid-laner and arguably the greatest AD carry of all time. Not to mention the fact that 369 and Kanavi to fill out the top and jungle with Lou “Missing” Yun-Feng at support.
Nobody knew a month ago what kind of shake-up the LPL had in store heading into the offseason. Now, with the Spring Split less than a a month away, a new powerhouse has formed with revenge on the mind. On paper, there may be no roster in the world as stacked as JD Gaming for 2023.
Hanwha Life Esports — A new LCK powerhouse
Arguably the most shocking move of the entire off-season came from an unexpected organization. Hanwha Life Esports finished both the spring and summer LCK splits dead last. This all coming after the organization’s first appearance not only at Worlds but in the knockout stage in 2021. With star mid-laner Chovy departing to Gen.G, the team spiraled.
Flash forward to this offseason and HLE completely overhauled their roster, and the talent they got is world championship caliber. No one in the world benefitted more from DRX’s decision to make all five defending world champions free agents than Hanwha Life Esports. World champion top laner Hwang “Kingen” Seong-hoon and LCK player of the year (and defending world champion) mid laner Kim “Zeka” Geon-woo both joined early in the off-season. HLE wasn’t done adding former world champions, slotting former Edward Gaming AD carry Park “Viper” Do-hyeon into their botlane. Add in two LCK mainstays Kim “Clid” Tae-min in the jungle and Kim “Life” Jeong-min at support.
Few teams in the world, let alone in the LCK, have as much championship pedigree in their roster like Hanwha Life Esports. Add in the fact that guys like Zeka and Kingen still have a ton of room to improve after winning it all, and this HLE roster could easily take the world by storm.
MAD Lions — Europe’s new titan
There are a ton of LCK and LPL teams better than anything the west can put together, but the roster MAD Lions have sculpted could really shock some people come 2023. At one point, MAD Lions were labeled the new kings of Europe, but in 2022 failed to make any real noise domestically and internationally. They couldn’t even make it out of the play-ins for Worlds, getting swept out by North America’s Evil Geniuses.
Heading into the offseason, few knew what to expect from MAD. For a while, many suspected star jungler Javier “Eyloya” Prades Batalla to depart. Instead, the org cut ties with everyone else on the roster outside of reigning LEC MVP Yasin “Nisqy” Dinçer.
With two of the best at their respective positions, MAD was able to secure the LEC’s biggest veteran to bring more leadership to the team. Zdravets “Hylissang” Iliev Galabov has spent a decade playing professional League in Europe, most recently with Fnatic. The Pyke god himself played a huge part in Fnatic reaching the group stage at Worlds, and he is still considered a top support in the LEC by many.
MAD also brought back a past winner in the form of Matyáš “Carzzy” Orság after his year-long stint on the disastrous Vitality superteam. The only thing missing was a superstar potential top laner, and MAD found that with import Kim “Chasy” Dong-hyeon.
The LEC is in a very weird spot, with new organizations stepping in and the old titans of Europe shuffling their rosters around. That makes for a perfect storm of chaos, and MAD Lions’ roster looks poised to make a serious run back to LEC supremacy with a reigning MVP, a mega-talented jungler, and a veteran with a decade-long career who is still performing at a high level.
FlyQuest — The new King of the LCS
While much of North American League fandom is drooling over the new 100 Thieves lineup with NA G.O.A.T’s Bjergsen and Doublelift, another org has quietly put together a stacked roster for the LCS. Long gone are the years of Team SoloMid and Cloud9 dominating LCS titles, or the Team Liquid dynasty. Recently, LCS fans have seen new organizations win regional titles like 100 Thieves. This year may very well see another team win its first LCS title.
FlyQuest is very much the loveable franchise of the LCS, but is rarely ever taken seriously as a threat. FlyQuest did make a miraculous appearance at Worlds in 2020 after back-to-back LCS finals appearances that year. Now with PapaSmithy taking over the team after bringing 100 Thieves their first LCS title as general manager, FlyQuest would not mess around in the offseason window.
First, fans were shocked by with the departure of the team’s brightest future star Loïc “toucouille” Dubois. This was followed by FlyQuest scrapping their entire 2022 roster, all to make room for some much bigger acquisitions. PapaSmithy and company were able to grab Team Liquid Academy standout Bill “Eyla” Nguyen after Team Liquid re-signed CoreJJ. FlyQuest was also able to bring in the North America top lane king Jeong “Impact” Eon-young after Evil Geniuses cut him loose. Add in former LCS MVP Mingyi “Spica” Lu to the jungle after leaving TSM, and you’ve already got a roster with top LCS performers in their roles and one of the most hyped prospects in Elya.
All three of those acquisitions are great, but what really pushes FlyQuest to title contenders comes at mid and AD carry. To replace toucouille, FlyQuest are importing KT Rolster’s former mid laner Lee “VicLa” Dae-kwang who has been in KT Rolster’s system for years and just recently made the LCK team in 2022. If VicLa was an exciting import, then FlyQuest’s AD carry is the real heavy hitter. Lee “Prince” Chae-hwan, who won Player of the Split alongside Ruler in LCK Summer Split 2022, is the starting AD carry for FlyQuest next split. League fans are still in shock that such a high-caliber player is coming to North America, and Prince choosing FlyQuest is even crazier.
The former Liiv Sandbox AD carry is the missing piece to pushing FlyQuest over the edge, but the team around him is stacked on all sides as well. FlyQuest may not be getting all the offseason attention now, but by the time players hit Summoners Rift again in the LCS, watch out for this stacked roster.
