Some major changes to the League of Legends landscape have taken place in two short months! This league overview series will get you caught up on the major takeaways as well as which teams/players you should keep your eyes on. So sit back, relax, and get ready for the return of pro League of Legends!

Opening Day: The Spring Series will begin on Jan 12th and run through the 20th of March. 

New Teams: Afreeca Freecs are now the Kwangdong Freecs. 

Major Roster Moves: Like in most years, almost all teams made significant shifts in rosters. Some big ones to highlight are below:

  • DWG KIA: Damwon will field a team that will have some familiar faces (ShowMaker, Canyon) but have picked up the rockstar bot lane from Nongshim RedForce in deokdam and Kellin. Khan retired (due to his mandatory military service) and DWG brought in Hoya and Burdol to fill his spot. 
  • DRX: DRX picked up the former World Champion in BeryL as well as the former HLE bot laner in Deft. DRX also brought Kingen back from the LPL while dropping SOLKA (Mid) down to their challenger team. 
  • Fredit BRION: The stand out here is the return of Sw0rd. He once played for the now disbanded Griffin and had previously made a deep World Championship run with the team. They also brought in former HLE top laner (Morgan) to compete for that top lane position with Sw0rd which should create some interesting lineup choices for this squad. 
  • Gen.G: A lot has changed for this team and I think there is reason to both be excited and nervous for fans this year. First, Bdd has left the team. This is pretty scary seeing as he was one of the pillars of success for the team in 2021, but they are filling the space with Chovy. In the top lane Doran has come to replace Doran and Peanut has stepped in to replace Clid. Of the five starters from 2021, only Ruler remains as a constant. 
  • HanwhaLife Esports: This is another almost entirely new lineup. The highlight here may be SamD in the ADC role who is migrating from the LPL (TT) and Karis from the Gen.G Challenger team. I think these additions will be nice, but they have a lot to prove on a team who just had a decent showing at the World Championships in August. 
  • KT Rolster: This is an interesting lineup. KT has brought in huge names like Rascal in the top lane and Cuzz in the jungle, both with strong track records of success. To play alongside them they also picked up Aiming for the ADC role (from BLG) and a relatively untested mid laner in Aria. All players are aggressive and that could mean either a very flashy team that rises to the top, or crashes and burns brilliantly.
  • Kwangdong Freecs: Much of this lineup is the same from the Afreeca Freecs lineup of last year, but with an exciting addition of FATE in the mid lane. FATE is a pretty solid player in terms of mechanical skill in his lane, but lacked a strong ability to influence the map outside himself. With the relatively strong pieces already in place here (along with the pick up of Teddy from T1) FATE could have more chances to shine. 
  • Liiv SANDBOX: This team is another that seems to be an odd collection of middle of the road players. Players like Dove and Clozer are noteworthy but don’t seem like the players to carry a team in a league like the LCK. 
  • Nongshim RedForce: This team looks to be very good on paper. Canna in the top lane, Dread in the jungle, Bdd in the mid lane, with Ghost and Effort in the bottom lane. They have carry power in every lane which is a pretty big change from their bottom lane focus from 2021. 
  • T1: No additions here, but definitely a sense of addition by subtraction. They refined their lineup and cut off the extra players which should allow more consistent play and lineups. 

Players to Watch: These are some of my projected big performers for this upcoming year and some of my reasoning why. Big things should be in the future of each of these players. 

  • Deokdam (DWG): This is about as good of a place for deokdam as you could draw up. He was just on NS RedForce, where he had to be the focus for his team. On DWG, he will have less focus put on him which should allow for more opportunities to have pop off games. 
  • Peanut (Gen.G): I think much like his former teammate (deokdam), Peanut is in a better place because there is just more talent surrounding him. I think him playing alongside Chovy will allow him to remain gank heavy in his playstyle.
  •  Dread (NRF): This is another jungler who is going to heavily benefit from being surrounded by better quality players. I think much like Peanut, having a world class mid laner is going to pay HUGE dividends here. 
  • Gumayusi (T1): There is no more pressure of whether or not it will be either him or Teddy now. This is Gumayusi’s show and this is his time to shine. With a similar roster as last season, T1 should hit the ground running. 

Projected Standings for Spring:

  1. DWG KIA
  2. T1
  3. RedForce
  4. Gen.G
  5. DRX
  6. KT Rolster
  7. Kwangdong Freecs
  8. Hanwha Life
  9. Liiv Sandbox 
  10. Fredit Brion