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 January 14th and run through March 6th. 

 

New Teams

Team BDS has purchased the franchise spot of Schalke 04.

 

Major Roster Moves 

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

  • Astralis: The big splashy pick up for this squad is grabbing the former Misfits ADC, Kobbe. He is one of the best laning ADCs in Europe and should bring a level of stability to this somewhat chaotic team. 
  • Excel: The only change to this roster is the addition of the top laner Finn. Finn spent a one year stint in the LCS and it was not the most enjoyable for him, so I could imagine that he is pretty excited to get back to playing in the LEC.
  • Fnatic: This lineup is only carrying their ADC and Support (Upset and Hylissang) from 2021. They have added Wunder and Razork to the top lane and  jungle. There was some drama surrounding some contract shenanigans for Perkz when he left G2 that stated he could not be sold to Fnatic by Cloud9. So when Fnatic couldn’t pick him up this offseason, they decided to go get the rising star in Humanoid from the MAD Lions to round out their roster. 
  • G2 Esports: The most well known name here has to be Broken Blade in the top lane. There is also a new bot lane in Flakked and Targamas which is pretty untested coming from lower tier pro play in Europe. 
  • MAD Lions: It is hard not to feel like this squad has taken a bit of a step back. They have replaced Humanoid and Carzzy with Reeker and UNF0RGIVEN, both who are from SK Gaming’s lower team. 
  • Misfits Gaming: With the dissolution of S04, ADC Neo finds his way back home to Misfits. The team also called up their academy jungler to round out their lineup. 
  • Rogue: Rogue brought in DWG KIA’s sub jungler (Malranf) which could be the boost this team needs to retake their seat at the top of the LEC. In addition to this pickup, we see Comp transition from sub ADC for Vitality to starter for Rogue. 
  • SK Gaming: The only two remaining members of SK are Jenax (top) and Treatz (support). They added European phenom in Gilius (jungler) from the dissipated S04 roster and grabbed the academy players from Misfits in Sertuss (mid) and Jezu (ADC). 
  • Team BDS: New organization to the European bigs leagues and they are bringing some pretty noteworthy players. Former Fnatic top laner in Adam joins and former Schalke support (LIMIT) join the squad. Schalke mid laner NUCLEARINT joins BDS with two former K Corp players (Cinkrof and xMatty).
  • Team Vitality: This may be the strongest European team ever assembled. With Alphari in the top lane from Team Liquid and Perkz in the Mid lane from C9 would instantly shoot this team to the top of most power rankings. Add on top of that Carzzy (ADC) from the MAD Lions and you have three massive signings for this European squad. 

 

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. 

  • Perkz (VIT): It is not a mystery to anyone within pro League of Legends circles that the Perkz signing for Cloud9 did not yield the results they wanted. Perkz is looking to reestablish himself as the greatest European player ever and he cannot ask for a more complete roster to do it. In an offseason where a lot of organizations went unproven and cheaper, Vitality went for a homerun.
  • Malrang (Rogue): Malrang has spent a lot of time behind Canyon on DWG so the World hasn’t been able to watch him play in quite a while. He has a ridiculously high mechanical ceiling and I fully expect him to run circles around some of the lower quality junglers in the LEC this split. 
  • WhiteKnight (XL): I am a big fan of WhiteKnight. He was such a high performing player on such a low producing team that it was hard not to take notice of him. Outside of Alphari, there aren’t too many top laners that I think outclass him. I expect him to continue to put a lot of other teams under extreme pressure. 
  • Humanoid (FNC): Humanoid was brought in to be the man for FNC. With players like Upset and Wunder who feed off the playmaking of their teammates, Humanoid is going to dictate how high this team can reach. If he can rise to the challenge and push laners like Perkz and Caps around, Fnatic can reach the heights their fans expect. 
  • G2 Esports: This whole team has a lot to live up to. They cleaned house after one of the worst seasons we can remember from them in 2021. Players like Broken Blade, Flaked, and Targamas are stepping into spots where European legends are leaving and the pressure will be real for them to perform. 

 

Projected Standings for Spring:

  1. Team Vitality
  2. Rogue
  3. Fnatic
  4. Astralis
  5. MAD Lions
  6. G2 Esports
  7. Misfits Gaming
  8. Team BDS
  9. Excel
  10. SK Gaming