The off-season madness continues! The past week has been filled with insane surprises and huge roster moves that could topple even the greatest M. Night Shyamalan plot twist. Such shocking news is exactly the reason why the off-season period offers insane entertainment value. Your brain immediately starts theorycrafting and creating preliminary power rankings based on the latest news.

Pobelter Signing with FlyQuest

After getting dropped by Team Liquid in favor of Nicolaj “Jensen” Jensen, it didn’t take long for Eugene “Pobelter” Park to find a new home. That’s why he’s joining FlyQuest as their starting mid laner.

To be quite frank, this is a big downgrade, but at least FlyQuest managed to hover as a Top 5 team throughout the 2018 regular season. They have a pretty solid line-up overall, and with Pobelter in the roster, they’re getting a seasoned veteran capable of playing at the highest level — at least regionally.

Team Vitality Signs a New Jungler

Vitality has reportedly finalized a deal with Afreeca Freecs’ substitute jungler Lee “Mowgli” Jae-ha. This is pretty surprising, but Mowgli’s two-year experience in the LCK should help Vitality. He wasn’t exactly a top-tier jungler in the LCK, although it’s hard to blame him seeing whom he had to go up against.

Vitality scrimmed a lot with Afreeca during their 2018 Worlds boot camp, so they probably know just how strong and capable he really is.

Overall, while it might take him some time to adjust to a completely different team and culture, he should be an upgrade for Team Vitality.

Team SoloMid (TSM) Makes Big Changes

The perennial NA LCS titan has announced their starting roster, and it looks like a very capable one, at least on paper. They’re bringing a promising top laner in Sergen “Broken Blade” Çelik from the Turkish League, as well as Andy “Smoothie” Ta from Echo Fox. While it’s still too early to tell, this roster looks like a very concrete upgrade from the previous season.

Whether or not this roster will translate into regional success remains to be seen. TSM still haven’t confirmed their jungler, but it seems like Jonathan “Grig” Armao will remain as their starter.

OpTic Signing a New Mid… From LCK

Well, that came out of nowhere.

OpTic Gaming has just signed former Samsung Galaxy (now Gen.G) mid laner Lee “Crown” Min-ho. While his play throughout 2018 wasn’t especially impressive, he is a World Champion and one of the best mid laners in the world. While OpTic lost a considerable portion of their line-up, this roster change could be a sign of fantastic things to come.

Counter Logic Gaming (CLG) Find Their New Mid Laner

After losing Huhi to 100 Thieves, CLG fans were losing hope. Their 2018 run was painful to watch and losing one of their most likable players was yet another crushing blow.

Fortunately, CLG signed a deal with Tristan “PowerOfEvil” Schrage who will remain in North America even though he has received multiple offers from LEC teams. While his performance in 2018 wasn’t anything worth bragging about, he’s still an insanely talented player that can go blow-for-blow with the very best in the world.

While it’ll probably take some time for him to develop synergy with his new teammates, he could be an upgrade for CLG in the long run.

sOAZ & GorillA Confirmed for Misfits

Misfits Gaming are entering 2019 with their eyes set on the LEC trophy. After taking SKT T1 to five games last year, their 2018 regular season was pretty underwhelming, to say the least. That said, with more financial backing and a slot in the franchised league, it seems they’re going all-in.

They signed Paul “sOAZ” Boyer, of Fnatic and Origen fame, who is still one of the best top laners in the world, let alone Europe. With Fabian “Febiven” Diepstraten in the line-up as well, they have threats in both solo lanes, and with Nubar “Maxlore” Sarafian re-signing for three additional years under the Misfits banner, they have an insanely competitive top side of the map.

We already know what Steven “Hans Sama” Liv is capable of, and with one of the best supports of all time in Kang “GorillA” Beom-hyeon, they’re poised to make an incredible, dominating run in the LEC.

Origen’s First Players

Origen re-entered the LEC with a ton of hype, and we finally have some news regarding their starting line-up. They have reportedly signed Barney “Alphari” Morris as their top laner, Erlend “Nukeduck” Holm for the mid lane, and Patrik “Sheriff” Jírů as their AD carry.

This isn’t exactly a top-tier roster, but there’s some obvious potential. Alphari was once a Top 3 top laner in the region, but he has dropped off since then. Nukeduck was pretty solid on Schalke 04 throughout the 2018 regular season, and Sheriff was always the best performing player on H2K. Even though they didn’t do well in the Summer Split, he was always performing above expectations, given the circumstances.

If they round out the roster with a couple veterans, they could potentially aim for Top 6.

Rogue Makes First Signings

One of the latest teams to join the LEC still hasn’t officially announced anything, but they have reportedly signed Mateusz “Kikis” Szkudlarek as their starting jungler. Kikis is a veteran of the EU scene, having played for teams like Team ROCCAT, Unicorns of Love, G2 Esports, Mysterious Monkeys, and most recently, Team Vitality.

Kikis brings a ton of veteran experience, and he was one of the main reasons why Vitality was able to turn things around near the end of the 2018 Summer Split and cement their position as a Top 3 team in the region.

100 Thieves Complete Their Roster

North America’s second-best team (judged solely on Championship Points) from 2018 is entering the upcoming season with an incredibly frightening roster. They’ve signed CLG’s mid-laner Choi “Huhi” Jae-hyun, and they’re also bringing over two-time Worlds winner Bae “Bang” Jun-sik from SKT T1.

That’s a stacked roster in every way, shape, and form. With Kim “Ssumday” Chan-ho in the top lane, Andy “AnDa” Hoang in the jungle, and Zaqueri “aphromoo” Black as their support, they have the tools at their disposal to challenge for the NA LCS trophy.

When it comes to Huhi, it’s hard to judge his play in 2018 because the team as a whole had a ton of problems. What we know is that he’s a top-tier player and a highly competent veteran with a very solid champion pool that can perfectly fill the void left with Ryu’s absence. Furthermore, you could argue that he’ll bring a lot more to the mid lane and the team overall as his play hasn’t been declining like Ryu’s.

While it’s too early to tell for sure, this 100 Thieves roster should be able to go blow-for-blow with Team Liquid’s stacked line-up. Don’t be surprised if we get a repeat of the 2018 Spring Split finals, as both these teams are championship material.

SKT T1 Line-up Announced

The most famous LCK team didn’t wait long before announcing their full roster for 2019. SKT has announced two players for the top lane (Kim ‘Khan’ Dong-ha, Kim ‘Crazy’ Jae-hee), two junglers (Kang ‘Haru’ Min-seung, Kim ‘Clid’ Tae-min) as well as a single AD carry — Park ‘Teddy’ Jin-seong, former marksman for Jin Air Green Wings.

At time of this writing, they only lack a support. While they have Lee “Effort” Sang-ho on their roster, they’re probably looking for a top-tier veteran. With CoreJJ and GorillA leaving for North America and Europe, Cho “Mata” Se-hyeong seems like the most viable option.

With a lane-dominant top laner in Khan who is still one of the best top laners in the world, two mechanically gifted junglers, and a (potentially) threatening bottom lane, Faker will finally be able to play up to his full potential. He’ll have less weight on his shoulders and less pressure to perform.

With an unleashed Faker (who proved to be one of the best mid laners in the world even with an underperforming team), perhaps 2019 will be the year SKT T1 returns to their former glory.

Afreeca Freecs Found a New Mid

Finally, Afreeca Freecs announced a very big signing — Son “Ucal” Woo-hyeon from KT Rolster. This is huge news for all fans of the LCK as Afreeca is slowly (but surely) making the right moves to remain a Top 3 team. Many expected huge roster moves in the LCK but seeing Ucal play alongside Kim “Kiin” Gi-in will be a thing of beauty.

With Ucal and Kiin in the roster, Afreeca Freecs may be unstoppable in 2019. They have two insanely talented players to build their roster around, and there’s no doubt they’ll be making waves in the 2019 season.