Rumors and Roster Changes Regarding the LCK
After a pretty underwhelming year, everyone is keeping an eye out for LCK roster changes. For many, the League of Legends regular season is an exciting ride filled with unexpected twists and turns. Regardless of the meta, every year of competitive League delivers. However, at the end of every regular season, after the dust settles and the best team in the world lifts that prestigious Worlds trophy, comes the off-season.
If you’re a big fan of the competitive scene, the off-season feels like Christmas. Teams restructure, rosters get reshuffled, players get dropped and signed on a daily basis, and super teams are formed across the two/three-month break.
Professional League teams take the off-season seriously, as they should seeing how their success hinges on how well they restructure and prepare for the upcoming season. And of course there’s drama on a pretty regular basis, especially because there’s still a fair amount of unprofessionalism on the scene.
Regardless, even though we’re just days into the off-season, we already have a ton of news to go over. This time it’s regarding the League of Legends Champions Korea region, often abbreviated as the LCK.
The significance of the LCK in competitive League history is monumental. They’ve been the best performing region for several years now. Even though they’ve been overtaken by the LPL (China) in 2018, no one dares count them out. Korea as a region had a pretty bad read on the meta overall, and they failed to adapt as the months went by. Whether or not they were too confident is up for debate, but they certainly weren’t playing optimal League in 2018.
That doesn’t mean they don’t have insanely talented players in their region — far from it. The influx of talent was evident in 2018 with Griffin joining the ranks and performing exceptionally well, even among the staple LCK teams like SKT T1, KT Rolster, Kingzone DragonX, and Gen.G (formerly known as Samsung Galaxy).
Whether LCK will bounce back in 2019 is up for debate. They have the tools to play at the highest possible level, and their recent fall from grace should be more than enough to motivate them going forward.
In short, LCK talent is abundant but players are spread across 10 teams, and it’s just not optimal. There will be a ton of LCK roster changes, and that’s the main reason why the upcoming off-season will be so exciting.
SKT T1 Roster Changes Incoming
Three SKT T1 players are supposedly leaving the team, but with such a large roster it’s uncertain who’s leaving the LCK giant. Only Park “Untara” Ui-jin, Lee “Effort” Sang-ho, and Kang “Blank” Sun-gu are contracted until the end of 2019. Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok said several times that he isn’t looking to leave the team, but after such a lackluster year he’s probably going over his options, and the same goes for Bae “Bang” Jun-sik. According to the latest rumor, SKT is also looking to sign a new jungler, and they’re interested in Kim “Moojin” Moo-jin, Kim “Clid” Tae-min, and Han “Peanut” Wang-ho.
It’s hard to predict how SKT will change going into 2019, especially because many players emphatically pledged their allegiance to the most decorated League of Legends team in history. That said, they were painfully mediocre throughout the 2018 regular season, and they need to go through some heavy changes if they want to regain their former glory.
KingZone DragonX Losing Power
Kingzone DragonX (formerly known as Longzhu Gaming) is, without a doubt, one of the most beloved teams in recent LCK history. While they didn’t achieve what many expected, they’ll go down in history as one of the best, most stacked League rosters in LCK history. According to the latest rumors, Kingzone DragonX is bent on keeping Gwak “Bdd” Bo-seong under all circumstances, which is understandable given his performance over the last two years. Peanut, Kim “Pray” Jong-in, and Kang “GorillA” Beom-hyeon are, on the other hand, looking to leave KingZone DragonX and play elsewhere.
What’ll happen with these three LCK legends remains to be seen, but they’re almost certainly going to be playing for a top-tier team. Whether that’s in Korea, China, or even North America is unknown.
Gen.G Possibly Changing
Gen.G is looking to revitalize the team as they look to retain Lee “CuVee” Seong-jin and Park “Ruler” Jae-hyuk for the upcoming 2019 season. They recently announced both Lee “Crown” Min-ho and Kang “Ambition” Chan-yong would become free agents. They’re not too keen on keeping Kang “Haru” Min-seung either.
They want to make big changes, and it’s hard to blame them. Ever since they lifted the Worlds trophy in 2017, they’ve been on a downward slope with short flashes of brilliance. While they never left the top five in 2018, they were far from a powerhouse. In the ever-changing LCK landscape that’s become a big problem.
If Gen.G wants to stand a chance, they need to find a new identity. Fortunately, both Cuvee and Ruler can still go blow-for-blow with the very best in the LCK so Gen.G will retain a good core coming into 2019.
KT Rolster Focusing on Smeb
The current LCK champions are also looking to restructure their roster in 2019. While they attained success in 2018, despite multiple splits of mediocre results, they have perhaps the strongest (and most expensive) roster in competitive League of Legends right now.
With absolute legends in every single position, it’s going to be hard for KT to keep them all signed for another season. Their jungler Go “Score” Dong-bin is approaching his required two-year military service. Inven sources say KT Rolster will struggle to match the desired pay for Kim “Deft” Hyuk-kyu. While they have the financial backing, they’re probably not looking to spend a small fortune on their roster even though they achieved commendable results in 2018.
Cho “Mata” Se-hyeong has officially left the team, and the KT Rolster bottom duo could very well go as a package.
KT is reportedly looking to keep Song “Smeb” Kyung-ho as their top laner, and they also have their substitute jungler Lee “Rush” Yoon-jae signed as well. There’s no doubt KT has a fantastic top and jungle duo coming into 2019.
Even if they lose their veteran bottom lane, they still have the right players (and financial backing) to compete at the highest possible level.
Afreeca Freecs Undergoing Changes
Afreeca was one of the surprise performances of the 2018 season. They’re also fairly likable, and while you wouldn’t always favor their chances, they’re more than able to duke it out with the very best teams in the LCK.
Unfortunately, their overall performance at World Championship was lackluster. Afreeca is looking to make substantial changes coming in 2019. Their top laner Kim “Kiin” Gi-in is reportedly not looking to change teams, which is great for Afreeca. Kiin has been spectacular throughout 2018 and was one of the main reasons why people gave Afreeca a solid chance coming into Worlds.
Afreeca is looking to create a ten-man roster and develop the younger talent they already have signed. The organization is contemplating letting Lee “kurO” Seo-haeng go, especially after his lackluster performance at the World Championship. Whether or not that’ll happen remains to be seen.
Overall, these are just the initial rumblings regarding upcoming LCK roster changes. We’re just a couple of days into the off-season and we can expect news every day until January. As a region, the LCK is undergoing some serious change, and quite frankly they’re not used to playing second fiddle to China and Europe.
Their path to redemption starts in January. If you’re a fan of competitive League things cannot get any more exciting.
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