Riot Games recently announced the end of the European League of Legends Championship Series (EU LCS) and the birth of the League of Legends European Championship (LEC). In this new competitive format, Riot opted for a franchised system, while the number of teams remains ten. Because of the new system, four ‘new’ teams entered the competition, leaving behind the organisations lacking financial power. With this sudden flow of money arrived some of the world’s best players, and some historical players changed teams. Here are the five transfers to notice.
Lee ‘Mowgli’ Jae-ha, jungler, from Afreeca Freecs to Vitality. Considered by many observers as the best jungler in the world at the moment, Mowgli left Afreeca after a disappointing World Championship. He fills the gap left by Erberk ‘Gilius’ Demir, who will play for Besiktas next season.
Kang ‘GorillA’ Beom-hyeon, support, from Kingzone DragonX to Misfits Gaming. Many popular Korean players left Korea after what they probably consider as the worst World Championship ever for Korean teams, which is even more shameful considering the event took place in Korea. Once again, GorillA owns a spot in the top three best supports in the world and will undeniably form one of the LEC’s strongest bot lane alongside French ADC prodigy Steven ‘Hans Sama’ Liv.
Rasmus ‘Caps’ Winther, midlaner, from Fnatic to G2 Esports. One of the best Western midlaners, fans shed some tears as their other star player (the first being Martin ‘Rekkles’ Larsson) joined the other European powerhouse that is G2. Interestingly enough, G2’s team assessed without the shadow of a doubt Caps’ strength, moving their own star midlaner Luka ‘Perkz’ Perkovic to the botlane, where he will start as ADC alongside Mihael ‘Mikyx’ Mehle, arriving from… Misfits Gaming.
Paul ‘sOAZ’ Boyer, toplaner, from Fnatic to Misfits. The French veteran lost his place because of an injury during the last Spring Split and never really took it back. Fnatic tried to reintegrate him to the team by switching with other toplaner Gabriel ‘Bwipo’ Rau, but they gave Bwipo the starting position for the World Championship and will probably keep betting on him for the first edition of the LEC. Misfits looks like a good team for SoaZ to show that he’s far from finished.
Patrik ‘Sheriff’ Jiru, ADC, from H2K to Origen. Origen is back! The Spanish organisation entered the LEC, still under the leadership of Enrique ‘xPeke’ Cedeno Martinez. Their choosing of Sheriff looks definitely promising, as he will probably try to bounce back after finishing the Summer Split in the last position with H2K. He can count on his botlane partner, support Alfonso ‘Mithy’ Aguirre Rodriguez, returning to his original team after a year spent in North American organisation Team SoloMid.
