The offseason for NA consisted of many changes so here's a guide for the 2016 Spring Split season!

As the start of the NA LCS Spring Split 2016 comes near, it is safe to say that every NA LCS team has changed their starting roster. The offseason consisted of many things: role swaps, imports, players switching teams, and team purchases. Because there were many changes, we’ll give you an overview on what to expect for the new season.

NA LCS Spring Split 2016 teams (in no particular order):

Team SoloMid

  • Top: Kevin “Hauntzer” Yarnell
  • Jungler: Dennis “Svenskeren” Johnsen
  • Mid: Soren “Bjergsen” Bjerg
  • ADC: Yiliang “Doublelift” Peng
  • Support: Bora “YellOwStaR” Kim
     

TSM’s roster is similar to its IEM San Jose roster, except they have replaced Raymond “KaSing” Tsang with YellOwStaR.

Counter Logic Gaming

  • Top: Darshan “Darshan” Upadhyaha
  • Jungler: Jake “Xmithie” Puchero
  • Mid: JaeHyeon “HuHi” Choi
  • ADC: Trevor “Stixxay” Hayes
  • Support: Zacqueri “Aphromoo” Black


CLG’s roster is the exact same roster from IEM San Jose. One thing to note is that ZionSpartan is now known as Darshan.

Team Liquid

  • Top: Sampson “Lourlo” Jackson
  • Jungler: Christian “iWillDominate” Rivera
  • Mid: JaeHun “FeniX” Kim
  • ADC: Gwang-Jin “Piglet” Chae
  • Support: Andy “Smoothie” Ta


If you haven’t caught up with the news, both Top and Support roles have changed since the Summer Split. Former Top Laner Diego “Quas” Ruiz was suspended from TL and was replaced with Lourlo – a newcomer to the LCS with only experience gained from the challenger scene. Alex “Xpecial” Chu was also replaced with Team Dragon Knight’s former Support Smoothie.

Cloud 9

  • Top: An “Balls” Le
  • Jungler: YunJae “Rush” Lee
  • Mid: Nicolaj “Jensen” Jensen
  • ADC: Zachary “Sneaky” Scuderi
  • Support: Hai “Hai” Lam


The team’s roster is exactly the same from IEM Cologne. If you didn’t already know, Hai moved from Jungler to support and the team picked up TIP’s previous Jungler Rush. Another thing to note is that Incarnati0n is now known as Jensen.

Team Dignitas

  • Top: Lennart “SmittyJ” Warkus
  • Jungler: Thomas “Kirei” Yuen
  • Mid: Danny “Shiphtur” Le
  • ADC: Apollo “Apollo” Price
  • Support: Alan “KiWiKiD” Nguyen


The team’s roster is almost the same from IEM Cologne, except for the support. During IEM Cologne, Jesse “Jesiz” Le had subbed for KiWiKiD due to his unavailability during the tournament. The lineup changed quite a bit, with only two former DIG players from last split still residing with the team.

Team Impulse

  • Top: XiaoFeng“Feng” Wang
  • Jungler: Se-young “Procxin” Kim
  • Mid: Jun-Sik “Piriean” Choi
  • ADC: Brandon “Mash” Phan
  • Support: Austin “Gate” Yu


At the beginning of the offseason, TIP announced that they would be selling their spot in the LCS. After several weeks have passed and no offer was accepted, the team decided to keep their spot and rework their empty roster. They have obtained Team Coast’s previous ADC Mash, who had left the team when CST rebranded into NRG. Gate had filled Xian “XiaoWeiXiao” Yu’s role when he was suspended for elo boosting during the 2015 Summer Split, but will now move to the Support role in the upcoming season. Procxin was previously DetonatioN FocusMe’s jungler, but has relocated to NA in order to be a part of the team.  As for Feng and Piriean, they are originally solo queue stars with no professional experience.

Immortals

  • Top: SeungHun “Huni” Heo
  • EuiJin “Reignover” Kim
  • Eugene “Pobelter” Park
  • Jason “WildTurtle” Tran
  • Adrian “Adrian” Ma


IMT was previously known as Team 8, but its spot was later sold and rebranded. IMT’s roster consists of all LCS veterans. Huni and Reignover were originally from Fnatic, but was later imported to join the team. Pobelter was benched due to CLG believing that HuHi would be the better Mid at the moment. Same situation occurred with WildTurtle, for he was replaced from his previous team TSM with CLG’s superstar ADC Doublelift. Adrian was previously on TIP but decided to join a new team.

Echo Fox

  • Top: Jeong-hun “KFO” Park
  • Jungler: Anthony “Hard” Barkhostev
  • Mid: Henrik “Froggen” Hansen & Marcin “SELFIE” Wolski
  • ADC: Yuri “KEITH” Jew
  • Support: Terry “Baby” Chuong


Echo Fox was previously known as Team Gravity, but was later rebranded when NBA star and actor Rick Fox purchased the LCS spot. The lineup includes a mixture of both veterans and newcomers of the LCS. KFO was only known as a solo queue player from Korea. Both Hard and Baby were players from the challenger scene, but from different teams. KEITH also played for the challenger scene, but had minimal LCS experienced when he subbed for TSM and TL. Both Froggen and SELFIE both played for the EU LCS and plan to swap throughout the split.

NRG eSports

  • Top: Eon-Yeong “Impact” Jeong
  • Jungler:  Galen “Moon” Holgate
  • Mid: ChangSeok “GankedByMom” Lee
  • ADC: Johnny “Altec” Ru
  • Support: Kevin “KonKwon” Kwon


NRG was once Team Coast, but was later purchased and rebranded. The team decided to only keep one person from the original CST lineup, which is KonKwon. The rest have come from previous teams. Both Impact and Altec were from another NA LCS team, but decided to switch when their previous team’s roster went to shambles. Impact was previously on TIP and Altec was from GV before it was sold. Moon comes from a challenger team called Team Imagine, and this will be his first time playing professionally. GankedByMom was previously from Korean team JinAir Greenwings.

Renegades

  • Top: Oleskii “RF Legendary” Kuziuta
  • Jungler: Alberto “Crumbzz” Rengifo
  • Mid: Alexy “Alex Ich” Ichetovkin
  • ADC: Aleš “Freeze” Kn?žínek
  • Support: Maria “Remilia” Creveling


Renegades fought their way through the challenger league and placed first, securing them a spot for this coming Spring Split. This will be both RF Legendary’s and Remilia’s first time playing in the professional scene. As for Crumbzz, Alex Ich, and Freeze, they have had experienced playing in the LCS. Crumbzz was originally from DIG, but later left the team last year in the middle of the split. Both Alex Ich and Freeze have played in the EU LCS and were known as the carries for their previous teams.

Conclusion:

So much has happened throughout the offseason. Every team had changed up their roster in some sort of way and this Spring Split will definitely be different from the previous split. With the LCS resuming on January 16, let us know which team you’ll be rooting for!