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Right after the 2020 League of Legends (LoL) World Championship, esports teams around the world quickly shifted their focus to improve their current roster as the free agency period opened last November 16.
While other players are still unsigned, some of the biggest names in the League scene already decided where to go for the next season. Here are the biggest moves in LoL free agency so far:
Cloud9 acquires Perkz in a buyout
Luka “Perkz” Perković, the golden boy of European League of Legends and the old face of G2 Esports, will bring his talent to North America after getting acquired by an LCS team, Cloud 9.
Cloud 9 made the official announcement for their new superstar last November 21, Saturday.
“I’m not coming here [in LCS] to retire, I’m coming here to dominate and absolutely demoralize my opponents and to take this region higher than before, so watch me,” Perkz said in C9’s announcement video.
Aside from the multiple regional titles in the past years, Perkz also helped G2 become one of the best teams in the world. G2 won the 2019 Mid-Season Invitational (MSI) and reached the finals of the 2019 Worlds.
Just this year, Perkz brought his team to the semifinals of 2020 Worlds but failed to return to the finals after losing to the eventual champions DAMWON Gaming.
Despite playing as attack damage carry for most of the time in the past two years, Perkz is expected to return to his old position as a mid laner for C9, which, despite winning the 2020 LCS Spring Split, failed to qualify for Worlds after a lackluster Summer Split.
Perkz will be reunited with his former teammate in G2 Esports, Jesper “Zven” Svenningsen.
G2 Esports signs Rekkles
After 8 years with Fnatic, Europe’s finest attack damage carry Martin “Rekkles” Larsson decided to take a new step in his career by signing with his old team’s biggest rival – G2 Esports.
“I’m ready for a new challenge and grateful for everything [the fans] have given me,” Rekkles said in G2 Esports’ announcement video. “I promised that I’ll win Worlds and I will.”
Back in 2018, Rekkles carried his team to a finals appearance in the world championships, but they fell short against LPL’s Invictus Gaming. In the 2020 Worlds, Fnatic displayed a strong performance in the group stage before it crashed out of the quarterfinals.
Rekkles will join his former teammate Rasmus “Caps” Winther, who moved to G2 in 2018.
TeamSoloMid signs SwordArt
The offseason has been bittersweet for North America’s fan-favorite team, but TSM still managed to bring in an esports icon and veteran support Hu “SwordArt” Shuo-Chieh.
SwordArt, who played with 2020 Worlds finalist Suning, reportedly agreed to sign a whooping two-year, $6 Million contract with TSM – the biggest contract so far in LCS.
After weeks of speculation, TSM made the move official in their Twitter post on Friday, November 27.
“The reason why I want to join TSM is because I want to challenge myself and see what I can do in another region,” said SwordArt.
“I want to bring some LPL style with TSM so I can make them play more aggressive and we can make every game very interesting and make LCS stronger.”
Despite taking one of the biggest free agents available in the pool, TSM lost its two superstars and North America’s biggest icons Søren “Bjergsen” Bjerg and Yiliang “Doublelift” Peng – who both decided to retire this year.
Doublelift and Bjergsen will be replaced by Lawrence “Lost” Sze Yuy Hui, who came from TSM Academy team, and Tristan “PowerOfEvil” Schrage, who led his former team, FlyQuest, to this year’s Worlds.
T1 signs Keria
Three-time world champion T1 made the first biggest move in the LCK by signing rising star and young support Ryu “Keria” Min-seok.
The 18-year old support – who received the 2020 Spring Split Best Young Player award and the Esports Awards PC Rookie of the Year – had a 70-38 win-loss record in his rookie season with Dragon X (DRX).
Keria will join esports legend Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok and another rookie sensation Kim “Canna” Chang-dong in the loaded T1 roster.
But aside from picking up Keria, T1 also managed to bring in Lee “Zefa” Jae-min and Yang “Daeny” Dae-in – the main and head coach, respectively, of DAMWON Gaming.
Hanwha Life signs Chovy, Deft
In hopes to form a championship contender lineup, Hanwha Life Esports took a huge step as they successfully signed mid laner Jeong “Chovy” Ji-hoon and veteran attack damage carry Kim “Deft” Hyuk-kyu.
The two superstars came from Dragon X, which fell prey twice to DAMWON Gaming in the LCK 2020 Summer Split finals and in 2020 Worlds quarterfinals.
Chovy solidified his status as a superstar mid laner with his solo-carry performances with DRX. Deft, on the other hand, proved in the past season that he can still go toe-to-toe against the young attack damage carries in the scene.
Chovy and Deft will try to lead the revamped roster of Hanwha Life Esports, which finished second to the last of the standings in the 2020 LCK Summer Split with a 2-16 record. – Rappler.com
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