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The 2017 League of Legends All-Stars tournament last weekend had just the right mix of players meeting expectations, surprises, and incredible games.
From the early knockouts of both the LCK team and Faker, to the three-game 1-vs-1 finals, the last tournament for 2017 certainly delivered.
And now that it’s done, the 2017 Season is finished. Still, the end of the professional season hasn’t stopped the roster announcements in NA and elsewhere, and this week we’re going to take a look at some of the updates that have come out in the past fortnight.
100 Thieves (100): Aphromoo signed to support
Last we looked, 100 had signed the top three roles on the map, but the bot lane duo was sitting empty. While we’ve still not seen an AD Carry announcement, the rumours around signing Aphromoo were dead on the money.
Aphromoo has been a staple of the North American League of Legends scene for a solid five years now, and is a huge pickup for this fledgeling team. Not only does he bring extensive game knowledge and a key in-game voice, but like many of the team’s other pickups, he comes with a significant following, which will help to bring 100 a solid fanbase before they even step on the stage.
Clutch Gaming (CG): team rumours confirmed
I ran through these players last fortnight, but to revisit, this team is LirA, Apollo, and Hakhuo all from the old Team Envy, with Solo joining in the Top Lane and Febiven in mid. In theory, this team should be taking elements of a playoffs team from last split, and upgrading the two solo laners.
Maybe it’s some lingering doubts about Solo, or maybe it’s just the high quality of most of the other teams, but I’m still not convinced that this team will do much, if at all, better than NV did last split. The coaching staff will surely have an impact, but with how strong so many of their opponents are (at least on paper) it’s hard to envision a particularly hot run from this team.
Echo Fox (FOX): remaining rumours confirmed
Last we looked, FOX had only confirmed FeniX in the midlane, but since then have filled out their roster with four pretty big names: Huni, Dardoch, Altec and Adrian. All four of these were rumoured for a while before the announcement so we’ve had plenty of time to think about the line-up.
This roster has a lot of potential, but could be extremely volatile; Dardoch is known for his toxicity (and honestly, I’m surprised he is on any team this year) while Adrian is supposed to be extremely laid back. If the players click and work together this will be an intimidating roster to face, but the question is if they will actually make it to that point.
FlyQuest (FLY): remaining rumours confirmed
FLY have rounded out their roster with the already-contracted AnDa (who may have renamed to Chorong) confirmed as their starting Jungler, and – in a signing possibly even better than DIG Big – announced the signing of Fly in the Midlane.
While Fly is not necessarily the strongest midlaner out there, he’s had a good run in the NACS last year. AnDa will have played plenty with the already-confirmed Stunt and Flame, which could make a massive difference to this team. For a team with mostly mid-tier players, having cohesive game play may be make or break for FLY.
Golden Guardians (GGS): team rumours confirmed
Just in the last couple of days, GGS finally announced their full starting lineup. Like CG, all five of the rumoured players have been confirmed to start for the team; Lourlo in Top, Contractz in the Jungle, Hai in the Midlane, Deftly as the AD Carry, supported by Matt.
This team has some good players; I don’t hide that I am a C9 fan, so I’m incredibly excited to see the legendary Hai working with the recent talent of Contractz. Lourlo and Matt have been on TL together for nearly two years. Deftly is new to the LCS, although he has a fair amount of experience in the Challenger Series. With their drastically different backgrounds, a lot will depend on how this team pulls together as a unit under coach Locodoco.
OpTic Gaming (OPT): no confirmation
OPT have not confirmed anything for their new roster… but their twitter does appear to be mid-way through a five-day countdown. Hopefully we will see the full announcement when it hits zero on the 19th!
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And just to round us out, of the Big Four teams that I’ve not mentioned, three had already confirmed their roster last week, and C9 have not made any further announcements.
I’m sure all of us have our team rankings; who do you think is shaping up to be the best (or worst) teams in the new year?