LCS 2023: All 10 North American teams’ rosters

January 4, 2023

by Brian Bencomo

The League Championship Series, North America’s League of Legends pro circuit, returns Jan. 26. The big change for the LCS this year is that the competition will now take place on Thursdays and Fridays starting at 5 p.m. ET each day. As always, there have been numerous roster moves, with at least one change on each of the 10 teams except Counter Logic Gaming. From the reunion of two LCS legends on 100 Thieves to Team Liquid bringing in a world champ to headline an all-Korea squad, there have been a lot of interesting moves during the 2022-23 offseason. To get you up to speed on the offseason roster shuffle, here’s a primer on each of the 10 LCS rosters heading into the 2023 LCS spring split.

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100 Thieves

Photo credit: Riot Games

Milan "Tenacity" Oleksij
Can "Closer" Çelik
Søren "Bjergsen" Bjerg
Yiliang "Doublelift" Peng
Alan "Busio" Cwalina

Of all the roster moves this offseason, 100 Thieves got the most headlines for drawing Doublelift out of retirement and reuniting him with former TSM teammate Bjergsen. Doublelift and Bjergsen are two of the best League of Legends players in LCS history, so all eyes will be on 100 Thieves this season. Additionally, the team is calling up highly touted Academy players Tenacity and Busio. Not to be forgotten, Closer is continuing with the team. He’s the only remaining player from the 100 Thieves roster that reached Worlds each of the past two years and finished second in both the spring playoffs and the summer LCS Championship. It remains to be seen how well this team will play together, but no matter how you slice it, this team will be one of the most intriguing in 2023.

Cloud9

Photo credit: Riot Games

Ibrahim “Fudge” Allami
Robert “Blaber” Huang
Dimitri “Diplex” Ponomarev
Kim “Berserker” Min-cheol
Jesper “Sven” Svenningsen

Cloud9 are running it back with almost their entire 2022 LCS Championship-winning roster. Diplex is the only newcomer, and he replaces LCS legend Nicolaj "Jensen" Jensen in the mid lane. Diplex isn’t only new to C9 -- he’s new to North America too. The 19-year-old spent the past two seasons with Vitality.Bee, a team in the European regional league in France known as the LFL. He had the best KDA in the LFL during the summer, according to Oracle’s Elixir.

Counter Logic Gaming

Photo credit: Colin Young-Wolff / Riot Games via ESPAT

Niship "Dhokla" Doshi
Juan Arturo "Contractz" Garcia
Cristian "Palafox" Palafox
Fatih "Luger" Güven
Philippe "Poome" Lavoie-Giguere

After a surprising summer surge last season, CLG finished fourth in the LCS summer split and 5th-6th in the LCS Championship with a different roster than they had in the spring. The org is running it back this season with the same roster. The big difference in the summer was the emergence of top laner Dhokla who made his return to the LCS for the first time since 2019 after grinding at the amateur and Academy levels the past few years. Head coach Thomas "Thinkcard" Slotkin told Nerd Street last season that he and the organization were committed to steady improvement and long-term growth. The org has certainly abided by that philosophy in keeping the roster together in the hopes of rewarding the faithful with even better results this season.

Dignitas

Photo credit: Riot Games

İrfan Berk "Armut" Tükek
Lucas "Santorin" Tao Kilmer Larsen
Nicolaj "Jensen" Jensen
Trevor "Spawn" Kerr-Taylor
Lee "IgNar" Dong-geun

Dignitas have taken a veteran-heavy approach to building their 2023 roster. With all five players in their mid-20s, they are one of the older rosters in the LCS. Armut is perhaps the most interesting addition, as he comes over from Europe after multiple trips to Worlds with MAD Lions. Jensen has a record streak of eight consecutive years going to Worlds, and Santorin has played on the international stage too. For an organization that has not gone to Worlds since Season 2 in 2012, perhaps a bunch of seasoned veterans can break the org’s international drought.

Evil Geniuses

Photo credit: Riot Games

Kim "Ssumday" Chan-ho
Kacper "Inspired" Słoma
Joseph Joon "jojopyun" Pyun
Ian Victor "FBI" Huang
Philippe "Vulcan" Laflamme

Maybe we should call this team Evil Thieves or 100 Geniuses? Longtime 100 Thieves top laner Ssumday joins Evil Geniuses as well as FBI, his teammate for the past two years. FBI takes over in the bot lane for emerging star Kyle “Danny” Sakamaki who stepped away from the team late last season for a mental break. He is, however, still signed with EG. Inspired, jojopyun and Vulcan remain with the team for the start of the 2023 season. Inspired was the LCS MVP last summer, jojopyun is the best young player to enter the league in some time, and Vulcan embodies the team's delightfully evil persona better than anybody. 100 Thieves and Evil Geniuses were two of the top teams in the LCS last season, so this mixture of 2022 100T and EG players should make for a very strong roster. EG are a good bet to be one of the top teams in the LCS in 2023.

FlyQuest

Photo credit: Riot Games Korea

Jeong "Impact" Eon-young
Mingyi "Spica" Lu
Lee "VicLa" Dae-kwang
Lee "Prince" Chae-hwan
Bill "Eyla" Nguyen

FlyQuest have been one of the most beloved LCS teams in recent years for the org’s environmental causes and the team’s general wholesomeness, but they haven’t been considered a top team since 2020. That all might change this upcoming season as FlyQuest have assembled a team with a lot of potential. Chris “Papsmithy” Smith left 100 Thieves after building a roster that made it to Worlds in back-to-back years and has made some splashy moves since joining FlyQuest. Former Evil Geniuses top laner and world champion Impact is now in the top lane. Prince, who the LCK in kills last summer, is coming over from Korea to take over the bot lane. VicLa also is joining FlyQuest from Korea and is fresh off being named LCK Rookie of the Year. Former Team Liquid Academy support Eyla and former TSM jungler Spica round out the roster.

Golden Guardians

Photo credit: Riot Games

Eric "Licorice" Ritchie
Kim "River" Dong-woo
Kim "Gori" Tae-woo
Trevor "Stixxay" Hayes
Choi "huhi" Jae-hyun

Huhi joins Golden Guardians after spending the past two years with 100 Thieves. Gori is an LCK and LPL veteran who has been a sub with T1, EDG and FPX and was a starter with PSG Talon in the PCS during the second half of the 2022 season. The rest of the roster was with Golden Guardians in 2022. River is sticking with Golden Guardians after starting last season with Dignitas. Stixxay and huhi are reuniting after spending time earlier in their careers together with CLG. The two just missed each other on Golden Guardians previously as huhi was with the organization for the 2020 season, but left just as Stixxay joined for the 2021 season.

Immortals

Photo credit: Riot Games

Mohamed "Revenge" Kaddoura
Shane Kenneth "Kenvi" Espinoza
Nicholas Antonio "Ablazeolive" Abbott
Edward "Tactical" Ra
Kadir "Fleshy" Kemiksiz

Revenge and Kenvi return to Immortals for 2023, while the rest of the roster is new. Ablazeolive takes over the mid lane after spending the past couple years with Golden Guardians. Tactical, who took over the bot lane for Team Liquid after Doublelift was benched a couple years back and then started for TSM last season, is now with Immortals. Fleshy comes over from Turkey to round out the roster as the team’s new support.

Team Liquid

Photo credit: Riot Games

Park "Summit" Woo-tae
Hong "Pyosik" Chang-hyeon
Harry "Haeri" Kang
Sean "Yeon" Sung
Jo "CoreJJ" Yong-in

This past season, Team Liquid assembled a team many considered a “superteam” laden with European stars, including Bjergsen and Bwipo. The team failed to make MSI or Worlds, so Team Liquid has scrapped the team to start fresh with an entirely new roster except for CoreJJ. TL has brought in 2022 world champion Pyosik to headline an all-Korean roster that includes a mixture of veterans like CoreJJ and Pyosik and young players Summit, Haeri and Yeaon. Summit returns to the LCS after winning the spring MVP award with Cloud9 and then going to China for the summer. Haeri and Yeon have been called up from Team Liquid’s championship Academy team.

TSM

Photo credit: Chris Bet / Riot Games via ESPAT

Colin “Solo” Earnest
Lee “Bugi” Seong-yeop
Huang “Maple” Yi-Tang
Toàn “Neo” Trần
Jonathan “Chime” Pomponio

Bugi has played all over the world. The Korean player has competed in Japan, Southeast Asia, Latin America and now will play in North America with TSM. Neo joins the team after spending the past 2+ years with Dignitas, bouncing back and forth between their main and Academy squads. Solo -- the LCS Everyman -- Maple and Chime all remain with the team for the upcoming season.

Lead photo credit: Colin Young-Wolff / Riot Games via ESPAT