New year, new resolutions, new life and, of course, new competitive season League of Legendswhich it undoubtedly is the most known and played MOBA at the moment. If you’re new to the competitive circuit, know that this begins in January and then accompanies us until October-Novemberwhen they take place the world championshipsthe most awaited international event by the whole community.
This year Riot Games has decided to shuffle the cards a bitchanging some formats, but, for most of the leagues, the entire course is divided into two trances, called splits and splits from the Mid-Season Invitational which usually takes place in May-June. If MSI and Worlds are international events, the two splits are split between 8 minor leaguesalthough three (TCL, CIS and LCO) have been downgraded and I’m not quite sure if they still matter or not, and 4 major leagues.
Starting with today’s article we will analyze the teams that will participate in the major leagues in view of the imminent start of the spring split. The first league to go is, as usual, the LPL, the Chinese league. This will begin on January 14 and has no major upheavals compared to past years. As usual, 17 teams participate in a single group with best-of-three matches. Today we talk about the first nine in alphabetical order!
League of Legends – Anyone’s Legend
Anyone’s Legend debuted in 2022 and, after a limped start in the spring split, they certainly made their mark in the summer split where they narrowly missed the playoffs. Considering this team was a rebrand of the Rogue Warriors who rarely came off the bottom, getting to mid-table was already a good result.
It is therefore not too surprising that the lineup has remained practically unchanged. It is not clear who will play mid, probably the summer split sub Harder, while it is confirmed that both Forge and QiuQiu have left the team. The latter, however, is replaced by a high-sounding name seeking revenge: SwordArt. Will the ALs with these players make it to the playoffs?
League of Legends – Bilibili Gaming
As much as BLG managed to get into the playoffs in the 2022 summer split, I’ll be honest, their performance last year was disappointing to say the leastespecially after seeing what these players were capable of in 2021. I had high expectations and was let downI would have been almost happier if they had given way to other teams.
The same organization seems to be of the same opinion as me since sent home 4/5 of the formation, keeping only the toplaner Bin and the reserve jungler can. The names called are all of the highest level: XUN from iG, Yagao from JDG, Elk from UP (who maybe will finally have a decent team) and ON from WBG. On paper this team is very strong, but superteams don’t always work in League of Legends. BLGs know this well.
League of Legends – Edward Gaming
The 2021 world champions failed to repeat in 2022, but they undoubtedly concluded on a high note. They almost defeated the DRX in the quarterfinals, the same DRX who then won the world championship. Said this, their regular season was anything but exciting and only a good run in the playoffs allowed them to reach the world championships.
In this sense some change was to be expected, especially top where Flandre abandons his post in favor of Ale from LNG. An exchange that does not convince me entirely, but I’m less surprised to see Scout and Viper outside. These will be replaced by Fisher and Leave, two young talents. The first comes from the LCK and will also be joined by a “veteran”, namely FoFo. We’ll see.
League of Legends – FunPlus Phoenix
Speaking of old world champions and disappointments, if EDG’s 2021 was ugly, FPX’s was terrible. The first year of reconstruction was a nightmare for them: they almost missed the playoffs and in any case they were eliminated immediately. All mainly because of the really mediocre and underwhelming performances of what must have been the veterans.
From the old lineup only Xiaolaohu survive (joined by fearness by LGD), Care in mid and Lwxeven if the latter will be joined by a rookie, Xingye, just to put some anxiety on him. Two other rookies arrive in the jungle and in the role of support, namely haoye and Lele. The former will also be able to count on H4cker from the UP as a sub. Will it be the right time that this team finds the square?
League of Legends – Invictus Gaming
iGs on the other hand still fail to get an idea online and keep it consistent. Yes, their 2022 was catastrophic to say the least, but what do you expect from a team that rebuilds itself from scratch? Despite this, the team had started to show good performances towards the end of the year, to the point of almost making believe a recovery. Had they been less wrong at the beginning, this would have also succeeded in my opinion.
In this sense I expected the organization to keep their players who were showing some chemistry. But no. Out with all but Ahn and Wink, in with another handful of young talent, three caught by LCK, three by LPL and one by PCS. A horde of names that probably lack the experience necessary to perform well. I don’t know, it really seems to me that the iGs are now shooting at random hoping to hit the target.
League of Legends – JD Gaming
Among the teams that can look to 2022 and have few regrets, we can certainly include the JDGs who, after an acceptable spring split, unleashed a phenomenal summer split. Taking home the cup, they then decided to assert themselves also at the World Cup where they were the most advanced LPL teambeing eliminated only in the semifinals by T1.
You can easily imagine my surprise when the organization decided to oust Yagao and Hopetwo of the players who had most distinguished themselves in 2022. Ok, fine, the new arrivals are of level since we talk about knight from TES and Ruler from Gen.Gbut was it really worth it? You had a team with good harmony and still with ample room for improvement. Was she worth sacrificing for two strong players on paper?
League of Legends – LGD Gaming
We now enter the “disasters in the tunnel” sector. In reality there are not many in this first part of the analysis, we can only include LGDs in effect, but their thud was undoubtedly audible. Ok that in the last few years this team hasn’t performed, but playing so badly? Especially considering the names on the pitch? Well, this was undoubtedly a novelty ed a change of direction was urgently needed for the new year.
Change of direction that has undoubtedly arrived: all players from the previous line-up were out except haichao (which in fact was the only one that often performed well) and Jinjiao (which was hard to evaluate without a good adc). In their place come 4 rookies: Xiaoxu, Meteor, xqw and Lpc. We have already only seen the latter in JDG then it’s hard to figure out what to expect. It’s literally a gamble.
League of Legends – LNG Esports
Evaluating 2022 LNG is literally a nightmare, believe me. We are talking about a team that in the regular season has alternated excellent performances with others that are simply catastrophic, but what despite this, it earned the playoffs. From there she went on an incredible winning run but crashed head on into JDG, EDG and RNG, missing the World Cup by a hair’s breadth. How to evaluate all this? Good question.
The organization must also be asked that in the end he leaned towards a blank slate of training, eliminating those players whose performances were mixed, ie everyone except Tarzan. The really interesting thing, however, are the new grafts: in exchange for DoinB, in fact, in mid we will have none other than Scout. Also interesting are the other three names, Zika and Yuekai from iG and Hang from FPX. I have high expectations for these LNGs.
League of Legends – Ninjas in Pyjamas
This was a name I hadn’t read along with League of Legends in a really, really long time, but the Ninjas in Pajamas are not just a nostalgic throwbackare also the rebranding of the biggest disappointment of 2022, ie the Victory 5. How can a team so absurdly dominate the regular season, only to be systematically eliminated in every single playoff?
Since this is a rebrand rather than a purchase, the NiPs also carry the V5 roster with them, at least in part. The biggest players, Karsa and Rookie, have gone elsewhere, as has ppgod. However, I didn’t understand if Rich remained in formation or not, but I know for a fact that three young talents will be fielded, namely Invincible, XLB and Dream. The only external arrival is Zhuo from TES. We’ll see, but I don’t expect too much.
(continues)