As previously announced, the Spring Split of both the North American and European League Championship Series is about to begin. After a momentous Season 4 in 2014, Riot has worked tirelessly to up their game for the year ahead with the addition of LCS circuit points, a new preview show in PrimeTime League; the return of Fantasy LCS; and more accessible streams for both the LoL Champions Korea and China’s LoL Pro League.

But today, the focus will be on the 20 teams representing the West for Season 5. A lot has changed over the preseason and it’s safe to say that many teams have had their key dynamics altered, or even turned on their heads. Here’s our  rundown of each of the teams to get you up to speed before the Europe LCS kicks off on Friday.

NA LCS

North America performed rather admirably during last year’s Worlds, proving that the region previously perceived as the weakest among the principal 5 has made a lot of growth, owing to their organizations’ emphasis on improving player infrastructure. However, the region is still a long way from the top and for now, it seems that a host of new imports are pegged as the solution.

Cloud 9

C9 are definitely outliers to the trend of mass imports. Not only are they the only team in the West to make no roster changes this split, they’re currently the only professional LoL team in the world to have kept the same five players for over two seasons. Their consistency has landed them two LCS titles and a bracket stage berth in two World Championships so far, so why fix something that isn’t broken? Expect more of the same high level play from one of the best teams in the world.

Team Solo Mid

The poster brand of the NA region has made one subtle change, swapping out jungler Maurice “Amazing” Stückenschneider for Lukas “Santorin” Larsen, previously of Team Coast. The two were similarly hailed as young prodigies out of the EU scene, so this change is more of a sidegrade than anything, barring team synergy that has yet to show itself. Thankfully, TSM is chock full of veteran stable performers, and as the winners of last split, they have a lot to live up to this season.

Team Impulse

Under the Team Impulse banner, only mid laner Yu “XiaoWeiXiao” Xian remains of what was the all-Chinese LMQ squad that made Worlds last year. Top lane is being filled by Jung “Impact” Eon-yeong of Season 3 World Championship winners SK Telecom T1 K, while former SK Telecom sub Lee “Rush” Yoonjae mans the jungle. Meanwhile the bot duo will be composed of Apollo “Apollo” Price, previously of Team Coast, and relative  unknown, Adrian “Adrian” Ma. With such a wide spread, it’s hard to tell how Team Impulse will end up faring, but hopefully they carry over LMQ’s explosively aggressive style.

Team Liquid

Team Curse recently merged with and will now play under the Team Liquid brand, a name synonymous with eSports for over a decade, thanks to Starcraft. The mid and AD carry positions are now going to be helmed by two Korean stars in Kim “Fenix” Jae-hoon  of the Jin Air Falcons and Chae “Piglet” Gwang-jin. With Piglet also hailing from SK Telecom’s legendary lineup, many await his synergy with all-star support Alex “Xpecial” Chu to spearhead Team Liquid’s run for the top this season.

Team Dignitas

Just like the last team, Dignitas looked to replace two of its players with Korean imports. While longstanding players like Michael “imaqptie” Santana left to focus on streaming, AD carry Jo “CoreJJ” Yong-jin of Bigfile Miracle is stepping in alongside Samsung Blue sub Noh “Gamsu” Yeong-Jin in the top lane. While these Korean players never found big success in their local circuit, they look to make a splash in the West for a team that has always been just shy of being consistently great.

Counter Logic Gaming

CLG seemed to be on the fast track to a World Championship slot until internal issues steered them off course and saw them nearly relegated out of the LCS. Now off-season scandals have marred their chances of starting the season right, as they are banned from fielding their coach and full roster for a number of weeks. But once they do, their key acquisitions of former Dignitas top laner Darshan “ZionSpartan” Upadhyaha and XDG’s old jungler Jake “Xmithie” Puchero should revitalize the team.

Winterfox

With longstanding franchise Evil Geniuses having to forfeit their claim to the team following a new LCS ownership ruling, Winterfox steps in, and with it, two new unknown Korean players in the top and support positions, namely Shin “Avalon” Donghyeon and Jang “Imagine” Hyeonsu. The usual communication issues brought about by imports are ironically helped by this change, as now 4 out of 5 players on Winterfox are fluent in Korean. Will this be their time to climb out of the bottom of the standings?

Team 8

Team 8 is one of the new teams on the block, having beaten compLexity for their LCS spot. Though a team of mostly fresh faces, the young talents are bolstered by Ainslie “maplestreet8” Wyllie who was once in the LCS on Team Velocity, as well as top lane rising star Steven “CaliTrlolz” Kim, who remarkably put pharmacy school on hold to pursue his eSports dream.

Gravity Gaming

Though a new name in the scene, Gravity is actually the former Curse Academy team, which contains no less than three veterans from the main Curse roster in Brandon “SaintVicious” DiMarco, David “Cop” Roberson, and Michael “Bunny Fufuu” Kurylo. Only time will tell if these players can recapture their former glory under a new organization.

Team Coast

Those who remember the Team Coast that used to play in the LCS will find that their roster is entirely different this time around. However, this roster includes three players that were previously on NA LCS teams, as well as two big imports from across the Atlantic in SK Gaming’s Jesse “Jesiz” Le and Matthew “Impaler” Taylor of SUPA HOT CREW (now Meet Your Makers). The talent surely is there, but can these pieces come together to beat out the competition?

EU LCS

After an underwhelming Worlds performance, many questioned the state of Europe and its refusal to go full out in developing a stable infrastructure around its players. That’s all looking to turn around however as managements have gone to great lengths to ensure that the region returns back to a scene worthy of showcasing the next generation of legendary players EU was once known for producing.

Elements

Alliance was similarly affected by the ownership, but is more or less the same team from last split. The only change to the top team in Europe has been the controversial move of Fnatic’s ace AD carry Martin “Rekkles” Larssen to replace Erik “Tabzz” van Helvert. While Rekkles was without a doubt Europe’s best AD carry in 2014, it’s not as if Tabzz was underperforming. Consider this a slight upgrade that may just be enough to keep Alliance at the top.

Fnatic

Rekkles’ move to Elements was just the beginning. Other longtime members announced their intent to leave the organization, leaving only Bora “YellOwStaR” Kim to hold down the fort. The veteran support is joined by an untested team consisting of two Korean pros in Heo “Huni” SeungoHoon in the top lane, jungler Kim “Reignover” Uijin, former Challenger scene star Fabian “Febiven” Diepstraten in mid and neophyte  Pierre “Steelback” Medjaldi as AD carry. Europe’s longstanding power team is no more, and there’s no telling how this new roster will fare.

Team ROCCAT

ROCCAT performed admirably last season, going from upstarts to a top 4 team in a year. However, inconsistencies have left them short of the top of the table, leading to two new members in the Copenhagen Wolves’ breakout AD carry, Paweł “Woolite” Pruski and the squad’s first non-Polish member, Erlend “Nukeduck” Våtevik Holm, the former LemonDogs mid star who recently had his ban lifted. These players definitely have the chops, but will they have the synergy to match?

SK Gaming

The team is looking to bounce back from an unfortunate scandal at last year’s Worlds, except they’ll have to make do without two of their veteran players, including former captain Adrian “CandyPanda” Wübbelmann. New additions come in the form of Hampus “Fox” Myhre of the organization’s challenger squad, while another former Copenhagen Wolves AD carry star resurfaces in Konstantinos “FORG1VEN” Tzortziou. SK’s other positions are still manned by some of the top talents in EU, so there’s no reason for this team to lose much steam out of the initial growing pains.

Meet Your Makers

Sadly, the colorful banner of the SUPA HOT CREW must give way to the team’s new owners, MYM. Apart from Impaler moving to NA’s Team Coast, MYM also lost their support. Replacing them are Cho “H0R0” Jae-Hwan of SK Telecom T1 S fame and a brand new face in Nicolai “Nisbeth” Nisbeth. While the Korean jungler could potentially be a boon, their green support may prove to be a weakness unless synergy is built quickly.

Gambit

While the team is a long way from their classic Russian Overlord status, their promising performance during last month’s IEM Cologne event is a ray of hope for Gambit fans. New top laner Lucas “Cabochard” Simon-Meslet held his own, while their breakout AD carry, Kristoffer “P1noy” Pedersen, put on a dominating performance. Could this finally be the team’s return to their former glory?

Copenhagen Wolves

Despite an underwhelming performance last season, the Wolves remain resilient. With the organization’s uncanny ability to draft star AD carries (Rekkles, FORG1VEN and Woolite are all in the LCS), they hope that their bringing in of former Ninjas in Pyjamas talent Aleš “Freeze” Kněžínek will turn their fortunes around.

Unicorns of Love

Completely new faces with an interesting team name and an even more interesting playstyle, UOL shocked fans the world over by beating TSM at IEM San Jose with a jungle Twisted Fate. With pocket picks like top lane Poppy and rising mid lane star Tristan “PowerOfEvil” Schrage, they could very well be the dark rainbow horse of the season.

H2k-Gaming

While a veteran organization in the Challenger scene, the current H2k roster is a mix of talent, including former Gambit Gaming support Erih “Voidle” Sommermann. Recently, the team picked up ex-KT Bullets mid laner, Ryu “Ryu” Sangook, hoping that the veteran Korean talent will make their LCS debut a successful one.

GIANTS! Gaming

A true team of underdogs, GIANTS! consists of unknowns and players that have seen play in the Challenger scene at best. While they may not have the LAN experience of their competitors, this all-Spanish squad comes in as a wildcard with nothing to lose. How many upsets will they be able to pull off?

Now that you’ve met the teams, who do you think has the best chances of taking it all this split? Have you tried your hand at an LCS Fantasy draft yet? Tell us about your predictions on our forums!

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