Evil Geniuses and Immortals make changes to their LCS rosters ahead of the 2023 LCS Summer Split

Well in just 4 months, Evil Geniuses managed to blow up their entire 2022 roster. The most impressive LCS team at the 2022 World Championship now has only one player on its active roster. With no explanation being given, one can only speculate that the reason for this is the financial downturn. CLG has already ceased to exist with NRG buying their LCS slot, and TSM is struggling to find buyers ahead of the 2023 LCS Summer Split. Can a new format prevent the downward spiral of the LCS?

Evil Geniuses release their LCS roster ahead of the 2023 LCS Summer Split

A few days ago, the official Twitter account representing Evil Geniuses announced that the team would be making roster changes after the 2023 LCS Spring Split. This might have been surprising to many considering the team was still competitive despite taking a step back from their 2022 form. But what followed suit shocked the entire community and might be a foreshadowing of what’s to come. 

Investigative League of Legends journalist for Blix, Alejandro ” Anonimotum” Gomis reported that everyone on the EG LCS roster apart from mid laner Joseph “Jojopyun” Pyun will be released.  This includes former LCS and LEC MVP in Polish jungler Kacper “Inspired” Słoma. 3-time LCS champion support Philippe “Vulcan” Laflamme is also on the open market, joined by bot laner FBI and top laner Ssumday. It’s kinda hard to believe that Evil Geniuses are doing this with “competitive performance” and ”talent development” in mind but here we are.

Vulcan and Inspired looking for LEC offers

Just a day after the announcement, Vulcan greeted his fans on Twitter from Berlin. It was later announced that he had signed a deal with Berlin-based AchieveMinds Agency, which mostly represents and consults LEC and ERL players. Given his rich portfolio and championship experience, it’s hard to believe there won’t be a market for him. Rumors suggest that former EG coach Peter Dun, who led the 2022 roster to its achievements, would love to reunite with the veteran support player on Team Heretics. Mersa and Jackspektra have been underwhelming so far. Given the hype surrounding the rookie bot laner, maybe a more experienced support would ease the growing pains.

At the same time, jungler Inspired is looking to return to the LEC. With most of the LCS teams cutting costs or having long term commitments to their junglers, it’s hard to see Inspired staying in the LCS unless it’s on 100 Thieves. At the same time, one begins to wonder about the future of the league. EG recently lost its 10-year sponsorship deal with Monster Energy and is facing the same struggles TSM has encountered since the FTX collapse. The Danny fiasco was a real blow to how the public perceives them. They have also been shrouded in controversy and failures in other esports like CS:GO and Valorant. Sponsors in all esports scenes are pulling out, and eastern leagues are trying to implement a salary cap. The main question is, when do we reach rock bottom?

Immortals add Treatz and Solo to their LCS roster

Another team making moves ahead of the 2023 LCS Summer Split is Immortals. The team recently announced it was adding free agent support player Treatz to its starting lineup. This would mean that incumbent support Fleshy would be transferred to their NACL (North America Challengers League). The move reunites Treatz with bot laner Tactical, who were once a formidable duo on TSM. 

On the other side of the map, the team is also adding free agent top laner Solo to the mix. Solo was replaced on TSM by Hauntzer a few weeks ago and has already managed to find a new home. But this also means that incumbent top laner Revenge has been allowed to explore his options. After 2,5 years on Immortals, Revenge finds himself on the free agent market, looking for a new challenge.