RosterRumors - Issue 3

This article was originally published on GameSpot's sister site onGamers.com, which was dedicated to esports coverage.

North America

dignitas re-sign KiWiKid & one more; tryouts for top and ad

Immediately after I posted my issue yesterday, Team Dignitas announced the re-signing of Alan "KiWiKiD" Nguyen. I found this the least likely of almost all re-signings in North America, not only because Nguyen was the lowest performing member of dignitas, but also because he had recently stated that he had not received an offer from the organization. This makes me believe that the move was likely a decision of the newly appointed captain, Alberto "Crumbzz" Rengifo. Rengifo is stepping into more of a leadership role that William "scarra" Li carried in the past and will lead the direction of the squad. Yesterday, Team Dignitas also announced that they signed a third player for the team, which will very likely be announced as Danny "Shiphtur" Le later on today. The team is now taking applications for the Top and AD carry roles, which I believe will take some time to fill. Team Dignitas is known for taking all the time they need to make decisions and will likely not get voted into IEM San Jose, so more time than the two NA squads that will be attending.

TSM keep Lustboy; Santorin spotted at TSM house

After sources told me that Lucas "Santorin" Tao Kilmer Larsen was a done deal yesterday, stream sightings of the Danish jungler were reported on Reddit. Unsurprisingly, Team SoloMid is likely awaiting approval from Riot Games before the announcement happens. I would expecting something official no later than tomorrow. Choi "Locodoco" Yoon-sub posted a vlog talking about the off-season and roster changes, which confirms that Ham "Lustboy" Jang-sik is staying with the squad and TSM is diligently working to get his visa in order. Yoon-sub also confirms that the jungler has been decided on and that he was not tried out with the team as they want as much time possible to improve team play with-in the new lineup. Also mentions of a second coach being brought on, most likely Korean but he could look elsewhere.

Europe

Alliance to not look at Koreans until end of 2015, except possible Mata

Alliance's Henrik "Froggen" Hansen mentioned to his stream that Alliance will not pick up Koreans at least until the end of 2015. This points to the team picking up a European AD carry, such as Martin "Rekkles" Larsson. Hansen later mentioned that the team would consider Cho "Mata" Se-hyeong, as all teams will, if he speaks enough English to not cause problems for communication. It's a breath of fresh air to see a team determined to care about communication.

Forg1ven to travel; SK possibility

Konstantinos "FORG1VEN" Tzortziou posted on his facebook that he will be traveling for an 'obvious reason' in the coming month. This post matches rumors that the former Copenhagen Wolves player is likely to tryout or join SK Gaming. I don't know much on this change, but the team has a spot to fill in the AD carry role after Adrian "Candy Panda" Wübbelmann left the team earlier this month.

China

OMG roles swaps; picks up yet another support

Hu "xiyang" Bin was possibly going to end up playing top lane for OMG.2 after playing the role full time in solo queue as of late, but ended up playing the role on OMG's main team during NGF this morning. Gao "Gogoing" Di-Ping stated in an interview that he is trying ADC because its a role that can carry the team more. OMG also picked up RM support player, Luo, after recently acquiring ex-AcFun support Shine. Reportedly OMG's new owners also own the RM squad, which is why we say this move happen so quickly without many rumors leaking.

iG pick up ex-WE ShinyRuo

According to reports, ex-Team WE jungler, Teng-Yang "Ruo" Tian-Xia, is now on Invictus Gaming. The role of which he will be playing is not known, but is very likely he will be going Top. Tian-Xia was previously the top laner for Rstars back in Season 3, known for his Kennen and Shen. Lots of players going back to their original roles in 2015, which I love. It provides awesome storylines and hopefully some exciting champion picks.

Korea

Mata leaves Samsung

Early this morning, Cho "Mata" Se-hyeong removed Samsung Galaxy from his summoner name and then promptly released a statement on Facebook announcing his departure from the Samsung organization. The 2014 Worlds MVP is planning to spend time streaming, as he has finally achieved his goals for his career. He hasn't decided if he will join another team or retire down the road. I'm fully expecting every team to send offers his way and knowing the competitive desire it takes to become a top professional player I doubt we see Se-hyeong retiring anytime soon.

Deft removes Samsung tag

Following Cho "Mata" Se-hyeong this morning, Kim "Deft" Hyuk-kyu has removed the Samsung tag from his summoner name, we don't have an official announcement from the player or organization but it is expected that he was leaving the organization when his contract was up. Initial rumors surrounding Hyuk-kyu have him replacing Zhu "NaMei" Jia-Wen on the Chinese EDward Gaming squad, which would trigger a multitude of changes in the Chinese scene as Jia-Wen would be on the search for a new team.

SKT T1 K's rumored bot lane

Rumors are circulating that the SK Telecom organization will be picking up Lee "ZetNJin" Jin-yong, former Prime Optimus AD carry, & Lee "Piccaboo" Jong-Beom, former Xenics Storm support & inactive Samsung member, to complete the squad for 2015. With the upcoming one team limits for organizations, these rumors are likely to change until final decisions to made but it allows for interesting speculation.