Understanding the new LCS Interregional Movement Policy: a few Examples

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

Earlier today, Riot Games announced their new Interregional Movement Policy. While complete details are still to come, we wanted to illustrate what we already know by explaining a few examples of what current teams would and wouldn't be permitted to do with their rosters. Since North America has seen the greatest amount of interregional movement, we've opted to examine their teams.

For the purposes of this explanation, a "North American" player can also be considered a foreign player who has already participated in the NA LCS or lived in the US for a prolonged period of time.

CLG

• Would be able to replace Dexter, Seraph, or both team members with players from other regions.
• Would not be able to replace Link, Doublelift, or Aphromoo with players from other regions.

TSM

• Would not be able to replace Bjergsen, Lustboy, or Amazing with a player from another region without replacing one of their other foreign team members for a North American player. In other words, if only one of their foreign team members leaves them at the end of the season, he must be replaced with a North American player.

Dignitas

• Can replace up to two of their current members with foreign players.

LMQ

• Would not be able to replace any of their current team members with another foreign player (including a Chinese player) and would be forced to add a North American player to their roster.

Obviously, the change appears to affect TSM and LMQ the most, as their current rosters are grandfathered in despite being in conflict with the new policy. It should be interesting to see what happens with LMQ if any of their members decide to leave, as previously it seemed likely they would replace them with another Chinese player, such as Uzi.