With the North American LCS starting fresh in 2021, it’s pretty hard to keep track of the constant roster moves the teams are pursuing in preparation for the upcoming season. No need to worry though, we’re here to give to you our overview on each team participating in the LCS: complete with power rankings, and players to watch from each squad.

At the highest tier of the LCS stand two names familiar to those who have been recent spectators of the league; distinguished from the rest of the North American pack are Team Liquid and Cloud9. Team Liquid has been a championship squad, and before 2020, strung together the longest spree of consecutive championship titles: four in a row from 2018 all the way to 2019. Unfortunately, the championship eluded Liquid in the 2020 season. However, with jungle MVP Santorin and legendary European top laner Alphari bolstering their core of mid laner Jensen, and world class bottom lane in Tactical and CoreJJ, we give Liquid our number one spot for LCS. Keep an eye on Tactical, CoreJJ, and Santorin especially, as they showed up in a big way during the World Championship for the 2020 season.

Standing shoulder-to-shoulder is Cloud9, who snagged their first championship win since 2014 during 2020’s Spring split. However, the team took a rapid downturn due to mid laner Nisqy losing form, alongside some underwhelming performances across the roster. Cloud9 opted to swap out their solo laners for the 2021 split: meet Australian top laner Fudge, and mid laner Perkz; a player who needs no introduction to followers of League of Legends. Perkz comes off the highest pedigree of western players, former ADC (and mid laner!) for G2, the most dominant team in Western history. Perkz coming to North America is a massive signing for the organization, and he’s likely the best mid laner in the LCS. Cloud9’s players to watch are Vulcan, Perkz, and Fudge. Their players cost a pretty penny, but these three may just be worth their weight in gold.

Climbing down to the upper-mid tier holds three squads looking to rebuild, and recapture past greatness: 100 Thieves, TSM, and FlyQuest. We’ll lend an early 3rd place spot to 100 Thieves, whose roster looks suspiciously familiar: taking over four of the five starting players from last year’s surprising Golden Guardians roster, alongside top laner Ssumday is a winning combination. Without a doubt, players to look at on the new 100 Thieves would include Ssumday, Closer, and FBI. FBI and Huhi pose one of the largest threats to the upper tier bottom lanes, courtesy of an explosive combination of Huhi’s excellent laning skills due to his past as a mid laner, and FBI’s absurd ability to position effectively in team fights. Closer has been a boon to Golden Guardians throughout the 2020 season, and the Turkish jungler made a mark on the LCS before Santorin’s return to glory. Ssumday has been the rock in the top lane that lifted the otherwise underwhelming 100 Thieves rosters (sorry, Ryoma) to relevance in the LCS, and he’s finally been awarded with a team worth his notoriety.

Slightly down on the totem pole holds TSM; who for the first time since 2013 holds a new face in the middle lane following Bjergsen’s retirement as a player: his longtime rival PowerofEvil. The roster underwent a complete overhaul following two star player retirements, and with a massive signing of 2020 worlds finalist Swordart, the team looks primed for success, as long as you avert your eyes from the top lane. Players to pay attention to are without a doubt SwordArt, PowerofEvil, and Spica, each reprising their great performances at Worlds 2020. Finally, for this tier holds FlyQuest; the only team with five brand new signings to the organization. Former C9 academy stars Diamond and Palafox join starter Licorice, alongside Argentinian Josedeodo and North American ADC superstar Johnsun was finally released from Dignitas prison. Keep watch of LLA Finals MVP Josedeodo making his LCS debut, alongside Johnsun who’s had a great run in LCS so far.

The lower mid-tier finds teams on the precipice of playoffs: Evil Geniuses, CLG, and Immortals, each featuring revamped rosters with clear weaknesses. The highest ranking out of these three is easily Evil Geniuses, who lack significant firepower in the bottom lane with Deftly. However, there are some positive points to ameliorate this: top laner Impact ranks amongst the best in the LCS, and support Ignar seems like a winning combination with Jiizuke and Santorin. By far, the ones to watch for this squad are Impact and Ignar, the Koreans of this squad look promising. Furthermore, with head coach Peter Dun, this is definitely a team to watch as the season transpires; with a strong staff behind them, it may be possible for them to succeed yet.

Trailing them stands CLG with an underwhelming roster: leftovers Finn and Broxah fill the holes in their roster, Smoothie and Pobelter are retained, and star ADC WildTurtle joins their ranks. There’s not too much good to say about CLG, although there’s some: Wildturtle and Pobelter stand out as some good players against some pretty poor teammates. Finn will really need to show up big to bring this squad to relevance, alongside returns to form from Broxah and Smoothie, who had lacking 2020s. Finally, we have Immortals who’ve imported tenth place LEC players in Destiny and Xerxe. I have some relatively controversial opinions regarding Xerxe and how good he really is, but the biggest hole in Immortals is without a doubt their top laner: Revenge. Revenge routinely struggled in academy, and he’s completely a fish out of water in LCS. Immortal’s biggest saving graces, perhaps fortunately, are carries Insanity and Raes, who have shown capabilities to take over games in the past.

Finally, are the bottom two teams: Golden Guardians and Dignitas, both likely looking to save money. For the better of the two teams, I’d have to give it to Dignitas. Their roster from a “budget” perspective makes the most sense: Soligo, Neo, and Fakegod were standout academy players, although perhaps not the absolute best. Dardoch and Aphromoo are solid players to retain too from the 2020 season, provided they can keep returning to their former performances. Players to check out for the squad are Dardoch, Aphromoo, and Neo. Dardoch and Aphromoo in particular are great since they don’t occupy “competitive” positions such as ADC or mid lane.

Finally, we have Golden Guardians: the projected tenth-place team in LCS. Not all is gloom and doom for the budget squad however. I’d go as far as to say this roster is more soundly built than CLG or Immortals. Call it “balling on a budget.” Promoted instantly from North American amateur is top laner Niles and jungler Iconic (also known as Zoun) alongside academy mid laner Ablazeolive, former CLG ADC Stixxay, and the best support in the LLA in Newbie. This roster lacks experience on the bigger stages aside from Stixxay, who presented a relatively terrible performance in the 2020 season. However, if there were two big names that have potential to grow big, I’d point out Newbie and Niles. Iconic and Ablazeolive may be capable of getting there; but Niles’ inbuilt synergy with Iconic due to their past experience on Maryville University lends him an advantage over the rest of the squad. Newbie also showed up fantastically at the Central American (and South American!) LLA; and while that’s no real precedent for how he will fair on the LCS stage, I have confidence that he will bring us something surprising.

Final Rankings & Players to Watch:

  1. Team Liquid: Santorin, Tactical, CoreJJ
  2. Cloud9: Perkz, Fudge, Vulcan
  3. 100 Thieves: Ssumday, Closer, FBI
  4. TSM: SwordArt, Spica, PowerofEvil
  5. FlyQuest: Josedeodo, Johnsun
  6. Evil Geniuses: Impact, Ignar
  7. CLG: Pobelter, WildTurtle
  8. Immortals: Raes, Insanity
  9. Dignitas: Dardoch, Aphromoo, Neo
  10. Golden Guardians: Niles, Newbie