2016 LMS Spring is coming. The LMS has come off of a big 2015 where they finally made it out of groups at Worlds and did not bottom out at any international event. Some speculated that the star talent would be leaving the region following the international success, but players like Karsa, Maple, and Ziv have remained. As such, the offseason was a fairly tame one for the LMS. No team voluntarily made more than one positional change, although many opted to bolster their bench. Overall, depth remains very similar,  with the region still being notably top heavy, but further concentrated talent and some new blood gives reason to look forward to another split of LMS.

ahq e-Sports Club

Ziv

Mountain, RD

Chawy, Westdoor

AN

Albis

ahq e-Sports Club had a very successful 2015, winning both LMS splits, taking 3rd/4th at MSI, and eventually making top 8 at the 2015 League of Legends World Championship. The roster seemingly gelled well after the adjustments made for Spring playoffs, where they moved Mountain to jungle and Albis to support, and never skipped a beat. The team notably became a bot-centric team, allocating jungle pressure, warding, and farm to AD carry, AN. However, it was clear that the team’s ceiling was limited due to Westdoor’s infamously limited champion pool.

ahq addressed this issue quickly during the offseason, signing MVP Runner-Up, Chawy, to be the starting mid-laner for ahq. Chawy stood out as the strongest mid laner during LMS Summer and brings a considerably larger champion pool, than that of Westdoor.  His ability to play both traditional mages and assassin is particularly enticing in this regard. Considering that ahq maintained stars, Ziv and AN, they seemingly have a super-charged lineup with the addition of Chawy.

However, they may struggle adapting to a style that does not circulate around Westdoor’s self-forsaking, roam heavy play and emphasis on creating picks. Mountain potentially subbing out at any moment due to injury, complicates the situation further. RD is a relatively inexperienced jungler, so in the event that he needs to start, ahq may have more struggles with synergy. Nevertheless, they will have time to gel the lineup together and stand a good chance at dominating the region again.

Flash Wolves

Rins, MMD

Karsa

Maple

NL, Breeze

SwordArT

Flash Wolves were the second LMS breakout team, earning themselves 2nd and 3rd during the LMS splits, 3rd/4th at IEM Katowice, 1st at Summer Regionals, and a top 8 finish at the 2015 League of Legends World Championship. The Flash Wolves, notably, had relatively weak side lanes and had to rely on Maple and Karsa to be primary carries in most of their games. They attempted to aid the carry situation with Korean import, Kramer, but the forced playstyle change, gold re-allocation, and communication issues eventually made it a bust.  However, the Flash Wolves went back to the drawing board for their roster limitations.

Flash Wolves will have Rins and MMD splitting time (at least, at first) in top lane, with Rins likely being the favorite at the moment. MMD utilizes a carry style while Rins is a more all-around package top laner, which will be more suited to how Flash Wolves prioritize gold; Maple generally receives the most gold while Steak classically received the least. In addition, they also acquired highly touted AD carry, Breeze, who is well known for reaching rank 2 on the Taiwanese ladder and top 30 on the Korean ladder.

He also played a few games for the Logitech Snipers in Summer, where he was fairly impressive for a rookie, specifically on Kalista. However, he will most likely sit behind NL to start the season. Flash Wolves have lost their shotcaller in Steak, but the overall increased skill ceiling and SwordArT’s growing comfort in this role should more than make up for the issue. The Flash Wolves ceiling is high and they will be ahq’s main competition for the crown in Spring 2016.

HongKong Esports

Stanley, Maplesnow

Dinter

Chillyz

Godkwai

Olleh

There weren’t too many heartbreaking stories in the LMS last year, but Hong Kong Esports was one of them. They achieved 4th at Spring playoffs, 2nd at Summer Playoffs, and 2nd at Summer Regionals, proving themselves to be a top half team during the year. Highlight performances from Toyz and excellent team play around poke compositions propelled the team and had things looking bright. However, the unfortunate ban of their Korean AD, Raison, caused the team’s dreams to fizzle, and that was that.

2016 Spring has HKE retained the majority of their Summer Regional lineup, with the exception of the face of the organization, Toyz. Chillyz and Maplesnow are new additions to the team, that are fairly underwhelming, especially Chillyz, given that he is replacing their main carry, Toyz; Both have profiled as either average or below average in their professional games. While HKE still has resurgent jungler, Dinter, and star support, Olleh, the team lacks any true carry presence as Godkwai is also a mediocre carry, in his own right.

Olleh and Dinter will still have their early game synergy, but with no proper carry vessels, it will be difficult to contend. Godkwai and Chillyz won’t match the impact of Raison or Toyz or fulfill the spirit of Summer Split HKE. As such, the team profiles as a borderline average team in the LMS and will likely be the buffer between the elite and the amateurs.

Midnight Sun Esports

Julian

Wulala

M1ssion

CorGi, Payne

Kaiwing, SkuLL

Midnight Sun was the cookie-cutter model for any organization that desires to get into League of Legends. They sponsored a well known, talented Challenger team, and gave them the resources to improve. While they didn’t reciprocate so well in Spring, ending 7th place, they improved by placing 3rd/4th in Summer playoffs and Regionals. They even supplemented their mechanically weaker roster with Korean imports.

However, much like HKE, the team has suffered from player bans. In the offseason, four of their players were banned and one returned to Korea. Their current roster has their previous mid laner and AD returning to the lineup, with both proving that they are at least LMS level. That being said, neither were stunning and aren’t the name-brand players a organization wants to be left with.  However, M1ssion has shown a lot of improvement in solo queue and still has some upside, as he was still a raw prospect when he started in Summer.

His performance will sway the team from being relegated or living to fight another split. Their remaining players are fairly unknown, but Wulala has long been in the top 50 of Taiwan’s challenger ladder and shows a lot of talent as a jungler, and is worth looking forward to. Overall, MSE will no longer look forward to being a contesting team, but likely has enough upside to avoid relegation.

Taipei Assassins

Morning

REFRA1N

FoFo, Achie

Bebe, Lilv

Jay

While the Taipei Assassins did not have a poor 2015, the Garena sponsored organization did not deliver on its own standards. TPA achieved 3rd in Spring Playoffs and 3rd/4th in Summer Regionals, but most notably did not make playoffs for the first time in the history of the organization in Summer. Winds’ retirement, a rotating door of junglers and supports, and a lack of team identity left the team ailing during Summer and only had star mid laner, Chawy, to boast of. If it was not for the midseason acquisition of REFRA1N, the team likely would have been a complete non-factor for the entire season.

2016 has a mixture of old and new faces coming into the starting lineup, with Chawy being the only player leaving the organization. Bebe and Achie have notably returned to TPA, with Bebe fulfilling the AD carry role and Achie filling a sub position. TPA struggled with having a Korean AD in Lupin and bringing back a veteran presence like Bebe will be good for the team. TPA has a very steady roster, aside from rookie mid laner, FoFo, who has yet to play a professional game.

However, the signing of Achie is a great safety net, in the event that he does not perform, as he had solid performances for AS, during the Summer Split. Their roster doesn’t have the same skill ceiling that the Flash Wolves and ahq rosters do, but it is potent and will likely have them in the same tier during the year.    

Machi 17

BoBo

Taizan

Apex

Dee

Dreamer

Machi was a solid team for its first split in the LMS, tying with the Taipei Assassins for 5th place in the regular season. The organization initially experimented with the implementation of Koreans, but communication and personality issues rang too true, and they would leave Machi in the 4th week. However, their team fighting and overall decision making improved when they switched to an all-national lineup, and even struck gold on the next upcoming mid laner, Apex. Dreamer also continued to be a standout support for the team, even innovating the support Trundle that is so common in today’s solo queue and competitive.

Machi’s 2016 Spring lineup is very similar to that of their 2015 Summer lineup, maintaining BoBo, Apex, Dee and Dreamer, while bringing on solo queue jungler, Taizan. While Machi made no visible upgrade, retaining the trio of Apex, Dee, and Dreamer is a success in itself. The trio of players can go toe to toe with some of the best in the league, but Machi still lacks in top and jungle, with BoBo being traditionally unimpressive and Taizan being an unknown quantity. Machi is looking to take over MSE’s role from last split, the fourth place playoff team, but with somewhat lacking infrastructure and apparent positional deficiencies, it is far from guaranteed.

COUGAR E-Sport

Ajun

SpeaR

Jeffery, Kuku

Rabi2

Never

Originally known as Deft Is Carry, COUGAR E-Sport is one of the two new teams in the LMS. They successfully relegated Assassin Sniper 3-2 in the LMS Promotion Tournament on the back of strong performances from Jeffery and SpeaR. Jeffery has been recognized as a capable player for some time now, developing a reputation as the strongest Leblanc in Taiwanese solo queue.  SpeaR, while not so popular, demonstrated effective jungle pathing and effectively dismantled opposing jungler, Mihanna, in their promotion series.

Never and Rabi2 appeared to be solid during the series as well, so the the talent on the roster is more sound than past challenger teams. If the players in question can handle being part-time gamers (most of them are students), then they may be able to inch out of the relegation realm due to the inexperienced Midnight Sun roster and fairly uninspiring Heat Wave roster.

Heat Wave

exciting, Nexus

YO

SuwaKo

LBB

Suki

Heat Wave is the second of the recently promoted LMS teams and features an old friend of the LNL and LMS, YO. He played a particularly big role against Promotion favorites, Gash Bears, outperforming Naz’s carry jungler picks with his Rek’sai, consistently. SuwaKo and Suki generally had no problem matching up with their counterparts either. However, the likes of exciting and LBB had their moments of failure, whether it was cognitive dissonance in teamfights or being out-pressured in the laning phase.

Heat Wave possesses more of a veteran presence, with the team being led by YO, and performed well enough against the Gash Bears to warrant respect. They won’t be a free-win team the way Dream or Reality was, but the talent showed off during the series isn’t inspiring for overall growth. Time will tell, but Heat Wave will likely be fighting to stay out of relegation.

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Images courtesy of Esportspedia / LMS.