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Grading TSM’s rebooted roster

By Josh Tyler

LOS ANGELES, CA - DECEMBER 06: Soren 'Bjergsen' Bjerg, Jesper 'Zven' Svenningsen and Alfonso 'Mithy' Rodriguez speak during the Gillette x Team SoloMid Press Conference at Hotel Palomar on December 6, 2017 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Christopher Polk/Getty Images for Ketchum)
LOS ANGELES, CA - DECEMBER 06: Soren 'Bjergsen' Bjerg, Jesper 'Zven' Svenningsen and Alfonso 'Mithy' Rodriguez speak during the Gillette x Team SoloMid Press Conference at Hotel Palomar on December 6, 2017 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Christopher Polk/Getty Images for Ketchum) /
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LOS ANGELES, CA – DECEMBER 06: Soren ‘Bjergsen’ Bjerg, Jesper ‘Zven’ Svenningsen and Alfonso ‘Mithy’ Rodriguez speak during the Gillette x Team SoloMid Press Conference at Hotel Palomar on December 6, 2017 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Christopher Polk/Getty Images for Ketchum)
LOS ANGELES, CA – DECEMBER 06: Soren ‘Bjergsen’ Bjerg, Jesper ‘Zven’ Svenningsen and Alfonso ‘Mithy’ Rodriguez speak during the Gillette x Team SoloMid Press Conference at Hotel Palomar on December 6, 2017 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Christopher Polk/Getty Images for Ketchum) /

After failing to make the world championships for the first time in their existence, TSM entered the 2018 offseason needing to overhaul their roster. Now that this rebooted roster is finally revealed, we examine whether the changes actually upgraded TSM.

TSM entered 2018 with lofty expectations. They had just acquired the “Best in the West” bot lane in Zven and Mithy to go along with strong solo laners Bjergsen and Hauntzer, with rookie of the year MikeYeung in the jungle and coach of the year Ssong to round out the roster.

On paper, TSM should have been one of the top teams in the NA LCS last season, if not the top team. But games aren’t played on paper.

Jungler Mike “MikeYeung” Yeung looked more like a rookie than ever in his career and was eventually benched in favor of Jonathan “Grig” Armao. Kevin “Hauntzer” Yarnell seemed to regress from the player who was perhaps TSM’s number two carry in 2018 to a mid-tier top laner. Jesper “Zven” Svenningsen and Alfonso “Mithy” Aguirre Rodríguez looked shaky, the former looking ineffective on most picks and the latter looking incredibly unpolished.

Despite Søren “Bjergsen” Bjergcontinuing to do his best to carry, he was unable to bring his teammates to an NA LCS finals or the World Championships for the first time in his career. Even in the days of “Bjerg and Four Wards,” the king of the NA mids was able to elevate mediocre talent to a world-class team. Now, surrounded by what should be strong talent, the result was mediocrity.

TSM fans knew there would be upheaval during the off-season. Team owner Andy “Reginald” Dinh has been called many things, but tolerant of failure is not one of them. And, for an owner who has always called his goal not merely making worlds or performing at worlds, but winning worlds, the 2018 Season would easily be classified as a failure.

Entering into 2019, TSM has overhauled most of its roster and coaching staff. Gone are new acquisitions MikeYeung and Mithy, as well as Hauntzer who most TSM fans would have considered to be a bedrock player of the franchise for years to come. The question is, did those changes make TSM better?

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