League of Legends: How every LCS team can upgrade their roster
By Josh Tyler
5. Echo Fox
Out: Kim “Fenix” Jae-hun
In: David “Yusui” Bloomquist
Incredibly, this is one of the only roster moves that is a straight up promotion from within a team’s organization. While most would point to their jungler Lee “Rush” Yoon-jaeas a candidate for replacement (and rightly so), I feel like there will be a lot of competition for available junglers around the LCS (stay tuned).
Among mid laners, though, I don’t see a lot of teams being willing to let go of the mid laners that would be upgrades (potentially Lee “Crown” Min-ho or PowerofEvil, but the likelihood they move is infinitesimal). Unfortunately for Echo Fox, in terms of value compared to replacement Fenix was significantly more detrimental to Echo Fox’s chances than Rush.
What’s even more promising for Echo Fox is that they might have the next great NA mid laner sitting on their academy roster. Yusui has been smashing in the academy league, posting the best KDA and kill share numbers in mid. If he can translate this success to the LCS stage, it could propel Echo Fox from a fringe playoff team to an actual contender.
6. Golden Guardians
Out: Matthew “Deftly” Chen
In: Cody Sun
The other team that should really be looking to get rid of their AD Carry, this addition makes even more sense to me for Cody given his chemistry with Olleh. While the two didn’t have incredible success during their time on Immortals, having that level of past familiarity should still be a boon to the team and help Golden Guardians shore up that weakness in the bottom lane.
Speaking of which, for a team with as much talent as the Guardians have in the solo lanes, and an underrated jungler in Juan Arturo “Contractz” Garcia, getting a decent ADC could elevate the Guardians into that top tier with a team like FlyQuest. Unfortunately, that’s unlikely to happen with Deftly, who posted the worst damage and kill participation numbers of any LCS AD Carry.