League of Legends LEC: Grading Free Agency through Day 2
By Josh Tyler
The 2020 LEC offseason is in full swing and already there have been huge changes to the European League of Legends landscape.
We’ve spent plenty of time looking at all the moves in the LCS on Day 1 of free agency but now it is time to shift focus across the pond to the LEC. While most of the news coming out of the European League of Legends scene has been about players leaving the LEC for the LCS, there have been plenty of intriguing roster moves to keep EU as a top-tier region despite the annual talent drain.
Rogue acquires Hans Sama
The first LEC transaction was fairly ho-hum as Rogue rounded out their bot lane by adding Hans Sama to pair with their current support, Vander, who they also re-signed to a contract extension.
Grade: C-
Hans Sama was a fairly underwhelming AD Carry in 2019 for Misfits after being seen as a rising star for the team in 2018. He posted some of the worst laning statistics among LEC ADCs (-155 gold, -140 XP, and -8.7 CS differentials at 10) ahead of only the man he’s replacing, Woolite.
This signing certainly has some upside, with Rogue hoping that Hans Sama will be able to replicate his 2017-2018 form with a stable support and certainly he’s an upgrade over Woolite. I’m just not sure if it’s a big enough upgrade.
More from Blog of Legends
- Bee’koz Vel’koz Skin: Splash Art, Price, Release, How to Get
- King Beegar Skin: Splash Art, Price, Release, How to Get
- EMENES retires following leave from Cloud9, cites military service
- EMENES Donezo Manifesto: Former Cloud9 Midlaner airs out grievances
- Team Heretics Perkz: European legend reportedly playing for TH
Excel signs Norskeren and Patrik
Excel, one of the worst teams in the LEC in 2019, looked to rebuild their roster starting in the bot lane by adding former Splyce support Norskeren and former Origen ADC Patrik.
Norskeren Grade: A+
Patrik Grade: B
I’ve been a strong advocate that Norskeren was one of the best supports in the LEC last year, posting better vision control (2.63 VSPM) than IgNar (2.56) and Mikyx (2.41), as well as being a strong laning support.
Patrik, on the other hand, is a strong, young ADC in his own right, though he undoubtedly performed better in the spring than the summer. He was far below the other European AD Carries in terms of laning and income, but there is reason to hope that perhaps he would have enough upside with a top-tier support like Norskeren.