LCS: The Three Biggest Questions We Have About Bjergsen’s Retirement

TSM’s legendary mid laner Bjergsen has announced his retirement and shocked the League of Legends community.

It would have taken a cataclysmic event in the world of League of Legends in order to take the spotlight away from the semifinals of Worlds 2020, which kicked off earlier today. Indeed, that is what happened when TSM’s mid laner Bjergsen announced his retirement from professional League of Legends and that he would be moving into the role of head coach next year.

This move, obviously, caused a massive wave of outpouring from fans, fellow pros, commentators, and others in the professional League scene about the loss of the guy we previously ranked the best LCS player of all time. It’s a massive shock that came completely out of nowhere and has a lot of fans, myself included, reeling. There are a lot of questions fans are left with today, but here are the three biggest ones we have about Bjergsen retiring.

1. Why Now?

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This is the biggest and most obvious question, because TSM just finished the most embarassing Worlds run in the history of their org and probably the LCS. Why would Bjergsen allow that to be the final memory in his playing career?

According to the video, it seems Bjergsen was considering retiring earlier this year, so the move is probably not a response to TSM’s poor performance. He did get to go out on top of NA, as an LCS champion one more time. Still, for a player as competitive as Bjergsen, I don’t know how he lets this be the end of his playing career.

His skills have been on a decline from the years past, yes, but he has still firmly been one of the best players in the LCS. He finished the LCS Summer Split second in MVP voting, so the talent is definitely still there. It might be simply a case of him feeling like he has nothing left to prove and wanting a new challenge. Still, I have to imagine he aches to get one more deep Worlds run.

2. What Does this Mean for the Rest of the Roster?

There have been a lot of rumors going around for possible TSM roster changes, basically involving TSM moving on from everyone other than Spica and Bjergsen. With Bjergsen’s retirement, you have to imagine that TSM’s roster plans shifted dramatically.

Obviously, the first task is replacing Bjergsen and that will not be easy. Not only will TSM be looking for someone who can fill the role as far as talent and leadership, but they also need to find someone who will be walking in to a massive pressure cooker.

Does this cause TSM to re-evaluate their plans with regards to Doublelift, who is now the most veteran player on the team? Perhaps Bjergsen sees Doublelift, who is a close friend of his, as the person who could fill the shot-calling role and be an extension of Bjergsen in game.

And, with Bjergsen as the coach, you have to wonder what his vision for TSM’s roster next year would be. Does he want to blow up the whole roster and start from scratch around the young players like Spica and Broken Blade? Or does he want to keep the veterans that he knows and mold this team into glory?

3. Who Replaces Him?

As I said, the next mid laner of TSM is going to walk into a role with massive pressure. Not only will he be dealing with the expectations of the fans, who will constantly be comparing him to Bjergsen, but he will have to deal with Bjerg as his coach. The spectre of Bjergsen being able to take off the coaching headset and sitting in that familiar mid lane chair has to be constantly daunting, even when the fans aren’t clamoring for it.

People are already speculating that TSM could make a massive move for an established player like Fnatic’s Nemesis or DRX’s Chovy. There is also Evolved, TSM’s Academy mid laner, who could step into that role.

TSM does have at least one import slot on their roster, depending on what they do with Broken Blade and the rest of their roster. If they wanted to follow the role that they took way back when they first brought over Bjergsen, they should look at a young, established player with superstar potential.

To me (and this is just my own wild speculation), the person who would best fit that mold is someone like Rogue’s mid laner Larssen. He has the talent to become that superstar mid laner and, with a better supporting cast around him could build a massive legacy in North America.

At the end of the day, the retirement of Bjergsen has caused a massive ripple into the world of professional League of Legends. Whatever happens next, we should appreciate the impact that Bjergsen had during his playing career. It’s time for a new chapter for the LCS and at least Bjerg will be there in some capacity.