Korea was the number one region during the League of Legends 2022 season, with three teams in the top four at the LoL Worlds Championship. With DRX and T1 fighting in the finals, it is now sure that Korea has returned to the dominance we used to see a few years ago.
Now that the season has officially ended, it’s time for teams to get prepared for the upcoming year. With the LPL Salary Cap and the success LCK squads had internationally, there will be a lot on the plate. According to some sources, specialized in the LCK scene, there some extraordinary rumors that might make the Korean League the most competitive region it has ever been.
Let’s take a look at the confirmed roster moves and the most important rumors going into the LCK 2022/2023 offseason.
Image Credits | League of Legends Champions Korea LCK
LCK 2023 Roster Shuffle – New wave of talent enters the league
In the last few years, the LCK has been relying on established veterans with years of experience to compete in the teams. While it guaranteed a certain level of play, these types of players had a downward trend in performance, and it was proved by the top-performing teams. DRX and T1 fielded a large number of young talents that were eager to show themselves to the world, pairing them with a few veterans that would have a leadership role within team.
It’s evident that other teams have also caught up to this, and many organizations have decided to part ways with most of the players they had during the 2022 season.
Now that the transfer window is officially open and most players had their contract expired, some teams will have to decide on what kind of roster they want to field in 2023. Here is the breakdown of each team and their intention with the roster.
Fredit BRION goes for full rebuild
Starting off our list, we have Fredit BRION. The team had a mediocre season, ending both spring and summer split in 9th place. While Hena was supposed to be the only player to remain, he recently terminated his contract, which means BRO will have to completely rebuild its roster. It is still not sure which players the org will want to lock, but it’s probably going to be a roster of young talents, likely coming from the Challengers League.
Top: ????
Jng: ????
Mid: ???
ADC: ????
Supp: ????
Nongshim RedForce (confirmed roster)
Nongshim RedForce were quite fast with their roster build this offseason. In fact, they are the only team who have confirmed their lineup.
The entire 2022 roster of veterans like Canna, Bdd and Effort is gone. To replace them, NS promoted its whole Challengers League team, who recently won the second Korean division. The goal with this roster is to improve the players both individually and as a team, with the hopes of aiming for playoffs or Worlds towards the end of the year. They might have a slow start but it will be interesting to see what they can bring to the table later into the season.
Top: DnDn
Jng: Sylvie
Mid: FIESTA
ADC: vital
Supp: Peter
𝑫𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒎𝒆𝒅 𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒓𝒆𝒆 𝒚𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒔 𝒂𝒔 𝒐𝒏𝒆.
𝑨 𝒏𝒆𝒘 𝒈𝒆𝒏𝒆𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒐𝒇 𝑵𝑺 𝑹𝒆𝒅𝑭𝒐𝒓𝒄𝒆 𝒊𝒔 𝒇𝒊𝒏𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚 𝒐𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑳𝑪𝑲 𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒈𝒆.
📺NS RedForce Youtube https://t.co/jMcd3orTEq pic.twitter.com/ryJbyuhcV5
— NS RedForce Global (@NS_RedForce) November 22, 2022
KT Rolster – one player left to confirm
Just like BRO, the team has parted ways with most of its roster apart from its ADC Aiming and jungler Cuzz. The marksman player was a great contributing factor to KT’s run toward the end of the 2022 LCK Summer Playoffs and Regional Finals so he’s likely staying as a starter. Cuzz had a decent season and is a solid player to build a new roster around, especially considering his experience.
While VicLa is still under contract with the organization, according to Travis Gafford, the Korean mid laner is set to join FlyQuest in North America. In his stead, KT picked up former Nongshim’s mid laner Bdd.
In the top lane, KT signed KDF’s former top laner Kiin. Regarded as a top-tier top laner, he has received offers from various teams but eventually signed with KT. The only position left is support, which is rumored to go former Gen.G’s support Lehends.
Top: Kiin (confirmed)
Jng: Cuzz (contract until end of 2023)
Mid: Bdd (confirmed)
ADC: Aiming w (contract until end of 2023)
Supp: Lehends (source: JHYooHoo)
Kwangdong Freecs – roster of young talents for cvMax
KDF made some big announcements in the last two days, parting ways with the whole 2022 roster, including its franchise player Kiin, who had stayed with the organization for five years.
That being said, the org also announced two very interesting pick ups already. The first is ADC Taeyoon, former DRX’s substitute player for Deft, while the other is YoungJae, Gen.G’s former substitute jungler. The second one has been hyped up as one of the rising talents in the LCK so keep an eye out on him next season. There are no major rumors regarding the rest of the lineup and it will likely depend on how the top teams settle the rosters.
Image Credits | @KDF_LoL
Top: ????
Jng: YoungJae (confirmed)
Mid: ????
ADC: Taeyoon (confirmed)
Supp: ????
Liiv SANDBOX – budget roster incoming
LSB had such a great Summer Split, only for it to end bittersweet after missing out on Worlds when losing to DRX in the Regional Finals. What’s even worse is that the whole lineup is set to leave the organization due to their sponsor’s financial problems.
Top laner Dove, jungler Croco and most importantly, bot laner Prince are now free agents on the market. Prince and his stellar performance last year cannot be unseen so, just like Kiin, he will be a top player that teams are looking to lock. The latest rumor is that he might join NA and become the starting ADC for FlyQuest.
While Clozer and Kael are still contracted until 2023, there also might be a chance they leave. No one has been confirmed as of yet.
Top: ????
Jng: ????
Mid: ????
ADC: ????
Supp: ????
Hanwha Life Esports – winners of the offseason?
HLE has been acting behind the scenes on something big, and oh boy, they have maintained the expectations. After an underperforming season at the bottom of the standings, the org is planning on going big in 2023.
The team already confirmed the arrival of former world champion ADC Viper, which will likely mean that other top-tier players will come in. In the jungle position, Clid will make his return to the LCK after the stint on FPX. Together with them, Scout is set to leave EDG after 6 and a half years on the team.
#HLE #Official #Announcement
Welcome back ‘Viper’
>>Full Text: https://t.co/1H63Eay1MR pic.twitter.com/qpwScYaX0e
— Hanwha Life Esports (@HLEofficial) November 22, 2022
In the support role, rumors say that it will be someone between BeryL and Lehends, with the first being the more likely move.
Top: DuDu (confirmed)
Jng: Clid (rumored)
Mid: Scout (source: JHYooHoo)
ADC: Viper (confirmed)
Supp: BeryL/Lehends (source: JHYooHoo)
DWG Kia confirms a Worlds-winning roster?
DK parted ways with top laners Nuguri and Burdol, as well as ADC deokdam and made one of the best upgrades they could have gotten. For the top lane, DK was in contact with Rascal but ended up going for Canna who was teamless after he parted ways with Nongshim RedForce.
Regarding the ADC role, instead, DK got the best pickup possible after Ruler. After the contract with DRX expired, Deft went on to sign with DK and will be the starting bot laner for the 2023 season. Aside from the rumored roster from HLE and T1, DK have put together three of the most experienced and best players in the world. If Canyon and ShowMaker were scary enough themselves, Deft’s arrival will take DK’s potential up a notch.
Top: Canna (confirmed)
Jng: Canyon (confirmed)
Mid: ShowMaker (confirmed)
ADC: Deft (confirmed)
Supp: Kellin (confirmed)
T1 waiting for Faker to re-sign
The legendary organization seems to be the only LCK team to make zero changes going into 2023. After losing the Worlds Finals, all the players will be hungrier than ever.
All the players have contracts running until the end of 2023, with the exception of Faker, who however should be re-signing soon. It’s hard to believe the org or the player will want to part ways with each other.
Top: Zeus (confirmed)
Jng: Oner (confirmed)
Mid: Faker (contract expiring)
ADC: Gumayusi (confirmed)
Supp: Keria (confirmed)
Gen.G – Can Peyz match Ruler’s legacy?
Despite having some major changes down in the bot lane, Gen.G seems to be ready for the 2023 season. The org lost Ruler who announced free agency, as well as Lehends, who is set to join another team. In their stead, Gen.G have promoted its ADC from the Challengers team Peyz and brought in support Delight who previously played on BRO.
Image Credits | @GenG
As for the other three positions, Gen.G have extended the contracts with Peanut and Doran, while Chovy had already his contract running until next year. With two new young talents coming in, we’ll have to see whether Gen.G is still going to be fighting for the top of the LCK.
Top: Doran (confirmed)
Jng: Peanut (confirmed)
Mid: Chovy (confirmed)
ADC: Peyz (confirmed)
Supp: Delight (confirmed)
DRX – from stars to rags
At last, we have the 2022 world champions DRX. While fans are expecting to see the roster together, the situation took a bad twist for the organization in a matter of hours. All players except Juhan have had their contracts expiring, meaning that they are all free agents.
Deft already has left and went on to join DK. All the other players seem to have increasing interest from other teams. We already mentioned how BeryL was under HLE’s radar, as well as Zeka reportedly interested in offers from the LPL. It’s expected to be the same case for Kingen and Pyosik, even though there are no rumors about their next destination currently.
Top: ????
Jng: ???? / Juhan
Mid: ????
ADC: ????
Supp: ????
Read next: LCS 2022/23 Free Agency & Roster Transfers
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