All roster moves ahead of LTA South Split 2

LTA South Split 2 is kicking off this weekend, and there have been a couple of roster changes that will shake up the teams’ expectations heading into the competition.

With valuable spots on the line for the Mid-Season Invitational (MSI) and the Esports World Cup, every series and every result will matter. With that in mind, let’s take a look at what roster changes have been made for the second split of LTA’s South conference.

After announcing a partnership with w7m esports, Fluxo was hoping to start off the 2025 season with a competitive roster that would challenge LTA teams. The first split, however, turned out to be disastrous as the team was immediately eliminated from competition in the first stage, becoming the only team with no wins on the scoreboard (two 2-0 losses against RED Canids and FURIA).

Heading into this split, the team is hoping for better results and brought in Peruvian jungler Franco ‘Ganks‘ Sánchez Juaregui. He previously played for Leviatan in the LLA last year and was competing in the tier two scene this year on Colombian team Zeu5 Esports. While he won’t likely push Fluxo into title contenders, it might lead to a stronger result than the previous split.

LOUD is the team that created the most buzz during the break between splits. After picking up two Korean players, Na ‘Wiz‘ Yoo-joon and former LCS player Kim ‘Winsome‘ Dong-keon, the Brazilian team parted ways with both alongside head coach Franklin ‘Aoshi‘ Coutinho.

In their stead, LOUD picked up two domestic players: Diogo ‘Shini‘ Rogê Moreira and Ygor ‘RedBert‘ Freitas. The swaps come after a disappointing Split 1 performance, as LOUD only finished third in the standings in the regular split and was immediately eliminated in the opening round of the Split 1 playoffs.

LOUD published a video to explain what went wrong and the reasons for the change from the two kicked players. Wiz said the team wasn’t on the same page, and Winsome talked about communication issues between Korean and non-Korean players, which explains why LOUD picked up two Brazilian talents.

Both Shini and RedBert have long-standing careers in the scene, but the real question will be whether they can raise the team’s ceiling enough to compete with Isurus Estral, the top team from Split 1.

Speaking of title contenders, paiN Gaming is another team looking to bounce back after an average Split 1 performance.

The team’s mid laner, Matheus ‘dyNquedo‘ Rossini, announced his retirement from competitive shortly after the end of the competition, leading paiN Gaming to find a new replacement for one of the faces of the team.

With Korean top laner Choi ‘Wizer‘ Eui-seok gaining residency status, the Brazilian team have made the big bet and brought in Jo ‘Roamer‘ Woo-jin, who previously played for several Korean Challenger (tier-two) teams such as BRION and Hanwha Life Esports.

The mid laner has a solid champion pool, capable of piloting various control mages such as Azir, Ahri, Syndra and more. His performance will likely dictate paiN Gaming’s chances for title contention in the upcoming split.