Rogue lifting the League Of Legends European Championship trophy marks the ending of the European competition this year. While Worlds will start at the end of the month already, LEC teams are slowly starting to make their plans for the upcoming offseason.
A lot of changes are to be expected, even among players who are still under contract. However, a few of those players have their contract running out this year. This means that they will be free agents allowed to talk and be signed by any team.
Here’s a list of teams that will have some players expected to become free agent this offseason.
Astralis
Astralis will have a decent amount of players becoming free agents. Top laner Kiss “Vizicsacsi” Tamás, jungler Andrei “Xerxe” Dragomir, and bot laner Kasper “Kobbe” Kobberup will have their contract run out in November.
In case Astralis do end up selling their LEC spot — a possibility reported by Upcomer — the rest of their players might become availalbe on the market too.
Excel Esports
Excel received a lot of criticism when signing Erlend “nukeduck” Våtevik Holm. While not the best mid laner in the league, most of that criticism has been shut down since Nukeduck is a solid veteran player and his experience might interest teams looking to develop rookies in other roles.
Speaking of rookies, jungler Mark “Markoon” van Woensel was introduced to the LEC with Excel last summer. This offseason will be his first as a free agent as an LEC player.
Misfits Gaming
The spring split MVP, mid laner Vincent “Vetheo” Berriéa, will be available to explore his options. A few LEC teams will probably be interested after Vetheo’s two years under a Misfits contract. A change is to be expected and it will be interesting to track where Vetheo will go. Misfits former starting jungler Lucjan “Shlatan” Ahmad will also be a free agent.
Initially under contract for longer, the rest of the Misfits squad will also be free in the market following the sale of the organization to Team Heretics. Bot laner Matúš “Neon” Jakubčík, who made it to the third all-pro team this summer, will be free to sign anywhere. This is also the case of support Mertai “Mersa” Sari, top laner Joel “Irrelevant” Miro Scharoll, and jungler Nikolay “Zanzarah” Akatov.
Rogue
Rogue only have one starting LEC player that will become a free agent and it’s none other than top laner Andrei “Odoamne” Pascu. Arguably the best top laner in the region, Odoamne is now headed to Worlds after lifting his first LEC trophy.
With many years of experience behind its back yet still being at the top, most LEC teams should consider signing Odoamne to their roster as soon as possible. He will be an important player to track this offseason and it would be surprising not to see Rogue attempt to re-sign him.
SK Gaming
Top Laner Janik “JNX” Bartels has now played for more than two years for the German organization. Starting his career with them at the summer split of 2020 as mid laner, JNX has since then become their face in the top lane.
A second player from the roster, Jean “Jezu” Massol, will also become a free agent. Whether SK Gaming decide to re-sign those two might depend on their ambitions. However, with a few bot laners from the LEC available as well as promising rookies and veterans in that role coming from European Regional Leagues, SK may have a lot of other choices.
Teams with no contracts running out this year
G2 Esports, Fnatic, Team BDS, MAD Lions, and Team Vitality don’t have any starting LEC players with ending contracts. Again, this doesn’t mean those teams won’t make changes, but their players could be limited in their options if they do end up having to chance team.
MAD Lions’ top laner İrfan Berk “Armut” Tükek was going to be a free agent, but his contract was extended of two years earlier this year.
ARMUT RENEWED 🇹🇷
The two-time LEC Champion for two more years!#goMAD pic.twitter.com/mPmeFDBNJr
— MAD Lions English (@MADLions_EN) August 4, 2022
Full list of upcoming LEC free agents
Here’s the full list of players who’s contracts run out this November, in alphabetic order:
- Irrelevant
- JNX
- Jezu
- Kobbe
- Markoon
- Mersa
- Neon
- nukeduck
- Odoamne
- Shlatan
- Vetheo
- Vizicsacsi
- Xerxe
- Zanzarah
Trending
