One of the biggest League of Legends divisions will begin their 2023 journey in North America as LCS Spring commences this January.
Ahead of the pack is Team Liquid, which online bookmaker Pinnacle has priced at 2.99 for the odds. However, a very tight race is promised as FlyQuest is just around the corner listed at 3.39.
※ Current Odds Date & Time: January 7th, 9:00 P.M. (EST)
Spearheaded by 2022 World Championship winner Pyosik, Team Liquid brought in two new players from South Korea who played for different teams in different leagues a season ago to LCS. Pyosik’s arrival has certainly boosted the chances of Team Liquid as the long-standing DRX member went toe to toe with the legendary T1 roster in his team’s 3-2 victory that allowed him and his team to be crowned world champions. The jungler is relatively new to the scene but has seen great success since 2019.
Bwipo also moves from the active roster to content creator to make way for Summit in the top lane. Summit came all the way from FunPlus Phoenix. The 24-year-old top laner has yet to achieve great results and this stint in Team Liquid with a player of Pyosik’s caliber will certainly help the progress of his career. They will be joining compatriot Corejj who has manned the support role for Team Liquid since his departure from Gen.G Esports in 2018.
The roster is rounded out by Team Liquid’s academy team prodigies in Haeir and Yeon. The former has played for numerous Oceania teams before being picked up for the academy team. Yeon, on the other hand, dominated the academy tournaments in 2022, winning LCS Proving Grounds twice this past year to earn his promotion to the main team. Yeon and Haeir’s promotion round up the full Korean-speaking roster of the team being half-Koreans.
FlyQuest also decided to ride the wave of South Korean talent residing in North America for the LCS. The team brought in Prince and Vikla to serve as their bot and mid players respectively. Similar to Liquid, the team has five Asians manning their roster with Impact joining their ranks. The former Evil Geniuses brings in a winning mentality and veteran leadership as he has won the world championship with T1 way back 2013. TSM Mid Spica and Eyla from Team Liquid’s academy team will complete the roster.
The 12th North America season winner earns a direct qualification for the mid-season Invitational. The tourney will be a grueling 18-game group stage with each team playing every other team twice in best-of-one fashion.
Will Team Liquid’s high skill ceiling be enough? Or will FlyQuest’s mix of young talent and veteran leadership reign supreme?
