Roster changes to watch in 2022 LCK Spring

In just two weeks, ten teams in the LCK will compete for the title of 2022 LCK Spring Split champions. As we enter a new season of the LCK season, many teams have rebuilt their entire lineups. Here are the team roster changes you need to pay attention to the most in the upcoming season.

Afreeca Freecs' rename to Kwangdong Freecs is also a rebirth in roster quality. Building off of their franchise player Kim “Kiin” Gi-in, KDF looks like an immediate contender in 2022 LCK. Their biggest roster acquisition has to be former Jin Air and T1 botlaner Park “Teddy” Jin-seong. He has risen to become one of the top mechanical talents in the LCK and a valuable player overall.

After spending the majority of 2021 on the bench for T1, he is back on a starting lineup where he can share carry duties alongside Kiin. KDF is such a flexible lineup that it has carry potential in their side lanes and a solid mid that can neutralize stronger laners. Kwangdong Freecs has spent the majority of their stint in the LCK as that perennial 5th-6th place team, but this year, that is likely to change.

Jungler Hong “Pyosik” Chang-hyeon is slowly becoming the franchise cornerstone of DRX. To aid his efforts, DRX has brought on a World Championship contending botlane through the acquisitions of Kim “Deft” Hyuk-kyu and Cho “BeryL” Geon-hee as a lane that Pyosik can play around. While it is not a standout lineup like you would expect Deft and BeryL to join, it is a Worlds contending team. And compared to DRX’s unsuccessful LCK 2021 Summer run, that is a big jump up the rankings for 2022 LCK Spring.

Gen.G’s new and improved lineup heading into 2022 is menacing. The 2021 Worlds semi-finalists have built their lineup around franchise face Park “Ruler” Jae-hyuk. They have created a Korean super team. Every single player on this team has made it to the quarterfinals of a World Championship at least once.

The pinnacle is around the acquisition of former HLE midlaner Jeong “Chovy” Ji-hoon. He has quickly become a generational talent in the LCK. Chovy led all midlaners in CS differential by a large margin. And he did this on a team that failed to make the LCK 2021 Summer playoffs. Chovy will be taking his insane CS differentials to a Gen.G team that is more than capable of supporting his strong laning capabilities. 

Gen.G has a lineup that has completely counteracted their slower playstyle by acquiring a multitude of players who excel in the laning phase. This is the superteam that is going to storm LCK Spring off of sheer mechanical talent, and it will be exciting to watch in 2022 LCK Spring.

The biggest question mark will be centered around how well Damwon will perform with a relatively unknown lineup. In fact, a lot of what puts DWG.KIA on this list is how impressive their acquisitions were as a collective. 

In the offseason, DWG.KIA acquired Gen.G rookie Noh “Burdol” Tae-yoon and Nongshim Redforce’s 2021 botlane. There are no questions that the botlane will be able to perform and possibly usurp Jang “Ghost” Yong-jin and Beryl, who acted more as roleplayers for their other lanes. The primary question is set around developing Burdol. He is a relatively unknown quantity heading into his first starting position in the LCK.

But DWG.KIA’s roster has been deliberately made to nurture Burdol to become a great player. By moving former head coach Kim “kk0ma” Jeong-gyun to the athletic director and hiring former T1 coach Lee “Zefa” Jae-min, they have created a great infrastructure to help this team. 

On top of their roster changes, they were able to maintain the best mid-jungle duo in the World, so DAMWON.KIA is going to be a lineup you will need to pay attention to.

These are some of the biggest roster changes to watch for in the 2022 LCS Spring Split. It will begin on January 12th as League of Legends Season 12 looks to reignite the year with the LCK.

Until then, stay tuned to Esports.gg for the latest League of Legends news and updates.