2015 was a great year for the competitive world of League of Legends. With only weeks before the race for world domination begins teams are putting the finishing touches on their rosters and gameplans.

NBA player turned actor Rick Fox made the news when he purchased Team Gravity’s LCS spot. He also made the news when he changed the team’s name to Echo Fox. But the time has come for the lineup to be published and for the players to get ready to step into the limelight, some of them for the first time.

Team Echo Fox, source: Youtube.com

Echo Fox consists of  Support  Terry “Baby” Chuong, ADC Yuri “KEITH” Jew, Mid laners Henrik “Froggen” Hansen and Marcin “SELFIE” Wolski, Jungler Anthony “Hard” Barkhostev, and Top laner Jeong-hun “KFO” Park.

The biggest challenge will be faced by “Baby” and “KFO” as this will be the first time they play professionally. “Baby” previously played for Cloud9 Tempest ( Challenger Team) and “KFO” is a Solo qeuer from Korea. A lot of people will be watching and the team will soon have the opportunity to fight for a place in the rankings.

Team ROCCAT is starting 2016 from scratch after getting trampled by Unicorns of Love and Origen last year. In order to be able to try for a legitimate shot at the title ROCCAT aquired experienced players and put together a team that could go either way:

Team ROCCAT, Source: www.tentonhammer.com

Top Laner Simon “fredy122” Payne comes from SK Gaming. Jungler Karim “Airwaks” Benghalia previously played for Unicorns of Love. Mid Laner Felix “Betsy” Edling and Support Edward “Edward” Abgaryan were members of  Gambit Gaming (Gambit Gaming no longer exists). AD Carry Mohammad “Safir” Tokhi left NA team Renegades in order to return to the European scene.

EX Team Liquid Diego “Quas” Ruiz, Source:lolesports.com

Team Liquid lost Top Laner Diego “Quas” Ruiz and that  retired from professional League of Legends, the roster and the team strategy  for 2016 crumbled. His departure cost them IEM Cologne and had to find a  Top Laner for 2016 ..

Hard pressed by the coming Spring Split of NA LCS took a chance on  Sampson “Lourlo” Jackson.  The rookie  Top Laner joins Mid Laner Kim “FeniX” Jae-hun and AD Carry Chae “Piglet” Gwang-jin, Support player Smoothie.

RNG (Renegades) is another team looking for talent all over the place after they were left without and ADC while preparing for 2016. Ainslie “maplestreet8” Wylie left the team and that of course took a toll on morale but apparently the team has now filled the gap with former Copenhagen Wolves player Aleš “Freeze” Kněžínek . The Czech player was rank 1 on  Eu West  soloqueue, and is partly responsible for Ninjas in Pyjamas getting  1st place in the EUCS spring split of 2014. Seems like a solid addition to RNG.

RNG Freeze, Source: Youtube