Grading LEC teams’ 2026 roster changes
The long League of Legends esports offseason has almost finished, and it’s not long now until the LEC finally returns.
Instead of the Winter Split, Riot Games is starting the EMEA season with the brand new 12-team LEC Versus event.
In preparation for that, it has been a busy offseason with quite a few roster changes, though every LEC team strangely kept the same jungler.
Looking ahead to the new year, here is a grading of each team’s offseason moves, excluding the two LEC Versus guests: Los Ratones and Karmine Corp Blue.
Fnatic: C
- Top lane – Panagiotis ‘Empyros’ Tantis
- Jungle – Iván ‘Razork’ Martín Díaz
- Mid lane – Vladimiros ‘Vladi’ Kourtidis
- Bot lane – Elias ‘Upset’ Lipp
- Support – Park ‘Lospa’ Joon-hyeong
It’s clear that something needed to change at Fnatic, and now the organisation could finally be moving in the right direction.
Fnatic signing former LEC MVP Vladi is a clear sign of intent. At his best, he’s certainly capable of ending the organisation’s lengthy title drought.
Rookie toplaner Empyros looks promising, and with his strong engages Lospa could prove to be a shrewd signing too.
However, those latter two are still relatively unknown to the LEC, and Vladi’s topsy-turvy form is a big question mark.
If Vladi can take over games while Upset remains solid, Fnatic could be a strong team in 2026. However, the team could just as easily collapse.
G2 Esports: A
- Top lane – Sergen ‘BrokenBlade’ Çelik
- Jungle – Rudy ‘SkewMond’ Semaan
- Mid lane – Rasmus ‘Caps’ Winther
- Bot lane – Steven ‘Hans Sama’ Liv
- Support – Labros ‘Labrov’ Papoutsakis
Reigning LEC Summer Split champions G2 have kept their entire roster for the 2026 LEC season, and they probably couldn’t have done much better than that.
Supposedly, the organisation had the opportunity to sign world-class jungler Kacper ‘Inspired’ Słoma but turned him down.
With his more selfish gameplay and supposed harsh nature backstage, continuing to develop Skewmond looks like a smart move.
G2 are the LEC team to beat next year.
GIANTX: C
- Top lane – Eren ‘Lot’ Yıldız
- Jungle – Ismaïl ‘ISMA’ Boualem
- Mid lane – Adam ‘Jackies’ Jeřábek
- Bot lane – Oh ‘Noah’ Hyeon-taek
- Support – Yoon ‘Jun’ Se-jun
GIANTX keeping the exact same roster for next year is a bold move which deserves some respect.
It’s rare for a team outside the top to stick with the same roster and try to develop their players and synergies.
GIANTX signing retired jungler Nubar ‘Maxlore’ Sarafian as coach could be massive in helping ISMA fulfil his potential.
GIANTX finished fifth in all three LEC Playoffs last year; now it’s up to the players to prove they’ve improved and can do even better.
Karmine Corp: B+
- Top lane: Kim ‘Canna’ Chang-dong
- Jungle: Martin ‘Yike’ Sundelin
- Mid lane: Kang ‘Kyeahoo’ Yea-hoo
- Bot lane: Caliste ‘Caliste’ Henry-Hennebert
- Support: Alan ‘Busio’ Cwalina
KCorp will be disappointed with how last year ended and have reacted by making some massive signings.
Securing former FlyQuest support Busio is expected to be the signing of the season and a big upgrade on paper.
He doesn’t even take up an import slot, allowing the team to sign another Korean in midlaner Kyeahoo.
There is no doubting the talent on this team or the pedigree of new coach Bok ‘Reapered’ Han-gyu.
But how the team will gel together will prove to be pivotal to KCorp’s success this year.
Movistar KOI: A
- Top lane: Alex ‘Myrwn’ Villarejo
- Jungle: Javier ‘Elyoya’ Prades
- Mid lane: Joseph ‘Jojopyun’ Pyun
- Bot lane: David ‘Supa’ Garcia
- Support: Álvaro ‘Alvaro’ Amo
The third and final LEC team to keep the same roster, MKOI will automatically be title favourites along with G2.
Having won Spring Split and competed at MSI and LoL Worlds 2025, it’s clear to see this line-up is very strong.
And frankly, it’s capable of more. The roster should have beaten KT Rolster at Worlds and gone further in the tournament.
Securing Elyoya on a long-term contract is especially crucial for the organisation as he looks to expand on his already-impressive legacy.
Natus Vincere: B
- Top lane: Volodymyr ‘Maynter’ Sorokin
- Jungle: Enes ‘Rhilech’ Uçan
- Mid lane: Sung-won ‘Poby’ Yun
- Bot lane: Jae-hoon ‘Hans SamD’ Lee
- Support: Polat Furkan ‘Parus’ Çiçek
NAVI have made big changes to their LEC team after failing to win a single match in their debut split, though they only had three games to impress in any case.
Having earlier secured promising rookie jungler Rhilech, Maynter is another rookie signing with huge potential.
And the signing of Poby is a fantastic coup, as he looked strong on Fnatic and settled in well despite the chaos around him.
It’s hard to know how this team will gel together, but there’s high upside to this roster. A slow start followed up by rapid improvement looks likely.
Shifters (Team BDS): D
- Top lane: Shin ‘Rooster’ Yun-hwan
- Jungle: Mehdi ‘Boukada’ Lahlou
- Mid lane: Ilias ‘nuc’ Bizriken
- Bot lane: Park ‘Paduck’ Seok-hyeon
- Support: Adrian ‘Trymbi’ Trybus
Team BDS had a difficult 2025. They made it to the LEC Summer Playoffs, only to immediately be swept 3-0 by GIANTX.
After Ice’s form declined, signing another Korean ADC in Paduck makes sense and Trymbi could be a huge coup as the support returns to Europe after helping Vivo Keyd Stars to Worlds.
While small upgrades on paper, there’s not enough evidence to suggest that the newly named Shifters will have any better luck in 2026.
SK Gaming: B
- Top lane: Martin ‘Wunder’ Hansen
- Jungle: Duncan ‘Skeanz’ Marquet
- Mid lane: Adam ‘LIDER’ Ilyasov
- Bot lane: Josip ‘Jopa’ Čančar
- Support: Mihael ‘Mikyx’ Mehle
The most intriguing roster of the upcoming season. SK have handed the keys to Mikyx and let him build the team he wants.
There are massive question marks over whether Wunder can return to form and if LIDER will finally make good of his mechanical talents.
Finally, Jopa is a fairly promising ADC, albeit another risk. But if anyone can help him develop, it’s Mikyx.
This roster will either be a huge success story or an absolute disaster. But after failing to make any Playoffs last year, you have to respect the attempt to change.
Team Heretics: C-
- Top lane: Sebastian ‘Tracyn’ Wojtoń
- Jungle: Théo ‘Sheo’ Borile
- Mid lane: Tolga ‘Serin’ Ölmez
- Bot lane: Yoon ‘Ice’ Sang-hoon
- Support: Paul ‘Stend’ Lardin
Team Heretics have signed two very bright prospects in Tracyn and Serin, while keeping hold of Sheo could be absolutely massive for the team.
Losing Víctor ‘Flakked’ Lirola Tortosa is surprising, as he appeared to be a solid member of last year’s Summer Playoffs team, but Ice has a higher ceiling if he returns to form.
Team Vitality: C
- Top lane: Kaan ‘Naak Nako’ Okan
- Jungle: Linas ‘Lyncas’ Nauncikas
- Mid lane: Marek ‘Humanoid’ Brázda
- Bot lane: Matyáš ‘Carzzy’ Orság
- support: Kadir ‘Fleshy’ Kemiksiz
It’s just the one change for Team Vitality and it’s potentially a pretty big one in Humanoid.
The mood around the team should be good, as Humanoid and Carzzy are very good friends and won the LEC together with MAD Lions.
It’s a shame to see the promising Mateusz ‘Czajek’ Czajka drop back into the ERLs, but an inform Humanoid is one of EMEA’s best players.
Building on the impressive showings of their rookies last year, this Vitality team could do surprisingly well.
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