Grading Every LCS Team’s 2026 Offseason

The LCS is back… with one of the most explosive offseasons in recent times. Not only will the league welcome a new organization that put together a competitive roster, but several teams tried to go for major upgrades with the hopes of increasing international success. But who won the offseason and which teams made the right choices? Here are our grades for the LCS 2026 offseason.

Team Liquid — 7.5/10

Team Liquid come from what can be called a disastrous 2025 season. After a strong start in the first split, the team had a major downfall in performance, especially after jungler Um ‘UmTi’ Sung-hyeon left the team. Despite having a promising talent like Ganbat ‘Yuuji’ Ulziidelger, TL wasn’t able to qualify for Worlds.

On paper, the new rebuild is promising. Aside from keeping the bot lane of CorreJJ and Yeon, the team broguht in two strong Korean players: Quid from 100Thieves and Morgan in the top lane, previously of OK BRION. The two are expected to be among the best in their roles, especially Morgan, who can potentially make a strong impact with the new season changes.

pic.twitter.com/S3a9UuRwsK

— Team Liquid LoL (@TeamLiquidLoL) December 13, 2025

The question mark could be Brandon ‘Josedeodo’ Villegas in the jungle. While he has had previous experiences at the top level, he might have a lot of pressure considering how important junglers have been for TL over the years. If he can’t match that expectations, the team’s ceiling can be capped. Nonetheless, it’s an interesting roster that can look extremely good if well trained.

Sentinels — 7+/10

Sentinels decided to go immediately for a major roster under the guidance of Greyson Gregory ‘Goldenglue’ Gilmer, bringing in four Korean players and a domestic mid laner.

Jeong ‘Impact’ Eon-young and the bot lane of Cho ‘Rahel’ Min-seong and Choi ‘huhi’ Jae-hyun should bring a decent floor to the team, giving enough time to Ham ‘HamBak’ Yoo-jin and Isaac ‘DARKWINGS’ Chou to settle in to the new environment. For the mid laner, this will be a major chance but also a major pressure test, given that he faces major competition among the mid lane role.

While it’s a strong foundation, the team will still need time before SEN becomes a top-tier team.

FlyQuest — 7/10

The takeaway from FlyQuest’s roster is that the team won’t likely repeat the same level of dominance from the previous years. While it’s a great sign that the organization is willing to develop young talents, with jungler Johnson ‘Griffinn’ Le joining alongside Michael ‘Cryogen’ Luu and top laner İbrahim Samet ‘Gagkos’ Bulut.

Welcome to the NEXT GEN. #TimeToFly pic.twitter.com/ukl5bVb5yJ

— FlyQuest (@FlyQuest) December 19, 2025

With Thinkcard joining as head coach, there can be a great upside for the team, especially if he can use individual strengths to make everything click. That said, the loss of Inspired and Busio are still going to be massive in the short term, so a 7 seems a reasonable vote.

Cloud9 — 6.5/10

Cloud9 had a great initial showing at the KeSPA Cup, coming close to joining the top four teams at the competition. The team only made one change and largely ran back the 2025 roster, adding APA in the mid lane. The change on paper can be considered a sidegrade or small upgrade but it shouldn’t radically change the team’s potential.

C9’s main focus should be on improving the early game plan and overall macro play, given that they struggled with that the most in 2025. A good fix from what could’ve been a tough offseason, but not a statement.

Shopify Rebellion — 7/10

While people are hyped about Korean mid laner Yoo ‘Zinie’ Baek-jin joining Shopify Rebellion, I think he might need more time before we truly see his full potential.

As one of the hottest agents, this is definitely a big chavnce for SR to fight for the top spots in the league, but with all the other teams also making upgrades, SR’s offseason wasn’t stellar. Keeping the rest of the roster can be a good choice as it avoids several traps but if they are not able to level up once again, Shopify Rebellion might not rise as a LCS title contender.

LYON — 8.5/10

LYON are my undisputed no. 1 winners of the LCS 2026 offseason. Headlined by Kacper ‘Inspired’ Słoma and former C9 and DN Freecs ADC Kim ‘Berserker’ Min-cheol and with Kang ‘Saint’ Sung-in having more room to step up, the roster is looking promising.

If the pieces click and the rookie Frankie ‘Zamudo’ Lin proves his worth as a rookie, LYON could become a contender for the title. The only question will be whether the team will once again become too dependent on Inspired to solve game state.

Antes de terminar el bootcamp, le preguntamos a parte del equipo qué fue lo último que buscaron en internet, qué vieron en YT y qué canción escucharon.

Adelante con el chisme: pic.twitter.com/GZ7Tn4EnbH

— LYON (@LyonLATAM) December 23, 2025

Disguised — 6.5/10

Disguised continues to follow the developmental roster philosophy and brought in two major domestic talents: jungler Christian ‘KryRa’ Rahaian will get his tier-one shot with ADC Sajed ‘sajed’ Ziade.

The team also brought in Korean import Oh ‘Callme’ Ji-hoon, who previously played for Nongshim RedForce, making it the second Korean player after Cho ‘Castle’ Hyeon-seong. The team seemingly has a good foundation but a lot will depend on how the rookies are able to acclimatize with the stronger competition. An interesting roster for the medium-long term, although the overall potential might not be as high as other squads, which is why I rate them slightly above sufficiency.

Dignitas — 6.5/10

After a tough year, Dignitas have also gone for a major rebuild. Aside from the returning top laner Kyeong ‘Photon’ Gyu-tae, DIG have changed the players on all the other roles.

On paper, this should be a lineup with a decent base. The bot lane of Ian Victor’ FBI’ Huang and Lee ‘IgNar’ Dong-geun should be solid enough to withstand the competition, and jungler Lawrence ‘eXyu’ Lin Xu and mid laner Cristian ‘Palafox’ Palafox already have plenty of experience playing.

It's time for a new era

Welcome @Jonathon_GG, our new General Manager, who is here to give a run down on #DIGLCS going into 2026 pic.twitter.com/9wlrAyf0Ra

— DIG LCS (@DignitasLoL) December 19, 2025

Compared to other teams, it might be easier to reach a decent floor on the short-term but the team might struggle later in the LCS 2026 season. That said, even Dignitas seems to be competitive to fight with the mid pack.