With this year’s competitive season having cemented Europe as a region just as full of hot prospects as ever, many teams are going to be keeping an eye out for players getting out of a contract who they can try and steal away. Be it NA’s plight of players being fulfilled, or Europe’s lower rung teams shooting their shots in those DMs, here’s three players we want to keep an eye out on this off season.
Mithy
Origen’s support player Mithy has a storied past in him from the European LCS days. Having been the inspiration for MikyX - his eventual successor on G2 Esports - he was given a way home after TSM and North America saw him taking a knee. Although his inaugural split in Spring looked fantastic as Origen managed to achieve second place, they still weren’t able to make Worlds this year as summer split saw them capitulate and lose out to Splyce in a best-of-five.
Although Mithy has to bear his fair share of responsibility as a team leader and captain, there’s definitely fight left in his old bones, and we’ll have to wait to find out whether or not he elects to stay with the Origen organisation.
Kobbe
The hotly debated ADC player from Splyce managed to make his way into the quarterfinals of Worlds this year with his team. Despite consistent criticism throughout the year about Splyce’s inability to effectively play the early game out in the way that analysts believed to be the best, Kobbe had the third most MVPs in Spring across the LEC, and continued to show a stable performance come summer season. Although Humanoid has been the shining light for Splyce, Kobbe would be a solid ADC for any team - particularly North American - willing to pick him up.
Kobbe’s age deserves an honourable mention as he’s been playing League professionally for many years, and at 23 years of age might be a player who you’d love to have fill an import slot if you need a slightly more mature player to round out your team.
Jiizuke
We haven’t seen a player’s stock fall as quickly as Jiizuke’s has in a long time. Where Vitality was able to start off the Spring LEC split with a showing second only to G2 esports, the rest of their year has been off to say the least. While Jiizuke was lauded as being one of the mid players who should have had a solid shot at being able to carry his team across the finish line, Vitality’s demise was quick and very much laid on his shoulders.
Whether or not he’s able to bring his form back up to mark is up for debate, but if a bottom rung LCS team wants to take a gamble on a player who is likely to be reasonably priced as well as having shown a high skill ceiling in the past, Jiizuke would be a hot prospect.
Honorable mentions: Kold, Forg1ven
With Origen’s players having short contracts, Kold has his contract set to expire. While he’s failed to perform at numerous occasions within the summer split, it wouldn’t be the biggest surprise to see him vied for by a low-rung LCS team as a gamble addition to their roster. He’s shown promise as well as worked underneath a mind like Mithy, while being an older, more mature player. As long as it’s not TSM picking him up, his appeal is visible.
As for Forg1ven, he’s not contracted so we’re not including him in these lists, but we have our fingers crossed to see the return of one of the League's best and most controversial players to the Rift.
Written byMamoon Sabri@ggTeaTime