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TSM Full Roster Is Mostly Decided as They Bring Solo Back, Add Neo and Bugi

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TSM Full Roster Is Mostly Decided as They Bring Solo Back, Add Neo and Bugi

TSM continue its 2022 roster-building strategy as they try to build a solid roster without spending big time.

2022 hasn’t been the best year for TSM’s LoL division. They started out the Spring by losing their franchise player, Søren “Bjergsen” ( Link listen) Bjerg, to Team Liquid. They put together a roster with two LDL prospects, but things did now work out for the organization. Neither on the Rift nor outside of it. They finished the Spring Split 9th and Summer 7th, with multiple outside-the-game problems involving the CEO Andy “Reginald” Dinh and head coach Zhang “Peter Zhang” Yi. And after the poor showing throughout the year, the team’s face and MVP jungler Mingyi “Spica” Lu also departed after his contract ran out.

Another not-so-great news to start the 2023 season

Just when the TSM fans were glad that the new season was coming with maybe some needed changes accompanied by big spending, another unfortunate event hit the organization. The second biggest crypto marketplace on the planet, FTX, which sponsored TSM for 10 years in a deal worth $200M last year, suddenly collapsed. Although TSM said they were not using this sponsorship money for their LoL division, and the company itself was still profitable, people speculated that this would mean some tough times for the LCS team. Especially after they decided to release their entire Academy team.

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The first report of a TSM signing came on November 18. In the couple of days before that, there were rumors that TSM would be signing an ex-Flash Wolves jungler that had Worlds experience, which led to speculations that this player would be Victory Five’s Hung “Karsa” Hao-Hsuan. But then an article from Blix.gg’s Alejandro “anonimotum” Gomis came out, which said the new TSM jungler would be Lee “Bugi” Seong-yeop, another Flash Wolves jungler who played in Worlds 2022 with the LLA team Estral Esports. A couple of hours later Brieuc “LEC Wooloo” Seeger tweeted that Colin “Solo” Earnest would return as the team’s starting top laner.

According to Seeger, the last TSM signing will be Dignitas Academy AD Carry, Toàn “Neo” Trần. Neo has been on Dignitas since June 2020 and was regarded as an up-and-coming bot laner in 2021. Unfortunately, the young bot laner had a down year and was demoted to Academy during an especially rough Summer Split. TSM will round out their LCS roster with Huang “Maple” Yi-Tang and Jonathan “Chime” Pomponio.