Team Solo Mid and Counter Logic Gaming were in talks regarding a possible trade of their supports before the free agency period was announced, Vincent ’Smoothie’ Wang from TSM to CLG and Andy ‘Biofrost’ Ta from CLG to TSM.
The deal was completed on Monday evening after the free agency period was announced. While there is an announcement of Vincent ‘Smoothie’ Wang being officially in Counter Logic Gaming, Team Solo Mid is withholding their statement most likely to announce all the players, who are joining the team.
This roster change is the first official move by Team Solo Mid in making changes to their League of Legends roster for the 2020th season. They are also seeking a new ad carry and a jungler during the offseason after former ADC ‘Zven’ left for Cloud 9, and the junglers had a disappointing performance in the 2019th season.
According to insider sources, Counter Logic Gaming is not looking to make significant changes to their roster. The only starter who’s contract expired is Tristan ‘PowerofEvil’ Schrage, the infamous mid laner from Unicorns of Love who became known on the international stage after his team’s match against TSM, debuting Xerxe’s Twisted Fate jungle.
Biofrost returns to Team Solo Mid after two seasons under the Counter Logic Gaming brand. During his time on Team Solo Mid, he won three consecutive League Championship Series titles and competed at the 2016 and 2017 World Championships in the USA, and China respectively.
After the disappointing performance at the World Championship in 2017, the bot lane of Andy ‘Biofrost’ Ta and Yiliang ‘Doublelift’ Peng were replaced by former G2 Esports duo Jesper ‘Zven’ Svenningsen and Alfonso ‘Mithy’ Aguirre Rodriguez. Since 2017 Team Solo Mid has not managed to qualify for the World Championship.
In October, before the free agency period was announced, Team Solo Mid retained their star mid-lane player, Bjergsen, by granting him an equity stake within the team, which is widely considered one of the most valuable esports franchise of all time. The team also had top laner Sergen ‘Broken Blade’ Celik secured under contract until the 2021 season.
The latest rumors are that with this exchange, they are looking to pair up Andy ‘Biofrost’ Ta with the former Splyce ADC, Kasper ‘Kobbe’ Kobberup. He has announced free agency after the organization owning the Splyce brand announced restructuring plans and released most staff working under the Splyce brand.
‘Kobbe’ will have big shoes to fill since Zven was performing pretty well in the bottom lane, but the main issue of Team Solo Mid was the constant exchange of junglers during the season, not allowing for the team to build synergy within. We do not know what is in store for the jungle role, but with two import slots taken by ‘Broken Blade’ and ‘Kobbe,’ Team Solo Mid needs to look at a domestic jungler for the role.
