by Jeremy Waxman on Nov 16, 2015
After a lot of speculation, North American League of Legends team Team SoloMid has released a video to announce their full starting roster heading into IEM San Jose. We already knew about mid laner Søren "Bjergsen" Bjerg and AD Carry Yiliang "Doublelift" Peng, but there were questions about who would be playing alongside those two.
Now, the questions have been answered. In the top lane will be former Gravity Kevin "Hauntzer" Yarnell. TSM liked Hauntzer for his flexibility in the top lane, able to play a variety of champions at a high level. Given how the meta can change quickly, and especially entering a new season, this versatility is highly valuable.
In the jungle will be ex-SK Gaming member Dennis "Svenskeren" Johnsen. Svenskeren has shown the talent necessary to be one of the best junglers in the West, and is looking forward to the opportunity to put some of his past indiscretions behind him.
In the Support role will be another European import, Raymong "kaSing" Tsang. H2k Gaming credited kaSing with helping the organization reach new heights, with bot lane partner Hjarnan often just saying "kaSing" in interviews when asked about a strong performance. This may not be permanent, however. It seems that kaSing will play with TSM at IEM San Jose, and will then make a decision about whether he wishes to remain with the team for the 2016 NA LCS Spring Split, or if he'd prefer to seek employment elsewhere. He did say that he's somewhat idolized Doublelift and relishes the opportunity to play with him, so there's certainly a reasonable chance that he stays.
Particularly if kaSing remains with the team, this new-look TSM roster is full of talent and could very well be capable of re-taking the North American crown. We'll have to wait until IEM to see how the team performs in a competitive setting, but they should have the tools to do well.