The League community is criticizing TSM for not signing new talent because their alleged academy roster is filled with LCS veterans who have been on and off of LCS teams for more than ten years.
The League of Legends community has experienced an extremely busy off-season, with teams from all the major regions changing places and imports in abundance, particularly in North America.
According to reports, TSM will add Huang ‘Maple’ Yi-Tang, a seasoned mid laner that was imported last year, and Lee ‘Bugi’ Seong-yeop, an imported jungler, to their main LCS roster.
It’s crucial to understand that public opinion does not, by any means, support the exclusion of veterans from the school system. Players like Darshan “Darshan” Upadhyaya have spent years in the academy, and having talented players on a team that provides years of knowledge can be useful in training up-and-coming talent.
However, problems arise when the squad is virtually entirely made up of veterans, as academy commentator Mad Magical noted. There is definitely a case to be made there given that Stephen “Triple” Li has been playing competitively since 2015 and that Hauntzer, Wildturtle, and Svenskeren each have roughly ten years of experience.
Magical would go on to say that although these players “deserve” to be at the academy, rosters in a development league shouldn’t be made up entirely of seasoned athletes.
This debate would spread to Reddit, where a post by user greendino71 that received over 2k upvotes stated that “vets who have been around since about 2013 or so shouldn’t be allowed in academy.”
Even though TSM has not officially announced the anticipated veteran academy roster, the organization has already been in hot water because of other contentious issues related to a collaboration with FTX.