There were a number of significant rumors circulating around the LCS this offseason; however, none were more surprising than those around Dignitas. While rumors such as Doublelift’s return, FlyQuest’s superteam, and Team Liquid’s (TL) affectionately titled “TLCK” all-Korean roster were all very shocking and crazy in their own ways, the news surrounding Dignitas’ attempt to build a competitive roster raised the most uncertainty from the community.
After all, Dignitas quit half-way through the 2022 Summer Split, promoting the majority of their academy roster to the main stage and selling their star jungler to Golden Guardians. At the same time, there were rumors going around that Dignitas was looking to sell their LCS spot. With these actions seemingly indicating Dignitas’ exit from the scene, the rumors around the organization going “all-in” in the offseason seemed very contradictory and therefore untrustworthy. It appears, however, that Dignitas may very well be competitive this season.
Out With the Old
Starting in Week 4 of the 2022 Summer Split, Dignitas began to make drastic roster changes to try and see if they could produce better results. While these changes were not comparable in scale to the voracious TSM, they were put in place for the same reason: to win more games. Unfortunately, after the complete overhaul in Week 6, Dignitas would only manage one more win, bringing their record to 3-15 at the end of the split. With the organization clearly and admittedly abandoning a competitive roster, rumors about their exit from the LCS became a topic of conversation. Although it is now clear that they will not be exiting the league, they have made some significant changes from 2022.The final roster they fielded in 2022 consisted of the following players:
Top: Lee “Hoon” Jang-hoon
Jungle: Lawrence “eXyu” Lin Xu
Mid: Ersin “Blue” Gören
ADC: Trevor “Spawn” Kerr-Taylor
Support: Vincent “Biofrost” Wang
While it is typical for teams to abandon unsuccessful rosters, the players on Dignitas’ final roster from 2022 were given an impossible task. Although they were not expected to win, the 3-15 record ended the season with looms over their shoulders. Fortunately, Dignitas recognized this, and relegated the majority of the roster back to their academy team: Dignitas Academy.
Hoon, eXyu, and Gamsu have all reunited on Dignitas Academy. Blue, on the other hand, was released earlier this year to explore his options in Europe, where he was imported from in 2021. Similarly, Biofrost was released. Like Blue, he was not picked up by any teams in the offseason.
In With the New
After seeing a few bright spots from him during his brief stint with the team in the 2022 Summer Split, Dignitas opted to retain Spawn in the ADC position. They also signed three LCS veterans to help facilitate his growth. Joining Spawn on their 2023 lineup is Santorin, Jensen, and IgNar. Importantly, Santorin has played with both of these players before. He played with IgNar for two splits on FlyQuest in 2020. He played with Jensen for four splits from 2020 to 2022. While Jensen and IgNar have not played together, their synergy with Santorin should prove to be very helpful.
Of course, these three LCS veterans can only fill three of the vacancies, leaving an opening in the top lane. While he drastically underperformed in the LEC in 2022, Dignitas have decided to fill this vacancy with former MAD Lions top laner Armut. Armut was an integral part of the MAD Lions squad that won back-to-back championships in the 2021 LEC Spring and Summer Playoffs; however, his recent performances forced MAD Lions to move on in favor of a more promising player.
Together, Dignitas’ 2023 LCS roster is:
Top: İrfan “Armut” Berk Tükek
Jungle: Lucas “Santorin” Tao Kilmer Larsen
Mid: Nicolaj “Jensen” JensenLCS
ADC: Trevor “Spawn” Kerr-Taylor
Support: Lee “IgNar” Dong-geun
