Yet another org may have to field a roster not at full strength for Lock-In, the LCS preseason tournament. Visa issues and travel restrictions hit Cloud9 (C9) and Team SoloMid (TSM), forcing Academy players to take the stage for Lock-In. Now, Team Liquid (TL) may also have to change up the starting lineup when the competition begins this weekend. A top contender in the LCS, TL stands to lose the services of its star support and captain Jo “CoreJJ” Yong-in, who has yet to secure his green card.

TL made huge roster moves in the off-season, picking up TSM legend Soren “Bjergsen” Bjeg plus bringing in two players from Europe. Top laner Gabriël “Bwipo” Rau came over from Fnatic while AD carry Steven “Hans sama” Liv moved from 2021 LEC Summer Champions Rogue. The team is no doubt hungry to dominate the NA pro scene and even perform internationally. While a superteam on paper, TL's newly added power relies on maximizing the import slots to the fullest.

Based on current LCS roster policies, however, each team can only field two non-resident players at the same time. TL had been banking on CoreJJ to get his green card, making him an NA “resident”, allowing the squad to use the import slots on the two new signings from EU. However, with delays arising, it might just be the case that TL will have to bench one of its strongest stars—at least for Lock-In, and maybe even for the LCS Spring Split regular season itself if the issues continue. (With this development, we might have to revise our power rankings and expectations for how well TL can perform in Lock-In.)

Sources say that Bwipo will likely keep his spot in the starting lineup, which means that TL will have to make a decision between CoreJJ and Hans sama. As such, fans might even have to prepare for the possibility of the two bot laners splitting stage time and pairing up with the Academy counterpart. If CoreJJ is in, TL Academy bot laner Sean “Yeon” Sung will step into the main roster, whereas Hans sama will pair up with Academy support Bill “Eyla” Nguyen.

The residency ruling hasn't only affected TL, but also shook up C9's internal scrims setup. ADC Jesper “Zven” Svenningsen was meant to be the Academy bot laner this season, but because he isn't considered a resident yet by LCS standards, C9 didn't have an import slot left for him across its main and Academy rosters. (Check out the full story on Zven's new role in C9).

TL meanwhile will bank on the firepower of Bwipo, Santorin, and Bjergsen to be enough to tow the squad over the line, at least while CoreJJ still lacks his green card and the team has to switch between bot lane duos. Fans will be hoping that the issue gets resolved soon, or they may be in for a long, tumultuous LCS 2022 season.