This week heralded an eruption of signings, and the announcement of a new OPL super team is set to dramatically upset the OPL landscape as we know it. Three teams have changed ownership, with TM Gaming becoming Tectonic (under the ownership of letsplay.live) as well as Team Regicide’s slot being taken over by Gerard Murphy (most recently with the Port Adelaide Football Club) and the Essendon Bombers taking over Abyss Esports Club and renaming the side “Bombers”. The former Regicide is now ORDER, and the OPL caster Jake “Spawn” Tiberi has assembled a fearsome roster that has instantly skyrocketed to a position as a favourite to take out the OPL titles in 2018.
Player: Christian “Sleeping” Tiensuu
Position: Top Lane
Team left: ROG School
Team joined: Bombers (formerly Abyss ESC)
The second import to come into the OPL for 2018 after Legacy added Min “Mimic” Ju-seong in the top lane, Sleeping hails from France and most recently played with ROG School (a team created by ASUS’ Republic of Gamers) in Challenge France. Particularly skilled at Riven and Lee Sin, Sleeping brings a more aggressive, carry style to the Bombers side and this can become a huge portion of the team’s early game presence if Sebastian “Seb” de Ceglie (who just re-signed with the squad) can make regular detours to the top lane and exert pressure there. Hopefully communication isn’t an issue, as that risk is always present with imports, so we’ll just have to wait and see how Sleeping fits into the new Bombers team.
Player: Andrew “Rosey” Rose
Position: Support
Team left: Abyss ESC
Team joined: Bombers
A true veteran of the OPL, having played competitively since 2011 in Season 1, Andrew “Rosey” Rose has re-signed with Abyss ESC, and will now play under the red and black for the Bombers after Essendon bought out the side. Having played every role in a competitive environment in his long tenure as a pro player, Rosey has settled on support and has made it count, becoming one of the most dominant supports in the OPL. He’s played on the Chiefs in their eras of dominance and led Chiefs Black to a sweep of the competition in the OCS before being caught up in the Tainted Minds affair. Rosey is a stellar player and having a new AD Carry to mesh with will be interesting to see, but I’m sure they’ll come out the other side as a cracker duo.
Player: Alan “Tiger” Roger
Position: ADC
Team left: ROG School
Team joined: Bombers
The one-two punch coming out of the Bombers today, with their second import signing (and the third of the entire offseason) also coming from the same team as their top laner, Christian “Sleeping” Tiensuu. Alan “Tiger” Roger will fill the shoes left by Abyss mainstay Julian “Raid” Skordos and will have to team up with Andrew “Rosey” Rose this season to make his impact. After pulling on jerseys for Team LDLC.com and Season 1 World Championship finalists Against All Authority, Tiger played with ROG School for the 2017 season, and the chemistry with Sleeping is already in place, so I fully expect it will be relatively easy to assimilate into the OPL.
Player: Tommy “Ryoma” Le
Position: Mid Lane
Team left: SIN Gaming
Team joined: Chiefs Esports Club
After the explosive announcement that Samuel “Spookz” Broadley had left his long time position at the Chiefs Esports Club as well as the fact that Simon “Swiffer” Papamarkos wasn’t resigned for the 2018 OPL, the boys with the shield were looking for a new mid laner and jungler. In Tommy “Ryoma” Le, the Chiefs have replaced Swiffer and gained themselves a phenomenal mid lane talent who can easily hold his own with the best in Oceania. First playing competitively in 2015, Ryoma has played with Legacy, Tainted Minds and the Chiefs before, but most recently found his home at SIN Gaming where he blossomed into a formidable player. I fully expect that Ryoma will ramp it up a notch in 2018, and he’ll become one of the best mid laners that Oceania has ever seen.
ORDER IN THE OPL
Now it gets very, very interesting. Team Regicide qualified for the 2017 OPL via the OCS, but after a lacklustre Split 2 their slot appears to have been bought out and now those who would slay the kings may become kings themselves with this legendary lineup.
Based on this roster, ORDER is easily a team that could be hoisting the trophy high next year, with each of the players on the squad exhibiting phenomenal individual talent, as well as the fact that some chemistry is already in place with both the mid laner and the jungler coming from the Chiefs Esports Club and both members of ORDER’s bot lane hails from SIN Gaming. As mentioned above, Jake “Spawn” Tiberi has done a fantastic job to assemble this team, and I’ll be eagerly watching to see whether they become the team that firmly stamps Oceania as a contender on the world stage and start a new order in the region. Now, onto the individual player breakdowns.
Player: James “Tally” Shute
Position: Top Lane
Team left: Legacy Esports
Team joined: ORDER
The missing piece of the exodus from Legacy, James “Tally” Shute is the final member of the 2017 Legacy roster to be announced as joining another team, after Carbon retired and Lost and Cupcake moved to different teams. He’s always been a rock in the top lane for Legacy in his 3 year stint at the side, and can be very adaptive depending on the meta, switching between tanks, bruisers and carries with ease. I’d be hard-pressed to find another Oceanic top laner that I would bet on to beat Tally in a one on one, maybe with the exception of the Chiefs’ top laner in Brandon “Swip3rR” Holland, so for that reason Tally may be the best top laner playing in the Oceanic Pro League in 2018.
Player: Samuel “Spookz” Broadley
Position: Jungle
Team left: Chiefs Esports Club
Team joined: ORDER
This is arguably the most surprising move of the offseason so far, as there was no indication this was coming as well as the fact that Samuel “Spookz” Broadley has spent most of his LoL career as well as making his name at the Chiefs Esports Club. If we were told that Simon “Swiffer” Papamarkos was leaving the side and one other was joining him at the start of the offseason, the only reason we’d guess Spookz is the fact that he is best friends with Swiffer. Spookz is a fantastic jungler, a master of counterjungling and intelligent pathing with exceptional mechanical skill to boot. This is another great signing for ORDER, and I’m interested to see how the team dynamics take shape around their jungler.
Player: Simon “Swiffer” Papamarkos
Position: Mid Lane
Team left: Chiefs Esports Club
Team joined: ORDER
The Oceanic League of Legends community was shocked when the Chiefs posted a heartbreaking farewell for their long time mid laner Simon “Swiffer” Papamarkos with the announcement that he will not be the starting mid laner for the Chiefs Esports Club in 2018. For those that read between the lines, there was no announcement of retirement, so it seemed that Swiffer would be a substitute or move to a managerial role within the Chiefs, or entirely leave the team that he’d made his name at.
So when the news about the roster for the Regicide-replacing ORDER team was broken by The Snowball Esports, many a first reaction would have been that of surprise. But for ORDER, this is a tremendous pickup. Swiffer is a magnificent player and a major contributor to the run of dominance that the Chiefs had. I fully expect that Swiffer will play a major part in ORDER’s OPL campaign in 2018.
Player: Victor “FBI” Huang
Position: AD Carry
Team left: SIN Gaming
Team joined: ORDER
One of the newer generation of AD Carries making their way into Oceanic League of Legends, Victor “FBI” Huang began his competitive career at the start of 2017 with SIN Gaming, helping them place 3rd and 4th in the two splits of the year. His mechanical skill is nothing to be sneezed at, with his skill at Kalista, Jhin and Varus winning the SIN lineup many a game. Although he is relatively new to the scene, FBI can go toe to toe with any other AD Carry in the region, and I’m sure that 2018 will be a standout year for him. ORDER really have done a fantastic job with this team, preserving chemistry as well as making sure their players can grow if need be.
Player: Jake “Rogue” Sharwood
Position: Support
Team left: SIN Gaming
Team joined: ORDER
And so the exodus concludes. The 2017 SIN Gaming roster is no more. The team is now only left with their ever-enigmatic jungler Brandon “Juves’ Defina, as FBI’s support Jake “Rogue” Sharwood joins him as the final member of the ORDER squad for 2018. The man with the finger guns has played for SIN since December 2015, marking his first entry into the OPL, since then, he’s been a mainstay of the side and pulled out multiple clutch moments to save his ADC. Due to the fact that FBI has only played with Rogue as a support in any competitive setting, ORDER have made sure their AD Carry can slide immediately into a comfortable position with a familiar face and can focus on taking down the competition.
And that just about wraps up OPL Shuffle for this week! Be sure to tune in next week as we expect those teams keeping quiet about their rosters will take the limelight and announce their teams, which means more breakdowns right here on Respawn Ninja!