League of Legends: NRG and Immortals set to leave LCS

According to Travis Gafford, two organizations are set to leave for the next season of Americas League of Legends circuit : NRG Esports and Immortals. Such departures were expected considering the LCS will transform into the Americas Championship, meaning that room was needed to make space for teams across the entire American continent. Although Immortals departure basically surprised nobody, NRG on the other hand was a bigger shock with their recent results.

Immortals' history in the LCS can be split in two periods divided by the year 2018 : a period of strong results, and a period of irrelevance. IMT joined the LCS NA in 2016 by buying Team 8's spot, and instantly shocked the whole league with a 17-1 record in the Spring Regular Season and a 3rd place in Playoffs. Although they would choke in the end, failing against C9 in the regional qualifiers and thus failing to make it to worlds, Immortals' initial season was a success for such a young structure.

2017 was the continuation of their strong start, despite an average Spring Split, they managed to claw their way back to the playoffs in Summer to guarantee themselves a spot into Worlds 2017, the first (and last) the organization would take part in. Their elimination at the group stage at Worlds, after a massive choke against FNC, followed by an infamous triple tiebreak, would mark a first stop to IMT's league history, as they decided against getting into the franchising of the LCS and prioritized the Overwatch League.

However, Immortals were not gone for long, after Immortals acquired the parent company of Optic Gaming Infinite Esports&Entertainment, they would take over their place in the LCS as of 2020. What followed was a succession of poor results, only peaking at a 6th place in the 2021 playoffs.

The organization tried a lot of things during these 5 seasons, bringing many European talents such as Kadir "Fleshy" Kemiksiz alongside giving their chance to rookies with examples like Mohamed "Revenge" Kaddoura in the toplane. These attempts were never enough to allow IMT to exit the bottom of the league since after 2021, IMT never placed better than last or second last in the regular seasons. With these results and the apparent lack of commitment to the league by the org, it's logical that Immortals won't take part in the Americas Northern Conference next year.

NRG's journey throughout League Esports has taken a very unexpected shape, after quitting the game following their initial season of 2016 where they were relegated from the LCS to the Challenger League, they made a welcomed comeback in 2023, acquiring CLG's slot and retaining most of their staff and players. With a surprise victory in the 2023 Championships and an excellent top 8 at Worlds, NRG's place among NA fans was well earned.

NRG entered 2024 with only one change to their line up as support Lee "IgNar" Dong-geun went back into Europe. Choi "huhi" Jae-hyun replaced him, but NRG's cohesion took a hit, and none of the four remaining players managed to recreate the team's chemistry that allowed them to look for titles in the 2023 season. NRG spent most of their 2024 season in the middle of the standings, setting themselves above the bottom but never reaching the top.

Travis Gafford analysed the decision of removing NRG from the league by saying that removing a team with little legacy makes sense compared to other names such as 100 Thieves or Dignitas who have more history and more attachment to them.

One slot will be taken by a team from the LLA, the latin league currently fields Estral Esports, INFINITY, Isurus, Leviatan, Movistar R7 and Six Karma. Therefore, one of these names will be part of the Americas Northern Conference (unless a major turn of events occur and Riot change their decision). The other slot will be taken by a "guest team from tier 2" which can be essentially anyone from tier 2 that Riot decides to chose.