Riot has officially announced a shift from a 10-team league to an 8-team league in the LCS. With this change, Evil Geniuses and Golden Guardians will no longer be part of the league.
Sources from Sheep Esports had anticipated this change, especially as Golden Guardians had ceased offseason operations two weeks ago. Additionally, Evil Geniuses allowed some of their members to explore other options suddenly in the past week.
Despite these developments, Evil Geniuses had reached verbal agreements with some players in the LCS, including Toplaner Jett Michael "Srtty" Joye and Jungler Jade "Sheiden" Libut. It may be challenging for these players to find new teams, as other LCS organizations have already made verbal agreements with different players. Additionally, the team was also a likely backup play to AD Carry William "UNF0RGIVEN" Nieminen as LEC dominos didn't fall his way.
As for Golden Guardians, they had not finalized any agreements with new players. However, the team was considering players such as Toplaner Eric "Licorice" Ritchie, Jungler Mingyi "Spica" Lu, and AD Carry Jesper "Zven" Svenningsen. Fortunately, most of these players were never guaranteed spots on the team and were being considered mainly due to limited opportunities elsewhere.
Additionally, there are rumors suggesting that the transition to an 8-team league could lead to interesting restructuring in the future. The potential inclusion of teams from South America or the possibility of renting out league spots, similar to what's seen in VCT (Valorant Champions Tour), are potential ideas that fans might want to keep an eye on.
