7 Shocking Transfers in LoL History

7. Mithy and Zven to G2 Esports: After an amazing debut on the then-EU LCS scene where they took the previously undefeated Fnatic to a five-game final and then reached semifinal at Worlds 2015, many fans expected Origen to be one of the big names of the European scene. The next split, the team showed some cracks but rallied and reached the playoffs, before news came out that their strong bot lane - veteran support and shotcaller Alfonso "Mithy" Aguirre Rodríguez and AD prodigy Jesper "Zven" Svenningsen - were moving to the new European champion G2 Esports. Origen never recovered their form and over the next year spun into irrelevance. | © Riot Games

6. SwordArt to TSM: After its shocking win of the Season 2 World Championship, the LMS region consisting of Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau never reached the same heights but for several years more it remained famous for upset wins and produced several famous players. Hu "SwordArt" Shuo-Chieh won a much-deserved reputation for both skill and longevity, helping take LPL's Suning Gaming to the 2020 Worlds finals. It came as a big shock that he then moved to NA's TSM, where he was offered a massive contract in a bid to revitalize the team after the retirement of star mid laner Søren "Bjergsen" Bjerg. | © Riot Games

5. Caps to G2 Esports: 2018 was a remarkable year for Fnatic, who finally broke G2 Esports' stranglehold over the European championship and, buoyed by amazing performances by their star mid laner Rasmus "caPs" Borregaard Winther, reached the Worlds final. However, fans were left flabberghasted when rumors of a Caps move to G2 Esports were confirmed as their rivals moved their own mid-lane maestro Luka "Perkz" Perković to AD Carry. G2 had done it again and Caps has remained on that team ever since. | © Riot Games

4. Perkz to Cloud9: Few players have been as synonymous with a team as Luka "Perkz" Perković was with G2 Esports. The Croatian mid-laner was the team's first big star as it clawed its way out the EU Challenger Series after several unsuccessful tries, then he staked his claim as one of Europe's best mids of all time with a series of amazing performances even as the team changed around him. Loved and hated, Perkz was G2 as much as founder Carlos "ocelote" Rodríguez Santiago - until 2020, when a very good offer from Cloud9 led to him trading his black G2 jersey for a white C9 one. Now that is a big money move. | © Riot Games

3. Doublelift to TSM: Arguably NA's greatest homegrown talent, Yiliang "Peter" "Doublelift" Peng had made a name for himself as a star AD Carry with a mouth to match (and at times even exceed) his considerable skill on Counter-Logic Gaming. It was in 2015 that he finally lifted the LCS cup, defeating CLG's old rival Team SoloMid and even scoring a Pentakill in the process. However, Worlds was not kind to CLG and Doublelift ended up joining the team he beat with a sufficiently spicy announcement. | © Riot Games

2. Rekkles to G2 Esports: The crown jewel of G2's roster moves came in the autumn of 2020. Ever since his debut in 2012, Martin "Rekkles" Larsson was a near-constant part of Fnatic and a huge part of their team identity and brand. The Swede had only skipped two seasons in 2013 when he was too young to play in the EU LCS and a a disastrous split with Alliance in 2015. It was with a mix of shock and betrayal that Fnatic fans saw another off the team's carries move to their rival G2, but at least we got a great song out of it. | © Riot Games

1. The Great Korean Exodus: In 2014, the LCK seemed on top of the world - KT Rolster had won the IEM World Championship and after a dramatic win against their sister team, Samsung White had lifted the Summoner's Cup at the Season 4 World Championship. Yet what happened later left Korean fans aghast as a series of high-profile signings - including all ten players of both Samsung teams - to Chinese teams left several Korean teams gutted. The LCK quickly recovered and reasserted its position on top of the pro LoL world, but the trend of top Korean players playing in China continued. | © Riot Games