This information, first shared by esports journalist Travis Gafford, has surprised many, particularly with NRG’s unexpected exit.

I've heard from multiple individuals close to the teams that NRG and Immortals will not be competing in the LCS in 2025https://t.co/bNVn8UZAAW pic.twitter.com/rD1dau8tcC

— Travis Gafford (@TravisGafford) September 10, 2024

Immortals’ departure comes as little surprise due to their underwhelming performance since rejoining the LCS in 2019.

However, NRG’s exit has left the community stunned, especially considering the organisation acquired Counter Logic Gaming (CLG) and its LCS slot in 2023.

In a short span, NRG built a championship-winning roster, had a solid run at the 2023 World Championship, and now appears to be walking away from League of Legends esports.

Fans expressed frustration, with some accusing NRG of buying the team only to let it operate on autopilot before bailing.

This report also lists six teams expected to participate in the new League of Legends Americas competition: Cloud9, Dignitas, Shopify Rebellion, FlyQuest, and 2024 World Championship representatives Team Liquid and 100 Thieves.

While these teams are expected to make the transition, there are still uncertainties, particularly regarding 100 Thieves, which is rumoured to be considering restructuring or even selling its league spot.

The restructuring of the LCS comes as Riot Games plans to merge North America’s LCS with Latin America’s LLA and Brazil’s CBLOL into a unified two-conference region by 2025.

While teams like Cloud9, FlyQuest, Liquid, and Shopify Rebellion have reportedly embraced the changes, nothing is set in stone until Riot formally announces the final list of participants.

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NRG have secured two victories this split, and they hardly deserve much more. NRG are one of the worst-performing teams in the league — especially in the early game, with a -1355 gold difference and a -0.5 tower difference at 15 minutes.

Dignitas are 1-4 and on a three-game losing streak, yet they have shown a pulse against stronger opponents. They fumbled against Shopify Rebellion last week and lost 0-2, but the eye test suggests Dignitas are not terrible. Like NRG, they are simply not good.

Despite the difference in win tallies, there are no reasons to believe NRG are stronger than Dignitas. The two LoL esports teams seem very close in quality, so taking Dignitas’ side at plus money makes more sense.

100 Thieves took a map from FlyQuest last week, which might explain the prices offered by LoL betting sites. But FlyQuest aren’t the most consistent team, so we can take 100 Thieves’ success with a grain of salt.

100 Thieves are one of the more volatile teams in the league, and their total kills average per game (27.8) is a good indication of how they like to play. Immortals, meanwhile, are the least bloody team in LCS 2024 Summer (22.6 average kills), mainly due to their ability to keep games fairly stable in the first 15 minutes.

The quality difference between LCS teams outside the top three is marginal enough not to have such strong favourites for any series. As such, it makes very little sense to give Immortals under 35% implied probability to defeat a squad who are just as bad as them.

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The best esports betting sites have Dignitas priced as $5.75 underdogs for their series against Team Liquid, which is an absurd number.

After only three rounds of play, the only thing we can take from the North American LoL league is that there is no significant difference between most teams. But, more importantly, no team is consistent enough to be considered a good bet as heavy favourites.

Team Liquid are 3-0 with wins against FlyQuest, Shopify Rebellion, and 100 Thieves. On the other side, Dignitas are 2-1 with a close loss against Cloud9, a victory against 100 Thieves, and a 0-2 defeat against FlyQuest before the break. Team Liquid have done better, but not by that much.

Stats-wise, Immortals are an average LCS team with a -98 gold difference per minute (GDM) and 1751 gold per minute (GPM). In contrast, FlyQuest rank first in GPM at +1966 and third in GDM at +207.

FlyQuest are 2-1 after three weeks of play, with a loss against Team Liquid and victories against NRG and Dignitas. They did not look great in either of the two wins, however.

While very talented, FlyQuest have not displayed the consistency needed to be a good bet at this price. Immortals to win a map at plus money is a far more appealing bet, especially considering they’ve had three weeks to prepare for this match.

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Since the difference in quality between all eight LCS teams is marginal, seeing esports betting sites install Team Liquid as $1.26 favourites doesn’t make much sense.

Liquid have not shown much this season — even though they outperformed expectations at Mid-Season Invitational 2024. They’ve edged past FlyQuest and defeated Shopify Rebellion in this split, which is hardly more exciting than 100 Thieves’ 2-0 sweep of NRG and loss against Dignitas.

That defeat alone could be a big reason 100 Thieves are such massive underdogs. But while 100T didn’t look great that day, Team Liquid should never be priced so short for this affair. At the offered number, 100 Thieves to take a map is an easy choice.

NRG have been overrated for a while now, and things haven’t changed this split. They’re 0-2 after two weeks of play, with losses against 100 Thieves and FlyQuest, and while NRG took a map from FlyQuest, that’s more of an indication of how closely contested the league is.

Immortals picked up a win in the first week against Shopify Rebellion and lost to Cloud9 in two maps on Saturday. While that is not the best start, it’s hard to expect them to accomplish more with that schedule.

NRG field a better roster of players, but this didn’t help them in their loss against Immortals in the LCS 2024 Spring, nor is it a good reason to back them at this price. Get on Immortals at plus money.

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After producing mixed results over the first rounds of the regular season, TSM found traction in Week 4 when they defeated Immortals, NRG Esports, and Golden Guardians, improving their record to 6-6 ahead of LCS 2023 Summer Week 5. Their sudden resurgence isn’t that shocking.

TSM have been playing well but haven’t received much respect from the market. That’s not to say that TSM are a great team or have a realistic chance to win the LCS crown, but they know how to punish sloppy opponents.

Dignitas are tied with TSM at 6-6 but have won just one of their three games against FlyQuest; however, the losses happened against Cloud9 and Evil Geniuses, so Dignitas deserve some slack. Much like TSM, Dignitas have picked up a few wins this split, but they haven’t done anything spectacular.

It’s tough to pick a winner as the teams are qualitatively equal. Still, TSM are in much better shape and have looked better in their recent outings. Perhaps this is a sign of TSM gaining momentum, but they still have much to prove.

Evil Geniuses have done a great job keeping up with Cloud9 in the LCS 2023 Summer regular season title race and legitimately look like the second-best team in the league. They suffered a shock loss on Friday against NRG Esports, but that loss doesn’t take away from EG’s impressive run since the second week of the regular season, which includes wins against 100 Thieves, Dignitas, Immortals, TSM, and Team Liquid.

Golden Guardians are not quite in the same bracket as Evil Geniuses and Cloud9, but they’re not that far behind. With an 8-4 record, GG look poised for at least a top-four finish, and if they can get it together, it’s not beyond the realms of possibility that they secure a direct bye into the second round of the LCS Championship 2023.

But that’s a big “what if”. Golden Guardians are slowly looking more like themselves as the season goes on and have a much higher ceiling than their record suggests. But they’re not quite there yet, and their defeat against TSM on Friday proved it.

Evil Geniuses are better than any other team in the LCS besides Cloud9 and shouldn’t struggle to beat Golden Guardians. GG have the talent to keep it close, but a lot will come down to whether they can contain EG’s explosive early game.

FlyQuest has an impressive bounce-back in the third week of the LCS 2023 Summer regular season but returned to their old ways last week, with defeats against 100 Thieves, Golden Guardians, and Dignitas. What is happening with this team is anyone’s guess, but FlyQuest just can’t seem to get any traction.

NRG Esports are 5-7, but there’s more to this record than meets the eye. Even though NRG Esports aren’t one of the LCS title candidates, they always perform well against top teams. NRG Esports have won five games this split, four of which came against Cloud9, Golden Guardians, Team Liquid, and Evil Geniuses.

FlyQuest defeated NRG Esports two weeks back, but that was during FlyQuest’s sole positive week. And while they might wake up again on Wednesday, it’s tough to justify backing FlyQuest to defeat any team in the league in their current state.

Immortals are by far the worst team in the LCS, and based on what they’ve shown over the last couple of weeks, their situation won’t change anytime soon. Immortals haven’t won or come close to winning a game since the opening week of LCS 2023 Summer and enter this match on a 10-game losing streak.

That’s hardly surprising. Immortals rank bottom-three across all performance metrics, including all gold stats and Baron, Herald, and Dragon control. It doesn’t get much worse than this.

100 Thieves are in a better spot than Immortals, but they’re not very convincing. They still struggle in the early game and lack creativity, which should’ve been addressed by now, but 100T instead cruise on and seem content with being a mediocre team.

As much as we can criticise 100 Thieves, this is still their game to lose, but instead of taking 100 Thieves to win or cover the kill handicap, under 11.5 towers is the best bet for this match. 100T are not a very bloody team, and they aren’t good at demolishing towers (5.2 towers per game) but instead rely on scaling, which should lead to a drawn-out, low-scoring game with sidelanes left relatively untouched.

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After a 0-6 start to LCS 2023 Summer, FlyQuest rose from the ashes and racked in three wins against Team Liquid, NRG Esports, and Immortals last week. It was a much-needed bounce back for the fallen giants and a huge morale boost, which might help FlyQuest get back on track.

100 Thieves secured two wins last week against Dignitas and TSM, continuing the trend of beating lesser teams but struggling against LCS’s top squads. And even though they are 4-5, which puts 100 Thieves in an excellent spot to lock in a place in the playoffs, they’ve yet to show any serious quality.

100 Thieves are a mid-table team which will struggle to accomplish much against the top dogs, but they might have a chance to defeat the limping FlyQuest for the second time this split.

Both teams can be hit-or-miss, and since neither is very efficient in closing out games, a wager on a longer match and over 12.5 towers is a fine choice.

Evil Geniuses entered LCS 2023 Summer Week 3 with some of the best performance metrics in the league. The recent loss to Cloud9 means little given C9 are a cut above any other team in the league, and based on what EG have shown so far, they’re also a class above any other team below them.

Dignitas are 5-4, but that figure doesn’t accurately represent how good this team is. Three of those wins shouldn’t have happened (against Evil Geniuses, Team Liquid, and FlyQuest), but Dignitas still came out on top, thanks to their opponents’ misplays.

It’s unsurprising to see LoL betting sites pricing Dignitas as the underdogs for this match, but the number is way off. Evil Geniuses are significantly better than Dingitas and should win with plenty to spare.

Immortals are on a seven-game losing streak, and it’s becoming clear that this might be the worst team in the league. That was already noticeable in their earlier games, but it hadn’t caught up with the market until last week.

TSM haven’t accomplished much so far this split and have managed to win just one more game (3-6) than Immortals, but this is not a bad team. Their early game is concerning, but as long as TSM face a team that can’t punish that, they should be in a good spot.

This is important to note because Immortals are by far the worst early-game team in the LCS, with a -2946 gold difference at 15 minutes. Consider a big play on TSM to win this one.

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Dignitas are priced as favourites to defeat TSM, likely due to the overreaction to Dignitas’ win against Team Liquid last Friday. On paper, it looks like a massive achievement, but Liquid threw that game, so it doesn’t count for much.

Besides that, Dignitas also took advantage of FlyQuest’s struggles on Saturday, and a week prior they caught Evil Geniuses off guard. Overall, Dignitas haven’t shown much and are the same team from LCS 2023 Spring – they will win some games but won’t compete for top spots.

TSM aren’t much higher in the power rankings than Dignitas, but they have looked good this split. The players are stepping up, and it’s clear that the new coaching staff are doing a good job, as seen in the team’s approach to games and drafting.

We shouldn’t overreact to a couple of strong showings from TSM, but they’re a good team. On the other side, Dignitas are just OK and more reliant on their opponents messing up.

Evil Geniuses are 5-1, but they are a bit overhyped heading into LCS 2023 Summer Week 3. On a more positive note, EG have an explosive early game which will be enough to roll over lesser teams.

Even though it’s unwise to bet on a team whose record doesn’t show their true power, betting against Immortals in the state they’re in is the only right choice. Besides bad form, with losses against Liquid, TSM, Golden Guardians, and 100 Thieves, they’re also fragile in the early game.

Evil Geniuses are the second-best early-game team with a +2180 gold difference at 15 minutes, while Immortals are by far the worst with -2231. This creates an interesting angle to bet on under total time, but we’ll keep it simple and take Evil Geniuses to win with seven kills to spare.

According to the best LoL esports betting sites, Golden Guardians should easily beat 100 Thieves. GG are 4-2 and on a four-game winning streak, whereas 100 Thieves are 2-4 with just one win from their last five outings.

Besides their poor form, the primary issue with 100 Thieves is their lack of creativity. Two weeks in, their gameplan seems to have been figured out by other teams. This roster still has potential, but it’s fair to doubt 100T when faced with other strong teams.

Golden Guardians are the far more efficient team in the mid-late game, so unless 100 Thieves show something new, GG winning is the most likely outcome. 100 Thieves have been very passive in their games (6.7 kills per game), and Golden Guardians aren’t a team that’ll run into the opponents, so under 23.5 kills looks like a fine choice.

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?Esports betting sites are only giving us $1.40 for Evil Geniuses in the head-to-head market, but it’s easy to see why. EG are 5-1 ahead of LCS 2023 Summer Week 3, with wins against NRG Esports, Golden Guardians, 100 Thieves, FlyQuest, and Team Liquid.

TSM have been playing better than expected and are 3-3 after the opening two weeks. However, they’ve only beaten FlyQuest, Immortals, and NRG Esports – the bottom three teams on the LCS ladder.

Evil Geniuses stumbled against a weaker opponent in Week 1 when losing to Dignitas, but since then they’ve looked great. They still have some work to do before we can talk about EG’s chances to win the LCS crown, but they should take care of business on Wednesday.

?100 Thieves have not shown anything noteworthy this split and deserve to be 2-4 ahead of LCS 2023 Summer Week 3. Last week, they lost against Evil Geniuses and Cloud9 but managed to take down Immortals, yet even that is nothing to write home about.

100T’s main issue is that they’re too one-dimensional. But despite winning just two games – against Immortals and FlyQuest – 100 Thieves are still priced as $1.61 favourites with GG Bet for this match.

Dignitas went 1-2 last week when they were the beneficiaries of Team Liquid’s throw and took full advantage of FlyQuest’s abysmal form. But even though Dignitas had it easy, they didn’t look bad.

While 100 Thieves might have a higher ceiling, they’ve shown about the same, if not less, this split than Dignitas, who shouldn’t be priced as $2.20 underdogs for this match. The value is with the outsiders.

?Immortals started the LCS 2023 Summer with two wins against Dignitas and NRG Esports, but since then they’ve lost to Team Liquid, TSM, Dignitas, and 100 Thieves in succession. We didn’t expect much from Immortals, but they are now the worst-performing team in the league.

Cloud9 looked unstoppable until their shock loss against NRG Esports last week, yet they are still the top team in the LCS right now. That slip-up proved that Cloud9 could bleed, but it was mostly down to some uncharacteristic early-game mistakes.

Barring any more surprises, Cloud9 should come out ahead with plenty to spare.

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Golden Guardians started LCS 2023 Summer regular season with two defeats against Cloud9 and Evil Geniuses but bounced back with a win against FlyQuest on Friday. It was a much-needed victory for the LCS 2023 Spring finalists, but it was mostly thanks to FlyQuest’s throwing away their lead.

Their next opponents, Immortals, are 2-1 ahead of the second week of the regular season with wins against Dignitas and NRG Esports and a loss against Team Liquid. That’s a decent outcome for Immortals’ standards, but there’s more to consider than just the team’s record.

Immortals’ performance numbers, including all kill and gold-related metrics, aren’t great. That proves what we already saw last week – Immortals have not produced any quality wins, which explains why they’re priced as underdogs for this match.

On paper, Golden Guardians look stronger than Immortals, but they’ve not shown much in the opening week of the split. So even though Golden Guardians should win, backing Immortals on a kill handicap is a much better play.

Dignitas secured one win last week against Evil Geniuses but looked lost against Immortals and Cloud9. And even their win against Evil Geniuses was nothing more than Dignitas taking their chances and Evil Geniuses giving away too much on the Summoner’s Rift.

Based on what we saw in the first week of LCS 2023 Summer, Dignitas are one of the worst team in the league with questionable macro and concerning individual displays from some of their players – namely jungler Lucas “Santorin” Larsen and ADC Frank “Tomo” Lam.

Team Liquid were incredible in the opening week of the split, and while it’s not fair to make early conclusions, these guys look like they’ve finally got things in order. The individual talent was here since LCS 2023 Spring, and with a new coaching staff, Liquid figured out know how to put their talent to use.

There’s always a chance that the top dogs slip, especially so early into the season, but based on the last week’s performances, Team Liquid are a couple of tiers above Dignitas.

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The player took to Twitter to announce his free agent status, thanking the team for helping him grow over the years and appreciating fans for their support.

“As of today, I’m officially a free agent. I wanted to thank IMT for giving me a place to grow over the past 2.5 years. Last split was the best of my career, and I’m looking forward to building on that wherever I end up next,” Revenge wrote.

“Thanks to everyone who’s shown me support over the years during my highs and lows. I want to especially thank the fans who I’ve met across some events who’ve really continued my drive to keep going in LCS, wouldn’t be able to do it without you guys.”

Following his announcement, several members of the LCS community took to social media to wish him well and a speedy return to active play.

Comments from popular names like variety streamer CapCorgi read, “You were a highlight on your team, and I genuinely hope you find success.”

A concerned fan on Reddit also posted about Revenge’s departure, stating that the player gave one of the more impressive performances in the Spring Split.

“Revenge was one of the better-looking tops in spring, was widely acknowledged by other pros to have been improving this split, […] Unless he’s being replaced with like Zeus or something, I don’t see how this makes sense,” the comment read.

Revenge leaves Immortals as one of the team’s longest-standing League of Legends players, having joined the lineup before the 2021 season. While the squad ended their LCS Spring run in a disappointing ninth-place spot, the player gave one of the more impressive performances.

Besides Revenge, Immortals have made a series of changes to their lineup ahead of the coming split. The organization announced the signing of veteran player Erik “Treatz” Wessén on April 17 as their new LCS support.

Immortals are yet to reveal who they have in mind to replace Revenge in the upcoming 2023 LCS Summer split. However, with the event start date set at June 1, the esports organization still have enough time to review potential replacements.

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