OpTic Gaming, one of four new teams joining the NA LCS for the 2018 season, has announced its complete academy roster, according to the esports organization’s tweet today.
In the top lane is Niship “Dhokla” Doshi, Kadircan “Kadir” Mumcuoglu in the jungle, Cristian Palafox as the team’s mid lane, Andy as ADC, and Olivier “Winter” Lapointe as the team’s support.
The new roster is incredibly inexperienced when compared to other academy rosters in the league, including the Golden Guardians academy team with Alex “Xpecial” Chu and Clutch Gaming’s Chae “Piglet” Gwang-jin. The players on OpTic’s academy team are mostly unheard of, with some additions from the 2017 Scouting Grounds, Challenger teams, and LCS teams as former substitutes.
There are clear advantages to fielding at least one veteran on the academy team—such as leading the younger players and teaching them lessons for competing in the NA LCS. Learning to deal with shifting meta-games, scrimmages, and long practice hours could be considerably easier if someone on the squad has dealt with it before.
Running an entirely inexperienced team could yield advantages, too, such as more room to grow, which would bolster competition for the region in the long run.
The academy teams from the NA LCS will compete on Thursdays and Fridays, with Friday being the only day with streamed matches. It all begins Jan. 18.
