This Week in eSports: Off Season Roster Changes

With the 2014 World Championship behind us, this week in eSports is back with coverage of the "ROSTERPOCALYPSE" !

Continue reading for a recap of the numerous off season roster swaps and Expansion Tourney news!

Off Season Roster Changes

The true "Rosterpocalypse" has finally reared it's ugly head, so be prepared for a TON of roster swaps in the upcoming weeks leading to Season 5 and the Expansion Tournament!

North America:

• Dignitas

• Imaqtpie leaves the team to pursue less fiercely competitive opportunities with League (ex:. streaming, playing with friends), so you'll see him around still! 
• Crumbzz was re-signed with the team and became the team captain. He will remain in the Jungle role for the time being. 
• Zionspartan announced he would be leaving the team and is pursuing a top/mid/jungle position elsewhere. 
• KiWiKiD will remain with the team in the support role. 
• Applications for both the AD Carry and Top positions are available now on Dignitas' site. 
• As announced a few weeks ago, both Scarra and Comely (one of the teams analysts) left the team 

• LMQ

• Ackerman, Vasilii, and NoName announced they would be voluntarily leaving the team. 
• NoName will be returning to china to pursue other opportunities
• Vasilii left due to family issues and released this statement on the Chinese equivalent of Twitter:
• " I've been working towards my dream since S1, and I never would have chosen to give up, but my family's burdens are becoming increasingly heavy. As a result, I'll have to earn more money to help support them. All of my family members are suffering from various diseases, and medical expenses are rapidly increasing. My father goes to bed at 2AM and wakes up at 6 in the morning just to deliver fast food, while my mother earns ¥1000 (around $163) per month and is oppressed by her boss daily. I don't know what to do, as I still would like to chase my dreams. As much as I want to win, I must deal with my family's responsibility first. I'm so conflicted, guys! What should I do?"

• XiaoWeiXiao announced he would be staying with the team
• Mor's negotiations are ongoing

• Curse

• Piglett (formerly of World Championship Winners SKT T1 K) joins the team, replacing Cop who left a while ago. 

• Evil Genuises

• Snoopeh announced he would become a free agent and left the team 
• Krepo made a similar announcement and explained/shared his reasoning on Facebook. 

• Team Fusion
• Newly formed team featuring a ton of talent from LCS, Challenger, and Korea for the Expansion Tournament:
• Maknoon - Top
• Nintendude X - Jungle
• Huhi - Mid
• Nien - ADC
• Gleeb - Support

Europe:

• Alliance

• Tabzz announced he would be leaving the team and exploring new opportunities

• Millenium

• Ryu and H0R0 (both from Korea) join the team after Kerp and KottenX announced they would be leaving the team. 

• Roccat

• Woolite announced he would be leaving Copenhagen Wolves and joining the current roster of Roccat

Korea:

• Samsung Galaxy White
• After an impressive performance at the 2014 World Championship, Mata announced he would be leaving the team to pursue other opportunities. 

SEA: 

• ahq e-Sports
• Trickz and HoHotDog leave the team after joining earlier this month
• Mountain, OhReaL, and MrAlbis join the team

Expansion Tournament News:

• RiotNickAllen brought more information regarding the expansion tournament coming up in November to add two new teams to LCS. The TL;DR is below: 

• The Interregional Movement Policy also applies to the Expansion Tournament and the grandfathering clause now includes players who played in the most recent Challenger Series Playoffs. 

• Work eligibility is not required for the Expansion Tournament, but is still necessary for the entire roster before each team's first LCS match. 

• The roster lock for both Ranked 5s and prequalified teams will occur at 11:59 AM PST on November 2, 2014 for NA and 23:59 CEST on November 9, 2014 for EU.