The Top 3 LCS Teams To Watch For In The 2021 Season

The 2021 League of Legends Championship Series (LCS) is just around the corner, with some strong contenders slated to compete. This particular season will see major changes to the LCS format, including the introduction of LCS Lock In on Jan. 15, a three-week-long kick-off tournament that will determine the best teams of 2021. Additionally, the season is expanding to "five games a day, three days a week," and the regular season will begin with a "condensed Spring Split," according to Riot Games.

The 10 teams heading into this season are CLG, Dignitas, 100 Thieves, Cloud9, Evil Geniuses, Golden Guardians, FlyQuest, Team Liquid, Immortals, and TSM. The 2021 LCS season will be filled with rookie names worth keeping an eye on, such as Golden Guardians' Aiden "Niles" Tidwell and Cloud9's Ibrahim "Fudge" Allami, as well as seasoned players like Cloud9's Luka "Perkz" Perkovic and Dignitas' Joshua "Dardoch" Hartnett. It's looking to be a close competition, but here are the top LCS teams to watch in 2021.

Cloud9 formed back in 2013 and has since "grown to become one of the most recognizable esports organizations in the world," according to the group's website. In the 2020 LCS Spring split, Cloud9 won the championship title and produced the most dominant split performance in LCS history with only one lost regular season game and one lost playoff game.

During the offseason, former G2 Esports ADC Perkz made the surprising move to join Cloud9 as the team's new mid laner. As Win.gg noted, Perkz' addition to the team may be just what Cloud9 needs to make up for their 2020 playoffs loss to Evil Geniuses. Cloud9's League of Legends team now consists of Perkz, Fudge, Bobby "Blaber" Huang, Jesper "Zven" Svenningsen, and Philippe "Vulcan" Laflamme. Perkz and Zven played together with G2 in 2017 with support from current Cloud9 coach Alfonso "Mithy" Rodríguez, so their familiarity may also give them an advantage.

Former Call of Duty pro Matthew "Nadeshot" Haag founded 100 Thieves in 2017. In just four years, the organization made a name for itself in Call of Duty, Fortnite, and League of Legends, even reaching the League of Legends World Championship in 2018. The team had a strong start in the 2020 Summer split when they defeated Cloud9 in a surprise upset before losing in the playoffs.

100 Thieves' 2021 roster may look familiar, as the team signed on nearly all of Golden Guardians' roster, including Can "Closer" Celik, Victor "FBI" Huang, Tanner "Damonte" Damonte, and Choi "Huhi" Jae-hyun. These four players, combined with 2018 acquisition Kim "Ssumday" Chan-ho, will make for a powerhouse team considering Huhi's "excellent laning skills" and FBI's talent in "team fights," as Fantasy Alarm noted. Ssumday also has an impressive history on 100 Thieves' Academy team, with 11 of 13 wins in the 2019 Summer split.

2021 will mark 21 years in esports for gaming organization Team Liquid. According to the organization's site, Team Liquid has "won the most prize money in the history of esports," making them the richest esports team ever. They also were recognized as "the best North American League of Legends team in 2018." Team Liquid had four consecutive League of Legends championship titles between 2018 and 2019, but did not make the championship in 2020.

Team Liquid may reach the top once again in 2021 with the addition of jungle MVP Lucas Tao Kilmer "Santorin" Larsen and popular European top laner Barney "Alphari" Morris. The two join Nicolaj "Jensen" Jensen, Edward "Tactical" Ra, and Yong-in "CoreJJ" Jo. As Oracle's Elixir pointed out, CoreJJ is arguably Team Liquid's best player and 2020's LCS MVP, so he will likely bring the heat this season. Plus, Santorin's previous LCS experience as a 2015 champion with TSM (previously Team SoloMid) could give Team Liquid a bit of an advantage over Cloud9.