Have we met before?
A logo surfaces
The team formerly known as Curse Academy found their new home under the brand new organization Gravity. Not much is known about the organization itself as their social media presence was non-existent when the team was revealed on LoL Esports. Despite the mysterious nature of this new organization, the players are anything but unknown, with Saintvicious, Cop, and Bunnyfufu all having LCS experience playing under the main Curse team. Additionally, Keane was on the team when they almost knocked CLG out of the LCS, and Haunterz has been part of several Challenger Series seasons. In terms of familiarity, Gravity probably has the most well-known players out of the new teams.
This logo still lives in the shadow of Good Game University
Joining Gravity in the NA LCS is Team Coast. Despite Team Coast having already been in the LCS, this incarnation of the roster is almost entirely different. Weirdly enough, the only returning player is DontMashMe, who wasn't even playing on the team when they got eliminated. Joining in the hot trend of importing players from other regions, Team Coast brought in Jesiz and Impaler from the EU LCS where they played on SK Gaming and Supa Hot Crew respectively. This change meant they lost their automatic seeding from the Promotion Tournament due to changing too many players, but they managed to still qualify via the Challenger ladder. Rounding out the roster is Cris, who last played on Curse Academy, and Sheep, who stuck with XDG during their stint in the Challenger series. Out of the four expansion tournament teams, they are the only one composed entirely of players that have LCS experience.
It's not about gaming...I guess?
Shifting focus to the EU LCS, H2k-gaming coasted into the LCS with a 3-0 win against both n!faculty and Giants Gaming. When it comes to diverse teams, H2k probably takes the cake. All five players on their roster hail from different countries (Romania, France, South Korea, Sweden, and Estonia). During the Promotion Tournament, the team played with Febiven, but after he left to join Fnatic, H2k replaced him with former KT Rolster superstar Ryu. Odoamne, Hjärnan and Voidle all remain from when the roster served as Cloud 9's EU team, where they showed promise, but were unfortunately more well known for drama with their Jungler rather than their actual play. Loulex is probably most well known for subbing for Gambit Gaming during a Super Week, but he also played for NiP in the EU Challenger series after k0u left. It will be incredibly interesting to see how the communication of the team develops over the season and if they can surmount any potential language barriers.
Familiar face, different everything else
And the final team to join the LCS via the Promotion Tournaments is another one with LCS history, Giants Gaming. Despite this, there's one big characteristic that separates Giants from the other new teams; Werlyb, Fr3deric, PePiiNeRO, Adryh, and Rydle don't have a single moment of LCS experience. In terms of recognition among LCS fans, Rydle is likely the most well known for playing Support for Gamers2 in the EU Challenger series. It's hard to profile this team as we've seen them play so few times. Despite getting 0-3'd by H2k, they were able to 3-0 Reason Gaming in two separate best-of-five series to secure their spot in the LCS. Even though there isn't much to say yet, in an era with so many teams importing players from other regions, it's exciting for an entire team to come together organically and manage to qualify for the LCS. They have a lot to overcome in terms of an experience gap, but the story itself is against the odds.
As cliched as it sounds, the 2015 Season is shaping up to be the best LCS season yet. Expect these new teams to play with a chip on their shoulder, as they have the most to prove as the season goes on. Additionally, the changes Riot made to the format this season are mostly positive and will help keep the LCS fresh and interesting. There hasn't been a better time to be a fan of the LCS.