https://twitter.com/brencasts/status/1572988628527349760?s=21&t=JnG2sJmDSZ42BYfqyRGcxg In this tweet from Bren you can see that Riot is requiring teams to have 6 man rosters, which is odd for many people to see and has had mixed reactions. IMO, this is actually the time where it most makes sense. The obvious reasons come with wanting franchised teams to have backups in case of illness, outside issues, etc, that wouldn't be able to be fixed because there aren't Acad teams. IMO, though, the best part about this is that teams will now have to build their rosters in a more forgiving way, and lets players in specialty roles have a lot more impact.
We all know that the game is moving away from having set in stone duelist, controller, sentinel and initiator, but even more than ever with the new changes there has become 6-7 Roles instead of 5. Most teams now want to have an
AWPER(Chamber, Jett) (Think Yay, Laz, cNed)
Entry(Raze, Neon, Jett, Kayo, Phoenix) (Zypaan, Victor, Jingg)
Controller(4 controllers and for some teams the ability to play kay/o or sage) (Marved, Pancada, sScary)
Support Initiator( Usually playing Sova/Fade as the main agents with the ability to flex to breach, viper, sage) (Enzo, Crashies, Sacy)
Aggro Initiator (Usually the primary Kay/o, Skye, Breach/fade player who will play sage as well) (Stax, Jonahp, Hoody)
Sentinel(KJ, Cypher, Viper, Usually also Sage and sometimes chamber) (Less, Suygetsu, Dapr)
IGL( doesn't really count as a role agent wise as they'll usually play one of the initiator, controller or sentinel flex roles) (FNS, Ange1, Saadhak)
The problem is that most teams had an obvious weakness in one of those roles (Loud didn't have a Yay typer Awper, their sentinel and entry had to mix between it.) (FNS had to play the initiator and sentinel roles for Optic) (FNC had to put alfajer on both entry and sentinel agents)
This now means teams can swap between agents and players based on maps and awpers don't have to be put on uncomfortable agents, or initiator players don't need to be on KJ when she becomes more meta.
The general idea would be to have great players at every position, but for maps like Ascent you swap in ur KJ player, or Bind swap out ur awper or an initiator for a viper player, or play with only one initiator on any of pearl, icebox or fracture. A possible team could look like
SEN
Tenz awper
Victor Entry
Sick smokes
Crashies intiator
Zellsis initiator
FNS Sentinel/Initiator IGL
This is obviously a rough sketch but this team could swap between zellsis, victor and tenz if need be and have them all on ONLY comfort picks.
FNC
Derke Awper
Trexx Entry
Boaster Smokes/IGL
Leo initiator
Sheydos initiator
Alfajer Sentinel/kinda entry
FNC is another one where you could swap in and out all of the players that aren't Boaster and Derke to find a good rotation, as Derke can awp and entry, Trexx can entry or play initator, Alfajer can entry or play sentinels. It gives the teams more diversity in their comps and makes subbing in an out an actual thing you can do on maps.
LMK what you think this was kind of a tangent but I love the idea of a sub, especially if it means you can develop a younger promising player in that place.
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