Preface: The S16 season has officially begun, and I believe the vast majority of players are closely following the recent competitions. All major regions have entered a brief offseason period. There have been many roster adjustments over the past few days, with several strong teams looking to strengthen their lineups during the transfer window to aim for a World Championship spot. Recently, industry insiders have publicly revealed that a team that dropped from the Summit Group to the Rebirth Group has undergone major changes. Players have been poached one after another, and without good roster members, they are already preparing to give up for the third split. Everyone is speculating whether it is WBG or NIP.

Report: Former Summit Group team poached and giving up

I believe the vast majority of players are quite focused on the LPL region. In recent years, with the rapid development of the esports industry, the number of teams in the LPL has increased significantly, but overall performance has declined severely. The officials have repeatedly adjusted the competition schedule to attract fans, but the results so far have been minimal. After the break of the second split, the LPL region has seen many changes, especially among some fairly strong teams that are seeking roster adjustments. Over the past couple of days, industry insiders have also publicly disclosed a key piece of information: a team that fell from the Summit Group to the Rebirth Group is being poached from all sides, and they may give up in the third split.

Currently, there are two teams: one is the well-known all-Chinese roster WBG, and the other is NIP. The possibility of WBG is relatively low, as they have invested heavily. Although there were rumors earlier that they wanted to return their LPL slot, the officials would not give them such an opportunity. During this offseason, they even pursued former support player Erha, but as an abandoned support, he did not choose to return to WBG; instead, he wanted to make a push with WE in the upcoming matches. Currently, it seems that WBG has likely purchased EDG's support, along with the starting four players, to once again assemble an all-Chinese roster. They now share similarities with BLG—one is changing jungler, the other is changing support.

The more likely candidate is NIP. In the second split, they became a strong team in the Summit Group, with stable overall performance early on, but they gradually weakened toward the end. Their starting lineup—top laner Hoya, jungler Guwon, mid laner Care, ADC Assum, and support Zhuo—is relatively low in overall value. During the second split, their top laner and bot lane performed fairly consistently. If they want to pursue better results, these players could definitely join other teams. Moreover, these players offer high cost-effectiveness, and compared to WBG, their transfer fees would be much lower.

With the MSI tournament about to begin, various teams have arrived in the LCK region. G2 was quite fast; they headed straight to T1's base after landing. In just over a day or two, each of their players has already practiced over 25 games on the Korean server. It seems their goal is very clear: to target LCK teams and clear all obstacles for the LPL region. Honestly, although BLG's current tempo is stable, I feel that whether against HLE or T1, they will struggle significantly. Winning the Global Cup was largely due to good luck.

Zaijian believes

It seems likely that this leak points to NIP. WBG's overall value is too high—players like Tian, Xiaohu, and Elk are basically top domestic salary players in the LPL. Most teams that could afford these players already have well-established rosters. To put it bluntly, the signing fee for any one of these players could equal the entire cost of a small LPL team. Unless WBG truly wants to withdraw and sell all their players at a loss.

What do you, dear viewers, think about this matter?