Everyone knew that the 2018 year was going to be the rebirth of professional League of Legends. Franchising was going to bring in tons of new teams along with massively more money and options for players. But before any of that can begin, all the player’s contracts go up in the air, and today is the day that it all goes wild.

Among the biggest news is Doublelift’s departure from TSM, a team he petitioned hard for to re-earn his spot as their ADC, but after proving his stuff in the NA finals, he became one of the most sought after ADCs in the league. This is also true for Aphromoo of CLG, who is currently exploring free agency after Darshan, Huhi, and Stixxay all resigned with CLG.

For many fans, these changes are bittersweet as teams dismantle and restructure. Impact has left C9, TSM replaced head coach Parth with Sssong previously of Immortals, but some partnerships are being held intact. Cody Sun, Pobelter, Xmithie, Olleh, and Anda, all previously of Immortals, will be forming the crux of the newly restructured Team Liquid, and they will be joined by Doublelift and Impact.

Major players in other regions have experienced big shakeups as well. While Rekkles has resigned with Fnatic – something many of us eagerly hoped for following his emotional run at Worlds – H2K’s Febiven and Jankos are both now free agents. Samsung Galaxy – to no one’s surprise – will be holding onto their entire roster as will Longzhu.

And while many of the mainstays of the pro scene are shifting across to old rivals or new teams, there are teases of other interesting things. The popular streamer Shiphtur has teased and joked on his stream that he won’t have as much time to stream because of his new commitments to the Golden Guardians, the new team from the Golden State Warriors. While Shiptur teased similarly for the Delta Fox team, he has also been known to play with his community and fans alike, so this is perhaps the most unreliable information.

However it all plays out, the next few weeks are going to see the forming of the teams that all fans will start lining up behind, but there is sure to be some tears and anger along the way.