Reports: Jensen to Join Dignitas for 2023 LCS Season

Rumors indicate Jensen will be headed to Dignitas for 2023. Read more about his transition from Cloud9 here.

Reports: Jensen to Join Dignitas for 2023 LCS Season

The LCS offseason officially kicks off on November 21st, when the contracts of all players signed until 2022 expire. While the LCS has been largely quiet and outlandishly speculative, reports from reputable sources indicate that Jensen may be headed to Dignitas.

Who is Jensen?

Nicolaj “Jensen” Jensen has played in the LCS for every split since 2015, but was uncontracted for Spring 2022 after Team Liquid picked up Bjergsen out of retirement. Jensen has only ever played for two teams: Cloud9 and Team Liquid. He entered the LCS with Cloud9 in 2015, but failed to win a title during his three year tenure.

After losing three LCS finals with Cloud9, Jensen joined Team Liquid in 2018, where he found instant success. For the first time in his career, Jensen hoisted the LCS Championship trophy in the 2019 LCS Summer Playoffs.

He continued to play for Team Liquid through 2021, but was unable to claim another championship. Team Liquid replaced Jensen with Bjergsen in 2022, leaving him teamless in the free agency market.

It wouldn’t be until Summer 2022 that Cloud9’s spring playoff implosion would lead to his acquisition once again. Playing under his original banner once more, Jensen claimed his second ever LCS Championship after defeating 100 Thieves 3-0 in the 2022 LCS Summer Playoffs.

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DIG Jensen

Despite his successes with the team, it appears that Cloud9 is headed in a different direction in 2022. Renowned leaker and League of Legends insider Brieuc “LEC Wooloo” Seeger announced earlier this week that Jensen will play for Dignitas in 2023. His complete announcement message is as follows:

• [Sources] Midlaner Jensen has reached a verbal agreement with Dignitas in the LCS

If this rumor is true, Jensen will join his third ever LCS team. While rumors swirled around the LCS about Dignitas selling their spot ahead of the 2023 season, it appears that the organization is looking to spend big this offseason. Dignitas is fresh off of an 11-23 record across both the 2022 Spring and Summer splits.

After failing to find success in the early weeks of the Summer Split, Dignitas released their star jungler River to focus on developing young talent. Earlier this week, Dignitas announced that they were also releasing their mid laner Blue.

Although this was likely in preparation for their acquisition of Jensen, it appears Dignitas is bound for a complete rebuild in 2023.

Cloud9’s decision to let Jensen enter free agency comes off of rumors of a complete mid lane overhaul. Cloud9 has reportedly acquired two import mid laners from the European League of Legends academy scene ahead of 2023. Cloud9 signed German mid laner Dimitri “Diplex” Ponomarev from Team Vitality’s academy roster, Vitality.Bee.

They also signed South Korean mid laner Jang “EMENES” Min-soo from Excel’s academy roster, JDXL.

At this point, it is unclear who will play for the starting roster. While it is likely that both players will be on either Cloud9 or Cloud9 Academy, there is also a possibility that they could compete simultaneously for a starting spot.

100 Thieves tried a similar strategy in 2022 with their six-man roster consisting of both Tenacity and Ssumday in the top lane. While this strategy was unsuccessful domestically, teams in China and Korea (LPL and LCK) have historically included multiple players competing for spots on the starting roster.

These rosters traditionally consist of players with dramatically different play styles, allowing their teams to field them in specific matchups; however, teams have also been known to have openly competitive starting spots.