Former LCS competitor Team TDK is now known as Team Arena Online or for short, ARENA. News broke earlier today that the North American team has been sold to an online tournament organizer known as Arena Online. Some of the original roster will remain under the new brand including Ninja, Seraph, and Kez as well some of the team staff. Not on the rebranded team is the botlane duo of Emperor and Smoothie. Emperor chose to leave the team and as for Smoothie, he is planned to join Team Liquid to replace current support Xpecial.
TDK was in desperate need of help. After joining the NALCS they went several weeks without Ninja and Emperor due to visa issues which held them from coming to North America. Once they resolved the issues and rejoined the team they showed some potential with a couple of big wins, but the season ultimately culminated in a last place finish with a dismal record of 3-15. This resulted in TDK being auto relegated back to the NA Challenger Series only one year after they qualified for the LCS.
I do hope that this re-branding and rebuilding of the team results in success in the future. They showed promise in their short stint in the NA LCS but they do need more time to grow. Another season in the NA Challenger Series will only help them improve and grow as a team. Its also worth noting that once the season ends after Worlds, Team Arena will have plenty of time to pursue new players once all the teams begin their roster changes. Many things can change between now and the start of the challenger series, but I do wish them best of luck in their future competition. I will keep you updated on Team Arena and upcoming roster changes.
