The League of Legends division of TSM was a gaming team based in Los Angeles, California, that competed in the League Championship Series (LCS), the top-level professional league for video game League of Legends in the United States and Canada, from 2013 to 2023. The organization sold their LCS franchise slot in 2023.
Established in 2011, the League of Legends division was the founding division of Team SoloMid. The team formed from a group of players that represented the community of the online League of Legends blog SoloMid.net, which was founded by brothers Dan Dinh and Andy "Reginald" Dinh. TSM was one of the founding members of the LCS and won the inaugural NA LCS championship. They won five more LCS titles from 2014 to 2017, including three consecutive titles: Summer 2016, Spring 2017, and Summer 2017. Their seventh LCS title came in Summer 2020.
Internationally, TSM has taken part in a total two Mid-Season Invitationals and eight League of Legends World Championships. Their world championship appearances span from the inaugural event in 2011 through 2017, as well as in 2020. They also won the Intel Extreme Masters Season IX World Championship in 2015.
History 2011–2013: Early years 2011–2012: Pre-LCS era
Before entering esports, the origin of Team SoloMid (TSM) traces back to September 2009, when Andy "Reginald" Dinh and his brother Dan Dinh created a blog, which became SoloMid.net, during their college years providing written guides for the game League of Legends. The Dinh brothers were both part of a League of Legends clan called All or Nothing during the game's beta testing, which later rebranded to SoloMid. A small group of players that represented the SoloMid.net community would become the original TSM team: Brandon "Saintvicious" DiMarco, Shan "Chaox" Huang, Brian "TheOddOne" Wyllie, Choi "Locodoco" Yoon-seop, and Reginald. Team SoloMid was officially created in January 2011. Later that year, Riot Games launched the first season of what would become the League Championship Series. By then, both SaintVicious and Locodoco had left the team, and Christian "TheRainMan" Kahmann and Alex "Xpecial" Chu had replaced them to complete TSM's roster of the first season. The same year, Jack Etienne had become the general manager for the team.
In June 2011, Team SoloMid participated in the Season One World Championship. Following a successful performance in the group stage, they faced a setback in the upper bracket semifinals, when they were defeated by (aAa) by a score of 1–2. This loss dropped them to the lower bracket semifinal, where TSM secured a 2–0 victory against Epik Gaming. In the lower bracket final, Team SoloMid once again crossed paths with aAa, who had previously defeated them in the upper bracket final. In this rematch, aAa was given a one-game advantage due to their prior victory. TSM lost the first match of the best-of-three series, ultimately securing a 3rd place finish in the tournament and a prize of . In August, TSM participated in two competitions at Gamescom. They took part in the Global Challenge Cologne, the first live event of Intel Extreme Masters Season VI, as well as ESL Major Series VIII. TSM secured the second-place position in both events, with Counter Logic Gaming (CLG) and SK Gaming winning in the respective finals. Towards the end of October 2011, Team SoloMid moved into a gaming house located in Lindenhurst, New York, making them the first North American team to do so. Subsequently, in the following month, the team won their first LAN event at the 2011 MLG Providence League of Legends tournament.
In January 2012, TSM participated in the IEM Season VI Global Challenge Kyiv. During the group stage, they secured victories against Curse Gaming, SK Gaming, and White Lotus, advancing them to the playoffs. In the semifinals, TSM emerged victorious against Dignitas, securing their spot in the finals. In the championship match, they were pitted against Moscow Five, a team that had maintained an undefeated record throughout the tournament. Team SoloMid fell short in the finals, losing to Moscow Five by a score of 1–2, placing second in the event. Following a disappointing performance at the 2012 IEM World Championship in Hanover, TSM announced that TheRainMan was departing from the team due to internal issues. The team subsequently added Marcus "Dyrus" Hill to their roster on March 12.
After the roster change, TSM finished as the highest placing among North American team through their next eight offline events. In April, they won the IGN Pro League (IPL) 4, beating other top North American teams including Counter Logic Gaming's North America team (CLG.NA), Dignitas, and Curse Gaming. In June, TSM won all three offline tournaments they participated in. The first was the Reign of Gaming International Invitational, although it was the least competitive of these events, as it did not feature other top-level North American teams. Following, they won the MLG Spring Championship, defeating CLG.NA in the finals. Lastly, at the GIGABYTE Esports LAN, although the tournament was not a regular fixture on the circuit, TSM once again emerged victorious, defeating CLG.NA in finals again. In August, at the MLG Summer Arena, TSM defeated Curse Gaming by a score of 3–0 and only lost to Azubu Blaze, who ultimately claimed the title and were widely regarded as the world's top team at that time. A week later, TSM won the IPL Face Off: San Francisco Showdown, where they defeated Curse in the final match. At the end of the month, the team competed in the Season Two Regional qualifier, a qualifier event for the Season Two World Championship. TSM defeated both Curse Gaming and Dignitas, earning the top North American seed.
At the Season Two World Championship, TSM's number one North American seed advanced them directly to the quarterfinals. The tournament featured five major regions, and not all could be seeded directly into the quarterfinal. In a random draw conducted by Riot, Azubu Frost, the top seed from Korea, was selected to enter the event in the group stage. Azubu Frost advanced to the quarterfinals, setting up a quarterfinal match between them and TSM. TSM lost the match to Azubu Frost and were eliminated from the event. Despite their loss, they were the only North American team to play beyond the group stage of the event.
In the final two events of the year, the MLG Fall Championship and IPL5, Team SoloMid did not finish either event as the top-ranked North American team, although none of their losses came from North American teams. At MLG, they finished one round behind CLG.NA, only losing to Korea's NJ SWD and Europe's CLG.EU. At IPL5, TSM lost to Europe teams Curse.EU and CLG.EU and Korean team Azubu Blaze.
2013: Inaugural LCS champions The first North American League of Legends Championship Series (NA LCS) season occurred in 2013. With it, a shift in atmosphere and practice regimens proved to be a challenging adjustment for Chaox. By the midpoint of the season, in February 2013, the team signed Jason "WildTurtle" Tran as a substitute. Following a match in which WildTurtle achieved a pentakill, he assumed the starting position for TSM, and the team finished the spring split regular season in first place. As the playoffs arrived, the newly configured TSM, with WildTurtle in the lineup, navigated through the semifinals to face the finalist, the sixth-seeded Good Game University (GGU). In the championship match, GGU pushed TSM to a full five-game series before eventually losing, securing TSM's place as the inaugural NA LCS league champion. In the 2013 summer split, TSM was struggling to maintain a .500 record in the regular season and finished in third place in the regular season. In the playoffs, TSM secured a spot in the final, defeating Vulcun in the NA LCS semifinal for the second consecutive time. However, the championship match was a one-sided affair, as Cloud9, a team that had only dropped three maps throughout the entire season, outclassed TSM in every aspect of the game and claimed the title from the defending champions.
At the Season 3 World Championship in October 2013, TSM found themselves placed in a group stage alongside GamingGear.eu from the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), Lemondogs from Europe, SK Telecom T1 from South Korea, and Oh My God from China. TSM did not progress beyond the group stage, failing to advance to the playoffs.
Following the world championship, TSM signed Søren "Bjergsen" Bjerg, a Danish teenager who previously played for the Copenhagen Wolves. In December, Team SoloMid then competed in the Battle of the Atlantic, a showmatch event that pitted teams from North America against teams from Europe. During this tournament, TSM went up against Lemondogs, and for this the match, Dinh chose to bench himself in favor of Bjergsen. TSM secured a convincing victory in their match, winning by a score of 2–0.
2014–2020: Bjergsen era 2014–2017: Domestic dominance In the 2014 NA LCS spring split, Reginald chose to retire from professional play, shifting his focus to team management, and was replaced by Bjergsen. TSM remained competitive with Cloud9 throughout the season. They narrowly missed securing the top spot in the regular-season standings, finishing in second place. In the playoffs, TSM defeated Counter Logic Gaming by a score of 2–1 in the semifinals. However, in the championship match, Cloud9 once again defeated TSM, by a score of 3–0. Bjergsen was named the 2014 spring split MVP. The team made significant changes to their roster prior to the start of the summer split. They replaced OddOne with German import Maurice "Amazing" Stückenschneider and adjusted their bottom lane by signing rookie Nicolas "Gleebglarbu" Haddad in place of Xpecial. Eight games into the summer split, TSM brought in former player Locodoco as their new head coach. Although TSM remained competitive with Cloud9 for a significant portion of the spring split, their dramatically altered starting lineup caused them to slip back into the middle of the pack, finishing third in the standings behind both Cloud9 and the all-Chinese club, LMQ. Before the regular season concluded, TSM elected to replace Gleebglarbu with former South Korean champion Ham "Lustboy" Jang-sik. The team performed well in the playoffs, advancing past the quarterfinals and defeating LMQ in the semifinals, before facing Cloud9 in the finals for the third consecutive postseason. In championship match, TSM defeated Cloud9, winning their second NA LCS title.
During the 2014 League of Legends World Championship in September 2014, Team SoloMid was placed in a group alongside Starhorn Royal Club from China, SK Gaming from Europe, and Taipei Assassins from Taiwan. TSM performed well in the group stage, securing a second-place finish with a 4–2 record, having secured at least one victory against each of the competing teams, and progressed to the knockout stage. In the playoff quarterfinals, TSM faced off against Samsung White but were defeated with a 3–1 scoreline.
In October 2014, Amazing departed from the team to return to Europe, and a month later, the team signed Danish jungler Lucas "Santorin" Tao Kilmer as his replacement.
In the midst of the 2015 NA LCS spring split, in March 2015, Team SoloMid participated in the 2015 IEM World Championship held in Katowice. TSM emerged victorious by defeating Team WE in the finals, claiming the championship title and a grand prize of $108,414. This win made TSM the first American team to win a major League of Legends event since the introduction of Korean teams in international tournaments.