UPDATE Jan. 14: Cloud9 have confirmed their 2022 LCS Lock in roster.

UPDATE Jan. 12: This evening, Team Liquid confirmed reports made this afternoon by Upcomer stating that because CoreJJ has yet to get his green card, he and Hans sama will not be playing at the same time. Half of the teams in the LCS will begin the season without their full starting rosters.

Original story:

The 2022 LCS Lock In begins in two days, but some teams have put together the big picture more than others. As of January 12, four of the ten LCS teams will not be playing in the Lock In with their intended starting rosters. 

The first team to make public that their full roster would not be playing together for the 2022 LCS Lock In was Cloud9. However, it was not the organization's announcement who revealed this information, but new head coach Nick "LS" De Cesare.

LS, alongside top laner Park "Summit" Woo-tae, AD carry Kim "Berserker" Min-cheol, support Kim "Winsome" Dong-keon, C9 Academy jungler Sebastian "Malice" Edholm, and multiple other members of the Cloud9 staff, will not be arriving in North America until February.

This means that the members in question will miss the Lock In tournament entirely. No plan has been announced by C9 regarding the LCS Lock In, but it could be assumed that Cloud9 Academy top laner Darshan "Darshan" Uphadyaya, AD carry Jesper "Zven" Svenningsen, and support Jonah "Isles" Rosario will be joining jungler Robert "Blaber" Huang and mid laner Ibrahim "Fudge" Allami on the LCS roster for the tournament.

One day later, TSM announced that TSM Academy would be playing the LCS Lock In the main roster's place after COVID-19 related complications, primarily regarding the visas of mid laner Zhu "Keaiduo" Xiong and support Wei "Shenyi" Zi-Jie, barred the team from prepping for the event.

On Monday, January 10, Dignitas announced that jungler Kim "River" Dong-woo had not been able to enter the United States yet due to COVID-19 related logistical issues, and that he would miss the first week of the LCS Lock In. As a result, DIG Academy jungler Lawrence "eXyu" Xu will be filling in for River during the first week of the tournament.

On the morning of January 12, Golden Guardians announced that Golden Guardians Academy would be playing in place of their LCS roster for the Lock In due to visa complications.  GG Academy are having visa complications of their own, with positional coach Trevor "Stixxay" Hayes playing AD carry for GGA due to visa issues barring Vincent "Violet" Wong from emigrating from OCE. 

If reports regarding Team Liquid support Jo "CoreJJ" Yong-in currently without possession of a green card, Team Liquid would be unable to start CoreJJ and AD carry Steven "Hans sama" Liv at the same time due to CoreJJ still being classified as an import.

This scenario would leave half of the LCS teams without their intended starting rosters for the 2022 LCS Lock In. 

All images by: Riot Games