Bjerg mentioned in his Ask Me Anything thread that he had met with TSM during World Championships, and their relationship and negotiations began there. I personally witnessed this friendliness; while there wasn’t any indication the teams were looking for a new player — TSM were in the middle of playing — it’s always interesting to see inter-mingling between the regions.

Along with Edward “Edward” Abgaryan’s brief stint stateside and Team Quantic’s Korean incursion, Bjerg adds to a growing number of people looking to come to North America to be part of the scene. It’s a trend I’m not really sure how to analyse; with NA being viewed as somewhat of a “weaker” scene (especially after World Championships) it could be the allure of fresh competition. Also, for someone as hyped as Abgaryan and Bjerg, their stellar play makes them valuable not only to people wanting a strong team, but a strong brand, as well.

It’s that last point which I think will make Bjerg’s time in TSM an especially profitable one. We saw this with the addition of Jason “WildTurtle” Tran, whose first week performance (notably his pentakill) jump-started the Cult of TSM back to prominence after a noticeable dip at the start of Season 3. Tran’s stream rocketed to 30,000 regular viewers seemingly overnight, as a testament to what being on TSM will do for you.

Tran was known for being a strong player and his aggressiveness — the type of play that makes highlight reels that hit Reddit. If we’ve learned anything from the past couple days, Bjerg does the same. Bringing in new blood adds a new coat of paint to the TSM hype train and a new source of content. Fans have already taken to idolizing their new “Burger King” (a nickname I’m not entirely thrilled with), and he seems have fit right in.

I make no attempts to hide the fact that TSM solo lane player Marcus “Dyrus” Hill got me in to competitive League of Legends, as his residence in the team’s old New York house provided that hook. When he was properly acquired, replacing Christian “The Rain Man” Kahmann in early 2012, that was the impetus I needed to start paying attention to the tournament scene.

Hill’s emergence allowed TSM to hit a renaissance of great results and renewed confidence; they were reinvigorated, looked dominant and had the room to grow as a team around an already-solid player.

This happened again with Tran’s acquisition; there was little spin-up time needed, and TSM were able to ride that momentum to finish first in that split’s playoff. They did not need to babysit his transition into competitive play, as he was already quite active on the Challenger circuit.

That same surge of success could potentially happen with Bjerg; the trip over the Atlantic doesn’t seem to be affecting his play, and with a proper team supporting him, he could reach his full potential in terms of stardom. For all we know, he could affect not only the rest of his team, but the players in the region as well; players facing him may need to step up considerably.

Regardless of how well TSM perform in the future, I think it’s important to notice that this gives them the potential to grow away from bad habits. Perhaps Brian “TheOddOne” Wyllie’s jungle will have more room to breathe, or Hill will have some attention taken off of his early game. For all we know, Bjerg’s aggressive play-style could mesh well with Tran, who plays the same way.

These are questions that get thrown around with any new acquisition, but as someone who once enjoyed TSM’s play, but was turned off by their internal conflicts, I can’t help but be a little excited.

I know the word “potential” has been thrown around a lot in different contexts lately, but I firmly believe that if change needs to happen, it should be free to. Many can point to Andy Dinh’s Type A personality as a contributing factor to TSM’s problems, but replacing him as a player won’t fix that — as long as the team remains under his ownership, they will be dealing with him regardless.

Bjerg removing one side of Dinh’s coach/player/owner pyramid could give some much-needed space. He will still have an active role within the team as their coach, but less balls to keep in the air at once may let them evolve. However, while we can always say that new perspectives may be a good thing in this case, it all comes down to how much of Dinh’s influence will come through in their strategy.

If Bjerg is a literal stand-in for Reginald’s play style, we could end up with the TSM we’ve seen since the beginning of Season 3: good by North American standards, but hardly world-class. However, if Bjerg brings TSM back to a mindset that they can thrive in — one of confidence, comfort and focus — they could return to dominance that this old-guard team sorely needs.

Like I said in the opening paragraph of this post, the thing we, as observers, need is time to let this percolate — for all we know, this could just be part of a honeymoon period that thrives on hype.

However, the optimist in me wants believe better. Who knows? This might just be what it takes for me to become a TSM fan again.