Cloud9 founder and CEO Jack Etienne released a video alongside Head Coach Bok
“Reapered” Han-gyu, a mere three days prior to the first week of the NA LCS Summer Split, announcing the updated starting line-up.
Reapered notes that the academy team players Goldenglue, Keith, and Zeyzal, had shown the effort and commitment to the game during practice to earn the starting position over Jensen, Sneaky and Smoothie, respectively.
In the release, Jack Etienne assures the community that the benched players are still an important and integral part of the team, and will need to work hard to earn their starting positions back – the new roster is currently performing better than the previous.
“We’re doing this to ensure you have a team that you are proud of.” – Jack Etienne
Official video statement available below:
The roster move is a shocking development for the team, who fell short early in the 2018 Spring knockout stages, losing 3-0 to Team Liquid who eventually went on to sweep the finals to claim the Spring NA LCS Trophy and represent North America at the Mid-Season Invitational.
Moving into the Summer Split, Cloud9 will need to hit the ground running if they intend on attending the 2018 World Championship as every other iteration of the Cloud9 team has done previously.
The former main roster members have taken to twitter to make light of the situation in typical Cloud9 fashion:
Outside chillin with the boys #benched pic.twitter.com/0oNptPyKb2
— Andy Ta (@Smoothie) June 13, 2018
“Outside chillin with the boys #benched”
Long time Cloud9 ADC Sneaky has been the longest starting member of any NA LCS team, representing Cloud9 since May 2013. The opening week of the Spring Split will be marked as the first time the team has played a game without Sneaky in 1909 days, and the first time the team has played on the North American stage without any members of the original Cloud9 roster present as a starter since their inception.
The decision to bench Sneaky, Smoothie, and Jensen, has not been without criticism and scepticism from community members, with Riot Games shoutcaster and game analyst Joshua ‘Jatt’ Leesman tweeting his own insights on the move:
“In all seriousness I feel like there has to be more to the story of the C9 roster change. Is it punitive? C9 starters are tweeting out #benched like it’s a huge joke. Is it strategy? There’s a chance the academy guys have prepped some specialized strats for the new meta.”
Keith and Goldenglue have previously been used by other prominent North American organisations as substitutes and starting players, temporarily replacing players to reignite the competitive fire beneath the main roster. Having the players actively compete for the starting spot could ensure they keep their competitive edge, but it would not be a stretch to expect the week 1 roster swap to be a placebo. Head Coach Reapered reassured the community of the roster decision in the following twitter statement:
This decision may not make everyone happy. I am also not comfortable. But there are games that are meaningful to both teams this week and can not start with negative energy. Send some positive energy so that all players can work harder, and I will do my best to answer it.
— Reapered (@Reapered) June 14, 2018
“This decision may not make everyone happy. I am also not comfortable. But there are games that are meaningful to both teams this week and can not start with negative energy. Send some positive energy so that all players can work harder, and I will do my best to answer it.”
The now C9 Academy Mid Laner, Jensen, gave a response to the community speculation and discussion:
I can’t really go into too much detail about what happened since its a sensitive topic, but it wasn’t due to toxicity or poor individual performance obviously, but the team as a whole needed a ‘shake up’ and this was the way the coaching staff thought was best to go about it.
— Nicolaj Jensen (@Jensen) June 14, 2018
“I can’t really go into too much detail about what happened since its a sensitive topic, but it wasn’t due to toxicity or poor individual performance obviously, but the team as a whole needed a ‘shake up’ and this was the way the coaching staff thought was best to go about it.”
Cloud 9 faces off against Optic Gaming and Clutch Gaming for week 1 of the The North American LCS Summer Split – returning to the computer screen June 16th 22:00 GMT with a spring final rematch of Team Liquid v 100 Thieves.
Watch Here:
