LoL: US team brings controversial genius – First of all, it ignores the best player
The US team Cloud9 discovers the Korean in themselves in League of Legends. You have signed two new Korean players and brought in US American Nick “LS” De Cesare as coach from Korea. He is considered a LoL mastermind who pursues his own ideas. One of his first official acts: He threw the team’s star botlaner, Jesper “Zven” Svnennigsen, out of the squad, there is not even room for Zven in the Academy team. The 24-year-old is considered one of the best botlaners in the USA.
That’s how it went for Cloud9 2020:
- For 2020 the strategy of Cloud9 was more or less: We get the best players from Europe and then it will be something. In addition to the strong ADC from Denmark, Zven, probably the best player in Europe, the Croatian Perkz, played in the midlane. Perkz is said to have cost about $ 5 million.
- The team had big problems in 2020. ADC Zven was banished to the Academy team because there were problems with his attitude – there Zven ran completely amok and demolished the offspring of the US league LCS until he was allowed back into the team.
- Cloud9 then caught up, made it to the Worlds, where they at least survived the preliminary round – as the only US team. But it was over in the quarterfinals. Still, the team with Perkz and Zven actually looked pretty good. Jungler Blaber was considered a weak point – allegedly a mistake by him caused a freak out at Zven, who was then banned from the team.
Twitch streamer cries when he sees that he is now part of LoL: “I’m not a random anymore”
In 2022, Cloud9 will become the “branch office” for Korea
What’s going on now in 2021? Super star Perkz is gone – he said goodbye to Europe after a year. He probably didn’t have a good year at Cloud9. The whole drama about Zven obviously went against the grain.
For Perkz, the previous top laner Fudge will now switch to the middle, which in itself is a pretty weird decision. You replace one of the best midlaners in the west with someone who has never played the role professionally.
In addition, with Summit (top lane) and Berserk (bot lane), two new South Koreans have been brought into the team, although there actually wasn’t much room for legionnaires. Because there is a “foreigner limit” for non-US players in the LCS. On the botlane you had an outstanding player with Zven – on the top lane with Fudge you had a high performer. So you brought in 2 players for positions for which you actually didn’t bring any new games.
In addition, Cloud9 has hired the analyst “LS” from Korea as the new head coach. The American is known for his controversial view. He thinks LoL completely differently than most of the others. For example, he believes that players and coaches in LoL have no idea how the draft actually works. This requires specialists who come from strategic card games – like him.
New coach throws star players from the team – relies on the “old” Academy team
This is now LS’s first action: Cloud9 has now presented the starting lineups for the main team and the academy team. And the surprise: the Dane Zven is not in either team.
- In the main team, he was replaced by the 18-year-old Korean Berserk.
- The Australian should play K1ng in the Academy team. But he is already 23 and therefore 5 years older than the regular player, which seems kind of strange for a “young talent”. “Normally” players on the Academy team should be younger than the regular players they might replace at some point.
LS explains that with Summit and Berserk you already have 2 Koreans in the main team, so you only have one “import slot” left. But that’s what you need in the Academy team for “Malice”, a 24-year-old Swedish jungler. The required gaming experience.
Zven will be available for practice matches on the Academy team.
“Having a sister team is like cheating”
This is behind it: The decision is – to put it mildly – really brave.
In principle, one of the best players in the USA is ignored and the totally weird reason given is that a 24-year-old substitute jungler needs match practice. Zven should then play in Scrimmages, which will mean that the actual replacement ADC, K1ng, will not receive any training and will not be able to develop further.
It’s obvious that Cloud9 just doesn’t want Zven on the team anymore – sporting reasons shouldn’t play a role, but rather some atmospheric difficulties.
The fact that some players start in the Academy team who are significantly older than the players in the main team also goes against the normal convention. The top laner in the Academy team is already 27 years old. LS explains that you want to have the strongest possible Academy team so that there are strong training battles and so everyone can develop.
Replacement jungler as a new impulse opponent – Malice considers US junglers to be weak
The new Academy-Jungler Malice (24) is seen as a friend of LS and was with him in South Korea at bbq Olivers. The Swede is more or less a “failed LoL super talent” whose attitude caused him problems again and again.
Malice says: They are now planning to introduce new types of scrimmages that they bring from Korea. They should ensure that the teams develop optimally:
- If there are problems in the early game, do Blitz Scrimmages
- When there are difficulties with communication, there are silence scrims
- If you see trouble in team fights, you play ARAM with 10 people
Having your own sister team is like cheating, says Malice (via inven). Anyway, he thinks that in the USA almost only weak junglers play, which he will easily take apart. Only Inspired, the Polish jungler from Evil Geniuses, seems to take him seriously.
Academy team as a sparring partner, not as a young talent
From the line-up and the decisions speaks the idea that Cloud9 no longer has an academy team, but rather a “sister team” as a training opponent for the main team. So you don’t use the team as a forge for young talents, but as a sparring partner.
It’s a very weird situation brewing at Cloud9. Should the team not be successful under LS, the calls should quickly be loud to bring Zven back into the line-up.
A lot will now depend on how well Fudge does in mid-lane and how strong the two new Koreans really are. The decision to put 23-year-olds and 27-year-olds on the Academy team will hopefully prove to be a stroke of genius.
Cloud9 is reinventing itself every year. In 2020 they had a lot of success with it:
LoL: US team separates from biggest star, is criticized – Now they are the best
Reference-mein-mmo.de