LoL: 21-year-old breaks through in April, gets fired in May – now his life is collapsing
21-year-old Australian Jonah “Isles” Rosario played professionally in the April 2022 League of Legends playoffs for Team Cloud9, considered one of the best teams in the US. But it didn’t go well in the playoffs. Isles was fired in May – now his life in the USA is in danger of collapsing: because he cannot stay in the country without a job. He has put down roots in the USA, where he has a cat and a girlfriend.
Who is Isles?
- Jonah “Isles” Rosario is an Australian who made his name in the “Oceanic” region as a teenager. He even managed to qualify for Worlds 2020. Australia is a small region in LoL, but it still sends a team to Worlds.
- At the end of 2020, during the Corona pandemic, Isles, as a young support talent, made the leap to the youth team of a best US team, Cloud9. Isles also had the opportunity to switch to a weaker team and play straight into the professional league, but wanted to take their time after another Aussie failed to make the leap ‘straight to the LCS’.
- At Cloud9 he got a place in the junior team in 2020 and played there for a year.
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The breakthrough came in April 2022 – after 2 years in the USA
That was his breakthrough: At the end of 2021, Cloud9 dared to make a bold new start. A new coach wanted to expand the roster: as part of that plan, Isles was brought in from the Academy team and put on the pro team, sharing the spot as a support with South Korean Winsome. The Korean Winsome was in the starting lineup, but Isles was used in training matches, the scrims, and now and then got a chance to play properly.
His contract has been extended until 2024.
In fact, Isles was there when it mattered. Winsome was not doing well in the playoffs and Cloud9 gave Isles a chance: In his 5th game as a pro, he entered a playoff match for Cloud9 and did well and gave his team victory on the big stage. In an interview with Dexerto he says:
“You can hear the audience screaming. It’s a rush. It’s a great feeling when that happens.”
After giving Isles a chance as a pro, it worked. His coach said about him: With Isles as a supporter, the team would play better in training battles, communication would be smoother. On April 8, Cloud9 announced that Isles will now replace Sineome (via inventory).
With Isles in the line-up instead of Winsome, Cloud9 even managed to win a playoff series against the Golden Guardians 3-0. With heroes like Leona and Lux, Isles put on some serious stats: On April 10, 2022, it looked like Isles would become the new support for one of the best teams in the USA.
But the week after, on April 17th, you had to play against Evil Geniuses, the team that later became champions. Cloud9 went down 0-3 in the playoffs and suddenly everything was different.
As a Twitch streamer, Tyler1 doesn’t have such worries, his career is standing:
A month after the breakthrough came the dismissal
That was the end: As Isles says, he was released without much explanation in May 2022 along with Park “Summit” Woo-tae and fellow supporter Kim “Winsome” Dong-keon.
“The manager basically told me that C9 wanted to make a change and that was pretty much it. They didn’t give me any further information – basically just said they wanted to make a move. I wasn’t really explained why exactly. There was no farewell talk with a coach or anything like that.”
Because the dismissal comes after half a season, he is critical of his chances of a new job in the US. Isles is annoyed though, having only just had the chance to prove himself in the LCS and believes he can keep up well here.
Cloud9’s CEO doesn’t give him much hope. He said on Twitter they tried to give the 3 players to other teams for free – but no one wanted him.
Without a job, Isles’ visa expires – the countdown is ticking
That’s Isles’ problem now: Without a job in the US, he cannot stay in the country. He has already put down roots in the USA, has a girlfriend in the USA and a cat named Penny. He doesn’t want to ship them halfway around the world to Australia.
As Dexerto writes, he also has to get out of his apartment, which he can no longer afford.
Isles seems at odds with his situation. He wonders how his career would have gone had he opted for a spot on the LCS instead of a year on the Academy team.
He’s also annoyed that he’s only had such a short amount of time to play pro and make a name for himself:
I think I should have replaced Winsome at 4 weeks if people had been paying more attention to the training matches. I think there was a hesitation in making a decision and the people with the most power don’t necessarily have the most knowledge of the situation.
Isles
That’s behind it: The example of Isles shows how unsteady and difficult life as an e-sportsman can be. Ultimately, a few games and distant forces decide the weal and woe of the young player.
The peak of his life as an athlete and the defeat that led to his dismissal were only 7 days apart. But the consequences are huge. It always seems more appealing to keep the next 19-year-old and start “fresh” than to hire someone who has already gained some experience.
A colleague from Isles suffered a similar fate:
LoL: Korean becomes the best player in the USA and is released 2 weeks later – after the high came the crash
Reference-mein-mmo.de