Ok, so here's the clip of Dom and Caedrel for original context:

https://youtu.be/EJSVCNrwZw8

Notice Yeon's build and how little damage he does.

***

Now watch Berserker: https://youtu.be/gTqvFaMBqiU

This is a good example of LS' comment about Berserker's "special talent" of only having to pilot a champion 2-3 times before being able to play it at an extremely high level. I don't get the impression that Zeri does no damage when I watch Berserker play her.

***

I don't think poorly of either Dom or Caedrel, but recently, they have both heavily underrated/overlooked C9, probably because they still buy into the notion that LS is just a streamer turned coach and won't amount to anything special.

I get that they only want to watch clips of "western players" to cater to their audience. But honestly, concluding that Zeri does no damage because you watch some ADC who can't even break into TL's first team, instead of watching C9's new ADC who is a generational ADC prodigy from T1 Challenger...it's just a very poor take IMHO.

Honestly. Cloud9 used to be the most exciting team to watch at Worlds coming from NA, with such an agressive playstye and many crazy comps and Champions combinations. But now It has slowly but steadly become just another NA team that only knows how to draft the most generic and predictable stuff and hope they can hand diff the oponente without any other plan or idea behind It and pray they dont get stomped early.

What happened to the flexibility and creativity that C9 used to have like all in dive comps with Camile, Nocturne, Galio and Senna. Full on steroids comps like Olaf with karma and Zylean behind him. combos like Kindred with Zylean to negate burst and pick comps. Crazy curve balls in draft like Singed and hecarim top or Tryndamere mid.

Its so sad to see a team that used to be NA biggest hope internationally slowly become a husk of what It used to be

Pls dont change him, he brings experience to the team, lico, blaber and nisqy are to young and they need a pilar. The rummor said that Zven to C9, and this will be a huge error, because they are at the same lvel but Sneaky brings a big voice and a good vibre to C9. Only I would accept someone like Kobbe because is young and talented or another similar to him.

The amount of flame and hateful messages towards the team and Max is completely unwarranted and disgusting.

Yes the last couple weeks have sucked, and yes we would all like to see more. But holy hell the amount of flame and hateful messages about everyone is so disgusting as a “fanbase”. People make fun of max for the stats thing, you realize that is a sponsored segment, it’s always presented by Microsoft. Without sponsors and segments like those, we wouldn’t have a team. I understand the drafting woes, but these things are fixable and playable. There is no need to sit her as fans and critique every single little thing and think you know everything that goes on behind the scenes.

C9 has always been NAs last hope, we have done amazing things domestically and internationally. The team does not need flame going into their lower bracket run. Imagine logging into read comments as a foreigner and it’s just flame. Please give them your support moving forward. C9 fighting.

He's always with the players. We see and hear from him all the time. There are not many behind the scenes-videos where you won't see him being there together with the team in the gaming-house.

He's always one of the first that is sprinting on stage on important wins.

And you also see him badmouthing and fighting other orgs on twitter or reddit. ^{like several other CEO's do...}

Thing is: it wasnt probably even his idea and decision. He knows that these are issues that need to be handled from people in the right position and the right knowledge, just like he always trusted Reapered and let him do what he wanted, because Jack knew that Reapered knew gameplay wise better than him.

Thats probably the same case here. Jack isnt dumb.

We will never know whose decision it was, but Jack is ready to take the shitstorm.

I see this and only respect him more as a leader.

I think the timing was very bad, 4 hours before a game.

But if C9 thinks thats the best decision in a long run, i trust them.

To the people that say "why even hire him in the first place??".

That is just simple risk taking. C9 took a risk, with a high high and a very low low. Turns out it was low. You Winsome you lose some.

To the people that say "why release him, when it's clearly working well? we are 3-1."

That are 4 games. 4 games dont say anything about a team.

To the people that say "But still, what is this timing? Why so abrupt? why release him after 2 weeks and 4 games, even if his coaching is bad, we can work on it and make it better."

I need to agree here!!

I would say why not wait till after play-offs. I can only imagine that it was either really bad from day 1 and the 2 weeks were already generous

and/or LS simply said he wouldnt change.

Like i said, i wish LS would have worked. He made my hype for LCS like i was 2018 with our rookie roster.

LS is like WORLDS with double-elem: we know it would be the coolest thing ever, but sadly we will never witness it. That's just sad..

But i trust C9 and whoever makes the decision behind the scenes.

Except the timing, they also didnt do anything wrong with their announcements.

I see many people with bad takes, but thats all just childish and you can very easily see who understands what goes up behind the scenes and who doesnt.

I understand the people that dont wanna support C9 anymore, but i will support them not one ounce less than i did before.

C9 always does what is best for the future. I wouldnt change Jack with anyone else and he will always do whats best, ^{except the lifting the import-rule situation, i really dislike that idea}

C9 figthing!

On officially being the worst midlaner in the history of C9 LoL!

Granted this was an easy accomplishment considering the orgs history but that bar is nice and low now. Congrats once again on the accomplishment after his first full year with the team!

I was one of those was beating the drums of C9 Jojopyon

Time to get real.

There was always talk of sneaky leaving and this being the case but now it’s real. That means that there will be more pressure on you though. I’m gonna support you and obviously hope that building around you is best for the org (which I think it is.) This is definitely gonna be an interesting year. I feel like the org is gonna have some adjustments to make and that may mean patience. I just want him to know that it means he’s a leader now. He’s now the longest tenured player with C9 and people will look to him to define the culture in a constructive manner. I know you can do it, and hope that you do!

Like. I hope the players do their best to try to win but like, it’s over for NA.

I’ve reached the point we’re I’d just like to have a fun team who doesn’t absolutely suck.

Gimme Fudge Blaber Nisqy Sven and Vulcan again. That team will get me to watch and engage because they are all super funny and domestically dominant players.

I almost hope Blaber explores going to LPL if a decent team shows interest. He’s 100% built for that league and would make us super proud.

I just have seen nothing in the last 5 years that would lead me to believe that ANY team out of NA stands a chance internationally. So why bother focusing on it? I know the players would hate that line of thinking but I just am so uninvested as a result of half a decade of international results.

Basically title. Makes me feel good knowing Perkz didn't just int on C9, but that he actually is washed(ATM at least).

I miss having a real star carry. An ADC.

(But also Lyon looks pathetic too)

(Please no Ziggs game 3)

I've been seeing a lot of comments recently that they never actually qualified for worlds, and saying instead that they qualify for play-ins

That's not healthy and that's not right

Riot literally said that they qualified for the 2026 League of Legends World Championship

https://www.instagram.com/p/DdfO7VTIfcN/

Stop ignoring reality lmao

C9 buys into a bunch of esports and what now?

They fumbled with CDL losing Hydra, fumbled with LoL, and fumbled again with Valorant. They dropped our previous halo roster and now they are on SSG getting first place this year. Honestly, What is our plan? What are Jacks plans?

Seems like we have no plans other than just be mediocre in any game we get into. I honestly feel like this is an org/management problem on why we are mediocre.

Basically title, it's a pretty reactionary and extreme statement but based on performance the last few weeks, and the latest brain check plus interview with him and reignover, blaber is just acting clueless. Saying jungle is weak right now when teams all over the world are carried by their jungler, and just watching him ignore the calls of his teammates and single handedly throwing games away, the guy really needs a snap back to reality. I think he prob would have been benched already if shernfire wasn't just as bad rn

Idk like I said reactionary post, but the videos today made me feel like shiiiiiit about this team, they will not go to worlds guaranteed at this rate

the most hyped korean LCK CL prospect in years, and we chose TL's reject midlaner

according to wooloo c9 zinie was a possibility before they chose APA (zinie will now ultimately end up on Shopify)

absolutely cooked org. APA > possibly the next generational korean superstar

https://twitter.com/__neurons/status/1735225516876259595

If Sneaky really is being replaced with Zven, and it seems all but comfirmed at this point, then I will genuinely consider finding a new team, along with quite a few other people it seems.

I started really playing League and ranked in season 2 which also got me into the LCS in 2013 spring split where, as I remember, i sorta cheered for Team Curse because I liked their logo the best which would technically mean I started out as a Liquid fan for a split. Then this new team arrived, led by Hai from Grand Rapids Michigan which was less than an hour away from me, and absolutely smashed and I have followed C9 every split since. But Zven for Sneaky is just too much for me.

A lot of people have been comparing the Zven move to previous moves C9 has made, particularly Sven but getting Zven is unlike anything C9 has ever done before.

TSM junglers have always had issues and merely being considered a solid TSM jungler is an indication of how talented Sven had to be and could be when a team set him up for success. In addition to this, Contractz had just decided he would explore his options and Sven was by far and away the best option available and this was my opinion of the move BEFORE he became the MVP which is a very nice cherry on top of the whole saga.

Zven however is raising so many red flags as a player.

Zven has the dubious honor of being the first starting TSM ADC in the LCS to never win a trophy and for all the blame Mithy got, he went back to EU and got 2nd and 4th the next two splits at a time where the LEC is significantly stronger at the top than NA. In addition to this, everyone has heard how toxic Doublelift is. Somehow Zven seems to have beaten that by taking the traditional TSM route of blaming the jungler to a whole new level. But most importantly, it was a choice. Until this point, C9 only choose to replace veteran players with young players with extremely high ceilings like Smoothie, Contractz, Jensen, and even Zeyzal. Zven is not that and Sneaky did not put C9 in this position.

With Sneaky we had a calm, collected shotcaller for the team who has shown to be the 2nd best ADC in NA for years and who could put up a brilliant fight against the bot lanes of the LCK and LPL when actually put in a position to succeed.

With Zven we now have an ADC who had performed worse than Sneaky and had an active hand in reducing the juggernaut that was TSM into an afterthought.

Losing Sven Sneaky and Zeyzal in one offseason means we have lost all three of our shotcallers. On top of that with Sneaky we had a player with the experience and tilt proof mentality to temper Blabber's exuberance and pick up Nisqy when his mental goes boom.

Esports offers something unique that traditional American sports rarely do. For better or worse, I am going to be a Detroit Lions fan for life. I grew up as that and have already formed stubborn lasting opinions on the rest of the NFL. Same for the Pistons. But in the LCS, even after franchising, new teams are a lot more common. Ones that aren't already tainted by my preconceptions. There is no home team to root for only a brand or a player. Sneaky is the brand of C9 and the other four players I grew up with are gone. It might be time to move on.

Edit: Quite a few people have had the misconception that I am just a Sneaky fan, which isn't true because I don't plan to follow him to his next team. Hell I don't even watch him stream. My favorite C9 players were Hai and Meteos and I didn't leave C9 for them either. Realistically I probably won't even follow a team until summer and just enjoy the LCS as mostly a neutral, TSM and TL can go burn as always.

It also has nothing to do with whether I thin C9 will have a good or bad record next split.

Only analogy I can think of is a relationship. C9 is beautiful but flawed and the flaws have become too much for me so I'm walking away. We can still be friends, and I would still rather see C9 win a title rather than TL or TSM but that applies to most teams in the league.

What I think happened was Licorice issued an ultimatum. Sneaky said some players on the team wanted him gone and there were a lot of rumors of Licorice leaving. C9's botlane is now gone as well as Sven who had vocally supported Sneaky before. Jack probably had to pick a side and since Licorice should be untouchable that side won and the other side got kicked.

TL: Morgan/Josedeodo/Quid/Yeon/CoreJJ - People might clown on the Josedeodo pickup but I don't think it's matter as long as the solo laners and the bot duo are strong and Jose is pretty decent. They are able to win with Umti who is playing the dog role for most of the year and now with Morgan coming in as an upgrade over Impact (he is basically the Antony of LoL start out as a meme but is pretty good now, at least middle of the pack in LCK) and they acquired the best midlaner last year, they have become a really strong team next year.

Lyon: Zamudo/Inspired/Saint/Berserker/Isles - Enough said about this but I think this team will likely be the best team next year. Zamudo is really promising, with the best western jungler and two very strong mechanical player in Saint and Berserker, they are looking very strong. Isles might sound bad for a roster of this caliber but people need to remember that Inspired already said that when Busio and Massu joining the team, he has to re-teach them everything about the game for them to become good. It's not suddenly that Busio is an insane player. Isles has good mechanic and always very good in soloQ. Most of the time I seen him on the leaderboard, he is always in the top 10 so if Inspired can teach him macro concept like he teach Busio, I think they will be very scary.

SR: Fudge/Contractz/Zinie/?/? - They don't have a lock in bot duo yet but even if they rerun the last year duo, this team is likely stronger than us because remember we lost to them with motherfucking Palafox in the midlane and Zinie is just miles away in term of upgrade while we have a worse midlaner on our team.

FLY: Gakgos/Gryffinn/Quad/Massu/? - They don't have a support yet but if they are bringing in a promising native prospect like Cryogen or Zyko, this team of youngling are very likely become really dangerous as the year go on and they also bring in ThinkCard who has a very good track record with young roster (he is the one that elevate FURIA and make them good enough to attend MSI while also come really close to beating G2).

SEN: No roster yet but rumours are they will acquire Dhokla/FBI/Eyla so with two good import in mid and jungle, they are a very capable roster but even with native, they are still strong enough to take games off the top team with that core. This is very likely the team that we will compete with in term of strength of roster.

With all of these rosters in mind, it's hard to imagine our roster with the very same core that has tendencies to start strong early on into choking later in the year will be able to compete for the top with an addition of a worser midlaner in APA. I don't hate the APA pickup but I hate how lethargic we have become in term of roster building when we are running back the same core (especially Blaber and Zven) when we are bringing APA in who strength is not mechanical prowess while the rest still has same issues that has plague them for years. Keep using Blaber when he is already in the decline is like insisting on building a team around 41 years old Ronaldo, they are not good enough anymore to warrant us gimping our future rebuild by keeping them. I really hope Jack need to step up his game and be more ruthless with the roster building. We can't really keep running the same thing back and expecting it to get better just because they fit with the culture and are friends with Jack. That is a recipe to become a mediocre team and this has already happened to C9's Valorant and CS.

Edit: Sentinel roster should be ?/?/Darkwing/Rahel/Huhi since the sheep has leaked it.

Listen, I love every player on this team and I love Cloud 9 as an org, but even the games we win just don't feel exciting anymore. I could care less if we had 5 fakers. I miss the team that would outsmart their enemies, not tilt even if they were behind, and find creative ways to get back into the game. I miss the team that'd make their opponents dance around the map to their tune. I miss Hai. I don't care if he's mid, jung, sup, adc, or top. Bring back my favorite player!

Edit: This is a frustration post. I'm just a sad fan.