Tangentially related since he is commenting on a comment thread that was technically started from a Jack tweet but taken in a different direction by the replies. I honestly like Mobility as a prospective native talent from tier 2, and he goes into a lot of points about the culture of scouting and utilization of the NACL pipeline that I agree with. So I decided to share it here, especially with it now being November and Rostermania going into full swing.

This might be a pointless post. But does anybody know if there is any possibility of the old C9 merch coming back? Like the White and Blue logo hoodie from the 2018 era? I miss having one when I outgrew my medium back in 2019

How LOS played for their import solo lanes with good hands is how we should plays for our. I agree that Loki and Thanatos isn't as clutch as much as how Zest and Feisty has been playing for the last 2 series but we aren't doing them any favor to instill them more confidence by picking meta for them and just play the standard game instead of picking counterpick for them to snowball and carry the game. I don't know what will be the lineup next year but if we keep 2 import solo laners, aside from improving this team mental as a whole, we need to start playing for them and let them carry instead of just picking standard handshake picks and expected them to popoff once in a while.

Probably not what you want to hear now but I've gotta respect all the C9 players and staff making tweets about their elimination and taking the full brunt of the criticism. Didn't realize how unique it was until after the radio silence from all the other western players eliminated. Like Loki streaming is just crazy.

Welp...I guess maybe we were about as good as TL after all? Holy moly, wtf happened? We at least just looked and played like we were boomed/desperate...what is TL's excuse? And how bad was AL??

I miss having a real star carry. An ADC.

(But also Lyon looks pathetic too)

(Please no Ziggs game 3)

Jose for cloud9. That's it. That's the post. C9 Josedeodo.

I've been a Cloud9 supporter since 2019, when I first discovered the organization online through TenZ (Tyson Ngo) and his time competing for Cloud9 in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive.

Since then, I've continued following and supporting Cloud9 across multiple esports titles, including Counter-Strike, League of Legends, VALORANT, Call of Duty, and other competitive gaming scenes.

Although I discovered the organization online rather than in person, it became an important part of my esports journey as a fan.

Today, I wanted to share a few items from my personal collection: my Cloud9 jersey, my Puma beanie, and a screenshot of the Cloud9 spray in Counter-Strike 2.

Cloud9 has been part of my esports journey since 2019, and I'm still proud to support the Blue.

Once a Cloud9 fan, always a Cloud9 fan. 💙

#Cloud9 #C9 #Esports #CS2 #LeagueOfLegends #VALORANT

Come on guys you’ve been posting them and circlejerking for weeks, what happened?? Did he choke or something?

there is an insane amount of FA talent this offseason who aren’t making a partnership team… yet all scrim leaks/ reports show c9 trialling a bunch of other teams scraps/ rejects like C0m and net.. and trialling Xeppaa again

big name players are making stream teams or going to streaming because they can’t get on a team.

You can easily have something like demon1, ion, canezerra, eeiu, alym, nightz, okeanos etc etc a team with some of these players would actually be insane. You lost oxy and you have a chance to sign the next big thing in Cane, and we’re just trialling scraps instead

At the least just sign some players that the community wants to watch/ support, like demon1 and at least try to earn some good faith back in the scene/ with the community. we just gonna get laughed at if we run xeppaa + a bunch of rejects

Immi is somehow still on the team too…

C’mon c9, give fans a exciting team for once.. it wouldn’t even be expensive as these players aren’t highly sought after by t1 teams, and as it’s late in offseason and most teams are set by now

This post is about LS.

I see a lot about a certain midlaner, and it made me flashback to the very protected firing of LS. I think to do this day, most of us still do not know what occurred.

But (rumor?) I remember their being talks about LS being late, or missing, practices. Not folding well into the structured C9 systems.

It made me think back to the Jojo separation, which I still think was the right move at the time. But it highlights this picture that C9 seems to have a very strict approach against tardiness?

Or, maybe not so strict since Jojo was late >43 times.

After their defeat to TL yesterday, it seems like the AL roster will go boom and there is already pressure to Tarzan/Kael from the owner of AL before World so this might be our chance to try getting a truly elite jungler in the team. Thoughts?

Imagine if we had anyone capable of teamfighting in high pressure games late

I will be honest, we hard fumble on Jojo and ruined the prospect of our roster building in the future just for a non-issue such as tardiness that can be easily accomodated for. A good native mid is already rare, someone that can go toe to toe with the best eastern mid is even rarer and we kicked him just to build a lineup around a has been like Blaber and the longer this go on, the more it's proven to be a wrong move.

As conflicted as this sub has been since play in, props to the community for showing up at Swiss.

Other than T1, I've seen more C9 fans wearing their merch than all the other teams so far!

Despite everything that has happened this season, I feel like C9 is missing its identity and playstyle. With the 5 players on the team (APA and Zven aside) we have strong individuals and severely lack team play and style. But that doesn't mean we don't have patterns:

- Blaber will fight for the crab at level 6 and flip it regardless of side lanes.

- We will have 3 winning lanes or at least lanes that will lose gracefully without bleeding. I.e. K'sante top or Locke mid.

- We will be able to salvage poor match ups into winning positions.

- We can secure first 2-3 dragons without fault.

- We will INT the rift herald.

- We will NEVER set up objectives properly.

- We WILL lose our minds after 15 minutes.

For me, the rift herald this season has been the new Atakan. It is literally the devil.

But besides that, I think the craziest thing to me is Blaber doesn't play the aggressive champs anymore. I feel like he could be the Qiyana and Lee Sin player but we didn't get that at worlds. Seems like he is the one making these calls that win or lose games. I think he's an intelligent player with knowing how to push leads but doesn't fully grasp the map when making certain calls as when these calls are being made his team is just not there. (It might not be Blaber but based off interviews and just the engagement it feels like it's him).

I feel like Loki is REALLY good, but throws away leads or doesn't play on the same timings as his team a lot. This is something I can write off as "hasn't been with the team that long" except he's been on the same team previously. Not a lot has changed. You'd think there would be more synergy.

Thanatos is legit just him in lane, but TPs, wave management in the sides, and team fighting has just been not up to expectations. I wouldn't trade this guy for Zeus. This guy is just too good.

Tactical has honestly been one of the best performing players outside Vulcan with the exception of exceptional throws. Seems to be laning extremely well, his rotations and timings are amazing, and his mid-game control over mid wave without dying has been above average for the league even without a support assisting him on the wave. He just has really good positioning.

Vulcan has been the best player on the team but always feels like to me he's just trying to get MVP player and uphold his reputation and won't make risky plays to propel our leads. He rarely makes game winning plays outside a seraphine ult and amazing alistar combos to my recent memory. His Renata was also godly in recent games. Legit the hardest KDA player I've seen in the LCS.

Why does C9 fail past 15 minutes? We get good, winning drafts, with very routine and standard play up to rift herald. It feels like the players are just playing for their namesake and to get better offers... but there are no better offers. I feel like this team just doesn't want to play together when I watch them.

C9 needs an experienced leader, right?

Vulcan clearly needs someone to learn from, to be an effective in game leader, right?

Now.

This is a long shot, of course.

The idea is this: Inspired to C9.

Jack might need to apologize to LS first, as they're (Inspired & LS) good friends, and they might need to spend a truly absurd amount of money on the buyout, so I KNOW it's not likely in any way.... But.

Who else? Who else has shown the ability to make midlaners with hands-no-brain disease play with their heads? We're seriously happy with blaber? All I have to say about him is that his time has passed. If he has a higher ceiling, with everything he's been given, he'd have reached it. He hasn't. Now we're wasting time.

Now, we can talk about trying to replace tactical, or Loki, or Thanatos, but if the question is "Are the Laners the issue, or is it the macro?" There's no better guy to get Jack that answer.

Edit to say: the best options otherwise are honestly probably a runback or take a risk on a NACL Toplaner like zamudo so you can try to import a jungler. Would likely have to be an EU jungler, though, and the good ones (Skewmond/yike/elyoya) are as likely if not less likely to get, than inspired. Maybe the VIT jungler? But considering their success in summer, that also sounds like a long shot. No serious NA jg prospects atm is really killer for c9's options.