Cloud9 Make Shock Roster Swaps Ahead Of the NA LCS Summer Split

In a shock announcement today, Cloud9 have almost completely overhauled their starting roster in preparation for the first week of the North American League of Legends Championship Series. In a video posted to their channel, Cloud9 coach Bok "Reapered" Han-gyu and team owner Jack Etienne explain that the team will be using three academy players instead of some of their regular superstars.

The modified roster will consist of top laner Eric "Licorice" Ritchie, jungler Dennis "Svenskeren" Johnsen, mid laner Greyson "Goldenglue" Gilmer, AD Carry Yuri "Keith" Jew, and support Tristan "Zeyzal" Stidam, with Nicolaj "Jensen" Jensen, Zachary "Sneaky" Scuderi, and Andy "Smoothie" Ta all moved to the academy team for now.

As explained in the video, the management team for Cloud9 believes that the academy players who will be moving to the starting roster have been putting in the time and effort, and with the behind the scenes scrim results showing their strength, the organization is giving them a chance to prove themselves on the big stage.

Reactions to this announcement have been met with a lot of confusion, with multiple fans and pro players taking to social media to express their disbelief in the news. That said, this is reminiscent of Counter Logic Gaming’s roster moves that saw two of their biggest names removed from the team, a decision that resulted in some of the best achievements the organization reached to this day.

An embarrassing day to be a C9 fan.

— Dylan Janulis (@DDEmberz) June 13, 2018

Aprils fool's was 3 months ago boys

— Rosendo Fuentes (@Send0o) June 13, 2018

where were you when Jensen and Sneaky were benched for Goldenglue and Keith

— Yiliang Peng (@TLDoublelift) June 13, 2018

We’ll update with more information as it comes in. For now, why not take a look at some of the other big news in esports, such as the announcement of the Fortnite World Cup.