Cloud9 announced they will not have their two starting bot laners for the start of the LCS split.
One of the most popular LCS organizations, Cloud9, will be entering week one of the LCS summer split at a disadvantage.
After an offseason that included the departure of spring MVP top laner Park ‘Summit’ Woo-tae, as well as supports Kim ‘Winsome’ Dong-keun and Jonah ‘Isles’ Rosario, C9 was hoping for some stability in their revamped lineup.
Due to some complications over the offseason, however, fans will have to wait a bit to get a glimpse of the new and improved C9.
Cloud9 enters week one missing two starters
Cloud9 confirmed on its official Twitter that the starting lineup for week one will not include their projected starting AD Carry Kim ‘Berserker’ Min-cheol and support (converted from ADC) Jesper ‘Zven’ Svenningsen.
In their place, Cloud9 will be playing its Academy bot lane of Calvin ‘k1ng’ Truong as ADC and Mitchell ‘Destiny’ Shaw in the support role.
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Between a couple of lost passports and COVID cases, our team has had to spend additional time evaluating our options for this week and the start of the split.
While this lineup is expected for some, moving variables left a different lineup up as a possibility until yesterday.
— Cloud9 League of Legends (@C9LoL) June 17, 2022
Cloud9 stated that “lost passports and COVID cases” have caused the organization to reconsider the lineup. This is in reference to Berserker, who was reported to have lost his passport and has not returned to play with C9.
The statement on Twitter says that C9 will spend additional time “evaluating our options for this week and the start of the split,” which indicates that this lineup will remain for the entirety of the super week.
The good news for C9 fans is that both K1ng and Destinyy have experience playing on the LCS stage, so jitters or inexperience won’t be an issue. However, Cloud9 is also facing a brutal schedule playing the defending LCS champs, Evil Geniuses, along with top dog Team Liquid and Golden Guardians.
Without their two starters, Cloud9 is in danger of falling to the bottom of the standings early on.