Cloud9 Fire Coach LS Over 'coaching Style' Differences

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Cloud9 (C9) shocked the League of Legends (LoL) esports community after they abruptly fired head coach Nick “LS” De Cesare right before Week 3 of the LoL Championship Series (LCS) Spring Split.

The sudden announcement came in last Saturday (19 February) from C9’s official Twitter page.

“LS has been released from Cloud9 and Max Waldo has been promoted to the LCS Head Coach position. We would like to thank LS for his contributions to the team and wish him the best,” the statement read.

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Shortly after, LS confirmed the news on Twitter as well.

LS said he was informed of his release shortly before C9’s match against Counter Logic Gaming (CLG).

“I set out to show some things were possible and in that short time, I believe we were able to show a glimpse of it. Even though the journey ends, I still feel satisfied that the team and players were able to showcase what we had, and knowing a lot more was possible,” the former C9 head coach tweeted later on.

LS will be replaced by Maxwell Alexander "Max Waldo" Waldo, who had been a coach for C9 since 2020 and has been the team’s stage coach during the LCS Lock In 2022 while the organisation awaited LS' arrival into the United States.

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LCS fans were left seeking for answers on the sudden changes in the coaching staff of C9. On Wednesday (23 February), the organization released a video on social media on the context of the release of LS as the head coach:

In the video, Cloud9 CEO Jack Etienne said that “Cloud9 throughout the years has developed systems on how we like to coach and operate our team. Despite our best efforts working with LS to try to come to terms and see eye to eye on how that should work, we were unable to make that actually happen.”

“We would like to recognize LS for helping us create the roster and the staff that we have today, and we also want to recognize the incredible intelligence and strategic mind that he brought to Cloud9,” he added.

The team has had major changes in their roster since LS had joined, with Ibrahim “Fudge” Allami moving into the mid lane, and signing South Korean talents Park “Summit” Woo-tae, Kim “Berserker” Min-cheol, and Kim “Winsome” Dong-keon.

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Since the start of Season 2022, C9 has been a strong contender to win the Spring Split with a 3-1 record. LCS viewership also increased, with many viewers returning to watch LCS matches because of the exciting drafts that LS have created or picked out for C9, including enchanter mid picks.

The team lost to CLG after the dismissal of LS from the coaching team and bounced back with a win against TSM, moving their current record to 4-2.

Max Waldo followed through, saying that “our goals and direction for our team haven't changed, our intention is to improve at a rate where we are good enough come Worlds to be an international threat”.

C9 top laner Park “Summit” Woo-tae and jungler Robert "Blaber" Huang were also in the video.

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“We are not afraid of this change and we can do well, so please look forward to it,” Summit said.

Blaber said that he has been with C9 for over four years and has gone through the organization’s changes.

“I really appreciate my time with LS and I am sorry to see him go, but I really believe in Max to move forward as the new head coach, I think he’s going to do really great job. I believe in my teammates, myself, I believe in my teammates, myself, and I know we’re going to do great going into the future regardless of what happens.”

Blaber notably tweeted “One last ride for the church,” dedicating their LCS game against TSM to (the church of) LS after the former head coach was released.

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This came after their loss against CLG, when they used a “standard draft” that fits the current meta, and their win against TSM, after drafting a scaling “Karthus-Senna” bot lane, which was more akin to the style of LS.

Fudge had also chimed in on the situation before Cloud9 released an official statement, in an interview with Travis Gafford last Sunday (20 February).

The C9 mid laner stated that he had sensed that it was going to happen any time, knowing that there were problems. While he wasn’t as surprised, he mentioned that he had been “a little bit disappointed with our preparation.”

“I don’t feel like it’s a really bad situation, just because I think that it probably was the best outcome for both parties… because it wasn’t really working,” he said.

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Cloud9’s vague and generic official statement raised more questions than answers in the LoL Esports community.

LS was hired by C9 in December 2021 from League of Legends Championship Korea (LCK) juggernaut T1, where he was formerly a streamer. This is the first time that LS had coached in a long time.

Before joining T1, South Korean fans were outraged at the idea of LS being a coach in the most formidable LoL organization due to his race.

However, LS had clarified that he only signed as a streamer, where he was able to study and explore new ideas in playing League of Legends in the last two seasons, and co-streaming LoL Esports matches.

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The former C9 coach is a resident of South Korea and is known for his controversial approach to League of Legends, and also coaching many Korean players on Solo Queue.

Prior to T1, he also coached Korea BBQ Olivers and North American teams Gravity and Tempo Storm.

Anna is a freelance writer and photographer. She is a gamer who loves RPGs and platformers, and is a League of Legends geek. She's also a food enthusiast who loves a good cup of black coffee.

For more esports news updates, visit https://yhoo.it/YahooEsportsSEA and check out Yahoo Esports Southeast Asia’s Facebook page and Twitter, as well as our Gaming channel on YouTube.

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