Cloud9 (C9) has revealed its Academy team for the 2022 LCS season. But the players on the roster have come as quite a surprise—even to fans who had already been speculating about the lineup. Official word from the org, including from owner Jack Etienne, had indicated a starting role for AD Carry Jesper “Zven” Svenningsen. However, the new video has revealed that the veteran star will neither feature on the main team or the Academy stage.
Cloud9 finalize main and Academy rosters for 2022 LCS
Instead, C9 has brought onboard Calvin “K1ng” Truong as the starting Academy ADC. Alongside him, Jonah “Isles” Rosario fills the support position. But he could also feature on the main roster that currently has Kim “Winsome” Dong-keon. Darshan “Darshan” Upadhyaya and Jouhan “Copy” Pathmanathan will be the top and mid laners, respectively, while European jungler Sebastian “Malice” Edholm takes the final import slot on the Academy roster.
On the other hand, C9 signed Korean bot laner and former T1 Challengers player Kim “Berserker” Min-Cheol for the main LCS squad. This leaves Zven outside of the official picture for either lineup, which has surprised many fans given the caliber of player that he is. However, newly appointed head coach Nick “LS” De Cesare explained in the video that Zven will still be participating in scrims—and in fact will likely be getting more scrim time than k1ng, except that he can't play on stage.
LS explains roster decisions amid limits on import slots
Ultimately, C9 made the decision given the limited number of import slots available to them for either roster. Since the org had brought on two Korean players in Berserker and Park “Summit” Woo-Tae up top, Zven couldn't be part of the main team as he's still considered a European import, despite having already spent five years of his playing career in North America.
Zven was really meant to be part of the Academy roster, as Jack and LS had confirmed in previous videos and announcements. However, LS said that with the arrival of Malice, C9 has used up all three import slots allowed across both LCS and Academy rosters. This has left no room for Zven on the official, stage-playing Academy roster either.
C9 technically got the best of both worlds here, since Zven will still be playing in in-house scrims, which C9 will use to ultimately strengthen its main LCS roster. Elsewhere, LS and the coaching staff have already alluded to their approach to the 2022 season, banking on keeping strats under wraps through internal scrims rather than practicing against other LCS teams. It makes sense then that they would want the strongest possible players on both sides to practice fights or duke it out in lane.
Controversial roster arrangement, Academy structure
Admittedly, the arrangement does pose quite the disadvantage for K1ng and Zven. K1ng may not be getting as much practice time, yet will be expected to perform on stage. It will likely mean subpar performances for C9 on the Academy front, but then again the org does not seem to put much of a priority on topping the Academy league anyway. Meanwhile, Zven gets to do all the practice, without any guarantee of getting his starting spot back.
However, LS claimed that “Riot does not care about Academy.” He went on to say, “All that we care about is the best version of the Cloud9 team that we can possibly make,” again alluding to the emphasis on internal scrims to improve the LCS squad rather than think about winning the Academy league. This attracted much attention and controversy within the community, with the coach later clarifying his comment via a Tweet.
“The ‘doesn't care about academy' [statement] is that there is no incentive to do well in academy. First or last [place] makes no difference since it's up to teams/managements to decide your play,” LS said.
Implications for player performance
Currently, the Academy league acts more like a proving ground for players looking to break into the LCS. The winners of the second-tier competition don't get promoted to the LCS, since the franchise model essentially keeps all the teams the same. It could definitely be useful for up-and-coming players to attract attention and vie for call-ups or roster moves in the off-season.
The community may find the situation unfair for the ADCs. However, some fans have also pointed out that both K1ng and Zven interestingly agreed to such an arrangement, despite the supposed downsides.
At the very least, C9's structure and approach may make sense or align with the goals of the players involved—whether that's just getting some stage time for K1ng or improving in a high-intensity, competitive practice environment for Zven. Otherwise, they wouldn't have signed on.
It will be interesting to see the team's performance in 2022, and whether the push for high-quality internal scrims pays off and boosts them to domestic and international success.
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