In a completely surprising turn of events, the US team Cloud9 has dismissed their new coach Nick “LS” de Cesare in League of Legends. The strategy expert had radically restructured his team and changed the meta across all of LoL with some innovative ideas. The dismissal comes as a surprise – it occurred just hours before the start of a professional match.
What kind of coach is he?
- Nick “LS” de Cesare is an unusual coach in LoL. He is actually a strategy expert, coming from card games, but made a name for himself as an analyst and content creator in LoL.
- LS is known for his unconventional way of seeing and thinking about LoL. He says, coaches and pros have no idea about the draft. He also favored certain “outsider” items and promoted these as better alternatives to established items.
- In recent years, LS spent time in South Korea, the mecca of e-sports. Then, however, he surprisingly took a position as head coach at Cloud9.
Coach rebuilds the entire team, wins 3 out of 4 games
How did it go for LS at Cloud9? Actually, it went exceptionally well. LS brought some radical new ideas to the USA:
- He opted for a “10-man roster” to enable optimal training.
- He replaced the team’s star, the Swede Zven, with a young Korean – compensating for the departure of star midlaner Perkz by moving top laner Fudge to the mid lane.
- Furthermore, LS established a new meta in League of Legends by deploying support champs like Soraka in the mid lane.
Even though all of this seemed a bit crazy, the strategy was successful: Cloud9 won 3 of their first 4 games, losing only to title favorite Team Liquid: Liquid has assembled an all-star team around the legendary midlaner Bjergsen for 2022.
Cloud9 dismisses coach just hours before professional match
This is the dismissal: Just hours before the match against CLG, Cloud9 announced that LS had been dismissed. Max Waldo will be the new head coach. They thank LS for his work and wish him the best.
This is what LS says: He remains silent about the reasons but says it had nothing to do with his mental health. He is doing fabulous – in recent years LS has struggled with issues repeatedly. But in the new situation, he has a system of supporters and no difficulties.
According to LS, he also learned of his dismissal shortly before it happened. However, he believes he was able to provide insight into his ideas regarding gameplay and draft in the short time he was in the league.
LoL experts express confusion and shock
What are the reactions? At the moment, no one understands the background of the action:
- A League of Legends creator says he has been writing about e-sports for ten years and has never been as “confused and shocked” by this development.
- LoL interviewer Travis Gafford mentioned that he thought the news was a joke for several minutes.
- Former pro Doublelift talks about how Cloud9 “eliminated” their coach with a “headshot.”.
- Cloud9 jungler Blaber tweets simply: “Disaster.”.
- His teammate Fudge tweets: “Happens – it just happens.”.
The next match against CLG was promptly lost by Cloud9, even though CLG is considered one of the weakest teams in the LCS.
More about LS and how he influenced the league in just over 2 months:
LoL: An extraordinary coach shakes up League of Legends with crazy plans
