Before the 2020 season in League of Legends, hardly anyone understood how Cloud 9 could part ways with the star of the team, the bot laner Zachary “Sneaky” Cuderi. For years, he was the face of the LoL team and incredibly popular. But now Cloud 9 is suddenly the number one in the LCS with a bot laner who was actually already written off as a loser.
This was the controversial decision: In November 2019, bot laner Sneaky (25) announced on Twitch that he would not play for “his team” Cloud 9 in 2020.
He had been with Cloud 9 since 2013 and was considered the “face” and star of the team.
But apparently there were internal conflicts at Cloud 9. Sneaky said that people in the team did not want to play with this bot lane anymore and so he decided to step back instead of fighting for his place.
Shortly before, it had been announced that Cloud 9 had signed a new bot laner: The Dane Jesper “Zven” Svenningsen (22) left TSM after unsuccessful years.
TSM replaced Zven with a new Dane straight from Europe. TSM loves Danes.
Sneaky was the face of Cloud 9
This is why it was so controversial: Sneaky had been with Cloud 9 for 6 years. He was clearly the most popular player. Sneaky is a cosplayer and cross-dresser.
The 25-year-old is also active as a streamer on Twitch and is popular in the LoL community. Sneaky has about 800,000 followers on Twitter.
For many, Cloud 9 was simply Sneaky.
Zven was at that point essentially “burned out”. After all, TSM had achieved little with him as a bot laner in recent years, yet the team was considered the clear best team in the USA before Sven’s arrival, with Doublelift on the bot lane.
Cloud 9 had at least made it to the Worlds in 2019. They had, however, been eliminated early, like all US teams.
Doublelift says: This is strange
This is how it was criticized: Among those who criticized Cloud 9’s treatment of Sneaky was the LoL star Doublelift, himself a bot laner.
Doublelift said that even if Sneaky had a weak year in 2019, he was still a strong bot laner. Doublelift found it “crazy” how Cloud 9 treated him. He was such a dedicated player – it was strange that Cloud 9 was now replacing him.
Sneaky was replaced by Zven, against whom Doublelift himself had been replaced in 2017.
Cloud 9 now with 8-0 in first place of the LCS
This is how it turned out: Cloud 9 is so far the best team in the US league LCS in 2020. They stand at 8-0 far ahead in first place.
Team Liquid, Doublelift’s team, has fallen to 3-5 due to visa issues involving jungler Broxah.
Among the absolute stars of Cloud 9 in 2020 is the “Sneaky” replacement Zven. Currently, he stands at 37-2-60. He has only died 2 times in the 8 matches, achieving 37 kills and being involved in another 60. That’s quite impressive.
The Cloud 9 team seems to be functioning remarkably well now.
Sneaky becomes a full-time streamer on Twitch and advisor
What is Sneaky doing? The 25-year-old has now become a full-time streamer on Twitch. In addition, he remains connected to Cloud 9 as a co-owner and advisor.
