Nick “LS” DeCesare was suddenly released from his position as head coach of Cloud9’s LCS team in the third week of the spring split.
LS’ departure was announced after Cloud9 had already made their way onto the LCS stage for their match against Counter Logic Gaming. Cloud9 announced on Twitter that he had been released from his position, and that Max Waldo had been promoted to head coach in his stead.
This move confused some League of Legends fans due to the suddenness of the decision.
Why was LS released from Cloud9?
LS was signed to Cloud9 as a part of its effort to rebrand and rebuild their LCS roster following the departure of many of their key players, including Luka “Perkz” Perkovic. After his arrival in North America, Cloud9’s style of play had been met with widespread praise from viewers, professionals, and community figures alike. To many, Cloud9’s new look was the most exciting identity that a team had had in LCS for a long time.
The sudden departure came without explanation from the organization, but it seems like something went horribly wrong behind the scenes. LS had long been a well-known community
figure
and had been tapped to coach Korean League of Legends titan T1’s LCK roster previously.
According to
LS, he was only notified of his dismissal from the organization four hours before Cloud9 took to the stage for that day’s LCS games.
Such a major release so close to the start of the spring split doesn’t seem like the outcome that Cloud9 had been planning for, heavily leaning into LS’ personal brand to hype up their LCS roster.
Whatever internal issues cropped up to prompt such a sudden departure, there is no official answer yet as to the reason behind LS’ release. Professional players, casters, and fans all responded to the last-minute announcement with incredulity and surprise. To many, it was the decision to wait until the last minute to give a public statement that stuck them as especially odd.
Unless LS or Cloud9 speak out on the issue, the exact circumstances around LS’ dismissal are unknown.
Nicholas James
About Nicholas James
Nicholas James is a gaming writer with a passion for all things geekdom, as well as live theater. Nicholas is best known for covering League of Legends and other top MOBA titles, but his expertise covers numerous games across multiple genres. When not watching the LCS or playing the latest new release, Nicholas can be found doing some tabletop gaming and painting his favorite miniatures. Nicholas has also published with Hotspawn, TheGamer, Dexerto, Esports.gg and other industry outlets.
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