There have been a lot of changes on the Cloud9 side during this offseason, and the least we can say is that the Summer Split is shaping up to be exciting. The roster moves have been very active, with the additions of American AD Carry Edward "
Tactical" Ra and Korean midlaner Lee "
Loki" Sang-min, while keeping Eain "
" Stearns and Jesper "
" Svenningsen, but that’s not all.
On the coaching side, there has also been movement, with Head Coach Nicholas "Inero" Smith leaving the team. This opens the door for Christian "IWDominate" Rivera to step up into the role, with Marius "Veigar v2" Aune remaining on the staff. They will also be joined by two new additions: South Korean coach Noh "Arrow" Dong-hyeon and Swedish-Palestinian coach Jakob "YamatoCannon" Mebdi.
Aiming for Worlds
Cloud9 have often found themselves on the wrong side of the results this year. In Winter, when only one team qualified for First Stand, APA and his teammates fell short in the grand final against LYON. In Spring, they put together a perfect 7-0 regular season before struggling in the playoffs.
After a close 3-2 win against FlyQuest, they were clean swept first by LYON and then by Team Liquid, finishing third and once again missing out on qualification for an international event by one spot. This third-place finish still came with a consolation prize: a funded bootcamp during MSI 2026, which they are currently attending, where they will also take part in the SOOP Global tournament.
A strengthened coaching staff
C9 will therefore have one of the most stacked and experienced coaching staffs in the LCS. IWDominate will take on a Head Coach role for the first time in his career, alongside Veigar v2, who is entering his sixth year with C9. The addition of Arrow will bring value to both sides, with the former ADC now in his third year of coaching. On top of that, he has already played alongside APA in the past.
The arrival of YamatoCannon is also a major move. The former Los Ratones coach had previously stated in
an interview: "
Honestly, I think I’m done coaching ... But coaching, outside of this project, doesn’t interest me much. ... When I coach, I shut off everything else in life, and that comes at the cost of loved ones. I’m very selective now. I’ll never half-ass a coaching gig."
With this statement, Cloud9 fans should therefore feel reassured about Yamato returning to coaching, as they are getting a hard worker who will do everything possible to push the team to the highest level. This will be YamatoCannon’s first experience in the LCS, having already coached in EMEA, Russia, and Korea, adding another region to his résumé.
