While a large part of the competitive League of Legends world has its eyes on the 2024 World Championship, some teams are already preparing for a busy offseason back home, including one of North America’s most popular names, Cloud9.
On Sept. 20, C9 confirmed its AD carry phenom Berserker is leaving the team and won’t be playing as the starting marksman for the organization heading into 2025. This is likely devastating news for a dejected C9 fan base, which was already reeling after rumors and reports began swirling around the status of their star-studded starting five.
This time around, Berserker has officially left C9’s League team after three explosive years as one of the best AD carry players in the LCS. In 2021, the young prospect won the best AD award in Korea’s Challengers League while playing for T1 Academy before getting scouted and acquired by C9 to start in the LCS the following year.
From that point forward, Berserker stamped his mark as a dominant force on arguably the best team in the league, getting voted as an All-Pro in every year he’s played in North America. He won the MVP award for the 2023 Spring Split, was the LCS Championship MVP in the 2022 Summer Split, and took home a pair of LCS championships in the process.
With his contract expiring next year, the young star could have played through 2025 with his current team. But instead, he’s decided to write a new chapter in his blossoming career with a different org. It’s unknown at this time whether he’ll be staying in North America to experience the newly formed Americas League or if he’ll be going back home to Korea to join an LCK roster.
C9, on the other hand, will be focused on rebuilding its roster after losing the best marksman in the league, along with reportedly firing its starting mid laner, Jojopyun. The mid laner was reportedly dealing with excessive tardiness issues that caused him to be late over 40 times to various team meetings and practices throughout 2024.
If C9 loses both Berserker and Jojopyun in the span of one offseason, we could see a huge shift in the team’s strategies and roster building as free agency begins in full later this year.
