Sneaky, Smoothie & Jensen benched – League of Legends

Major news has just been released by Cloud 9. Surprising many, Cloud 9 has benched some of their most renowned, veteran and best players on the team, Sneaky, Smoothie and Jensen. This announcement comes less than a week away from the start of the 2018 North American Summer Split start.

Who will be replacing the three players?

Replacing Sneaky, Smoothie and Jensen are three players from the Cloud 9 Academy team. Goldenglue, Keith and Zeyzal will be moving into the starting position for the main Cloud 9 team in the NA LCS.

Goldenglue will be replacing Jensen in the mid-lane, while he has competed in the highest level of North American League of Legends in the past, he was still regarded as a mid-tier player. Zeyzal will take over Smoothie’s role as the team’s support. Finally, and most likely the most shocking change, Cloud 9 will be benching Sneaky, their most senior member in favour of Keith.

Why did C9 make the change?

In a video released by Cloud 9 through their official Youtube channel, they explain the reasons for the major roster changes. This video has an overwhelming amount of dislikes, with the like to dislike ratio hovering around two to five.

Cloud 9’s head coach, “Reapered” mentioned that “the academy team players are working hard” and were showing passion, this was a key factor in the decision to give the players a chance to prove themselves on the NA LCS stage.

It was also outlined that the academy team were playing very well together, through this, C9 decided that the current line up would be the best line up going into week one of the 2018 NA LCS Summer split. The videos states the three new replacement players were performing better compared to the previous roster, clearly, C9 is prioritising performance over the fan favourites.

Will the change work, how long will it last for?

While some may be sceptical about the performance of the new replacements coming in from an academy team, the new C9 should perform well. All three have had some experience playing in the NA LCS stage, while the members all have varying levels of experience, they should be able to cope under the pressure.

That said, given the fan support that Smoothie, Sneaky and Jensen have, it is unlikely the change will last long, especially with the emphasis on the video that the current line-up is the best for the start of the NA LCS.