The League of Legends division of Cloud9 (currently known as Cloud9 Kia due to sponsorship reasons) is a gaming team based in Los Angeles, California, and competes in the League of Legends Championship Series (LCS), the top-level professional league for League of Legends in the Americas, as a franchised team in the North Conference.
Established in 2013, the League of Legends division was the founding division of Cloud9. The team was originally a player-owned team before they were acquired by Quantic Gaming that same year; weeks later, the contracts of the players were sold to Jack Etienne.
Under their founding roster of Balls, Meteos, Hai, Sneaky, and LemonNation, Cloud9 won back-to-back League Championship Series (LCS) titles in their first two years of existence by winning the 2013 NA LCS Summer Split and 2014 NA LCS Spring Split. The team claimed their third LCS title by winning the 2020 LCS Spring Split in what was generally considered one of the greatest season performances by a team in the league's history. The team's fourth LCS title came in Spring 2021 after winning the 2021 Mid-Season Showdown. Additionally, Cloud9 hold several LCS records, including the highest winning percentage in a single split (92.9%) and the longest game winning streak in a single split (18).
History Cloud9's League of Legends division traces its roots back to the disbandment of Quantic Gaming's League of Legends roster, which included Nientonsoh, Hai, Yazuki, WildTurtle, and LemonNation. Following their departure from Quantic Gaming, these five players came together to form their own team called Team NomNom. However, their initial foray into the competitive scene faced an early setback when they were eliminated during the group stage of the Season 3 North American Offline Qualifier for the League of Legends Championship Series (LCS). Azure Gaming and Team MRN proved to be formidable opponents, leading to Team NomNom's elimination. As a result, Nientonsoh and Yazuki decided to part ways with the team.
In early 2013, Team NomNom underwent a rebranding and officially became Cloud9 (C9). The team's emerged victorious at the 2013 MLG Summer Promotion Qualifiers, defeating Velocity esports in the finals. This win secured their qualification for the 2013 NA LCS Summer Promotion Qualifiers. Cloud9 was then reacquired by Quantic Gaming on April 1. The roster, consisting of Balls, Meteos, Hai, Sneaky, and LemonNation, went undefeated in the Summer Promotion Qualifier, earning them a spot in the 2013 NA LCS Summer Split. Following their qualification, Quantic made the decision to revert the team's name back to Cloud9. However, the team would soon experience yet another ownership change, as former Team SoloMid manager Jack Etienne purchased the players' contracts for less than $20,000, solidifying the establishment of the Cloud9 organization.
2013–2015: First seasons Back-to-back LCS titles
In the 2013 LCS Summer split regular season, the team went on a 13-game winning streak, marking the longest winning streak in LCS history at the time. They went on to finish the 2013 Summer split with a 25–3 game win–loss record to claim the top seed in the Summer Season Playoffs. With a bye into the semifinals, Cloud9 defeated Dignitas by a score of 2 games to 0. The team went on to sweep Team SoloMid, 3 games to 0, in the grand finals on September 1 to claim their first-ever LCS title. With the win, Cloud9 finished the season with a 30–3 game record and the highest winning-percentage in LCS history at 90.9%.
Due to their NA LCS Summer Season championship, Cloud9 received bye into the quarterfinals at the Season 3 World Championship (Worlds). In their first match, on September 23, Cloud9 lost to the top-seeded European team Fnatic by a score of 1 games to 2, eliminating them from the tournament. On October 29, the organization announced the departure of coach Alex Penn and the addition of Dan Dinh as the team's coach as the team planned to move from San Jose to Los Angeles. After a poll conducted earlier that month, Cloud9 was voted into IEM Season VIII - Cologne; the team received the most votes and was seeded directly into the semifinals. Cloud9 faced Gambit Gaming in the semifinals match on November 24, but Gambit took the win to move onto the finals. Cloud9 closed out 2013 by defeating European team Fnatic, 2–0, on December 22 at the Battle of the Atlantic. The win marked the first time that Cloud9 had defeated an international team.
In the 2014 NA LCS Spring Split, Cloud9 closed out the final five weeks on a 13-game winning streak, equaling their LCS record 13-game winning streak in 2013, to finish the regular season with a 24–4 record and the top seed in the playoffs. With a bye into the semifinals, Cloud9 first defeated Team Curse by a score of 2–0 in the playoffs. Cloud9 won their second consecutive LCS title after a 3–0 sweep over Team SoloMid in the grand finals on April 20. After going 5–0 in the playoffs, Cloud9 extended their record winning streak to 18 games and had gone undefeated in back-to-back playoffs.
Their LCS playoffs victory earned the team a spot in the 2014 All-Stars event in Paris, France. However, on April 30, Hai suffered a collapsed lung, which would prevent him from attending the All-Star event; two days later, Counter Logic Gaming's Link replaced him in the lineup on a loan. In group stage of the tournament, the team defeated OMG, Fnatic, and Taipei Assassins, but lost to SK Telecom T1 K, to finish the stage with a 3–1 record. In the playoff semifinals, Cloud9 lost to OMG, 0–2, and were eliminated from the playoffs.
In the 2014 NA LCS Summer Split, Cloud9 suffered a mid-season slump, falling to as low as fifth place in the season standings, but recovered to finish with a 18–10 record in the regular season and claim the top seed in the playoffs. After sweeping Team Curse the semifinals, Cloud9 advanced to the grand finals to face Team SoloMid for the third consecutive split. Cloud9 won the first game, extending their playoff winning streak dating back to the 2013 NA LCS Summer split, but dropped three of the next four games to lose the match, 2–3, and finish in second place.
With their finish at the 2014 NA LCS Summer split, Cloud9 qualified for the 2014 World Championship. In the World Championship group stages, Cloud9 became the first North American team in two years to defeat a Korean team after taking down NaJin White Shield. Cloud9 advanced to the knockout stage but lost to Samsung Galaxy Blue, 1–3, on October 4 in the quarterfinals. In November, Cloud9 was voted in by fans to play at IEM Season IX San Jose. In the tournament, the team swept paiN Gaming, 2–0, in the quarterfinals and defeated Alliance, 2–1, in the semifinals. The team took home their first IEM title on December 7 after they swept Unicorns of Love, 3–0, in the finals.
First roster changes In the midst of the 2015 NA LCS Spring split regular season, Cloud9 competed in the IEM Katowice World Championship, which took place beginning on March 13, after qualifying as the winners of IEM San Jose in 2014. The team made an early exit in the tournament after falling to GE Tigers and Flash Wolves in their first two matches of the group stages.
Cloud9 began the 2015 NA LCS Spring Split going 1–3. By the end of the regular season, the team finished with a 12–6 record, and after defeating Counter Logic Gaming in a tiebreaker match, they claimed the second seed and a first-round bye in the playoffs. After defeating Team Liquid in the semifinals match, Cloud9 advanced to the finals to face Team SoloMid for the fourth straight LCS split. Cloud9 took an early lead, winning the first game but dropped the following three, losing 1–3 and placing second for the second LCS split in a row. A few days after their second-place finish, on April 22, Hai officially retired from the team, citing chronic wrist pain and a loss of team confidence as the reasons for his retirement. Hai's retirement ended the team's nearly 750-day record of having the longest starting lineup in professional League of Legends history. While Hai stepped down as a competitor, he remained with Cloud9 in an organizational role as a partner management and team expansion assistant. On May 8, Cloud9 officially signed Incarnati0n as a replacement for Hai as mid-laner.
The team started the 2015 NA LCS Summer Split going 3–7. After the poor start, Meteos stepped down from the starting roster, later citing internal issues with his teammates. In his stead, Hai substituted back into the starting roster. Cloud9 dropped the three of the next four games, heading into the final two weeks with a 4–10 record and in eighth place – a low enough placement to be relegated. The team finished the season with a 6–12 record, and after defeating Team 8 in a tiebreaker match, they placed seventh in the regular season standings to avoid relegation but missed the LCS playoffs for the first time in their organization's history.
After avoiding LCS relegation, Cloud9 qualified for the North American Regional Qualifier for the 2015 World Championship as the last seed. In the tournament, they defeated Gravity Gaming, Team Impulse, and Team Liquid to earn North America's third seed in the World Championship tournament. Cloud9 started the group stages going 3–0 in the first week, defeating ahq eSports Club, Invictus Gaming, and Fnatic. In the second week of the group stage, they dropped three games in a row, and after losing a tiebreaker game against ahq, they were eliminated from the tournament.
On October 23, Cloud9 officially announced that LemonNation would be retiring as a competitor and transitioning to a coaching role. Cloud9 signed Rush and Bunny FuFuu in November, with Bunny FuFuu splitting time with Hai. With the new roster, Cloud9's final tournament of 2015 was IEM X Cologne, as the team qualified for the tournament after winning a fan vote. The team faced H2k-Gaming in the quarterfinals, but after winning game one of the match, they dropped the following two games and were eliminated from the tournament.
2016–2020: Reapered era First head coach In the 2016 NA LCS Spring Split, Cloud9 finished the regular season with a 12–6 record and the third seed in the Spring playoffs. Jensen (formerly Incarnati0n) was named to the NA LCS Spring Split 1st All-Pro Team and was a runner-up for the league's Most Valuable Player award. The team faced Team SoloMid in the quarterfinals on April 2; they won the first game of the match but lost the following three to lose by a score of 1–3. Between splits, Cloud9 made the biggest roster changes in their organization's history, acquiring Impact from NRG eSports to replace Balls, bringing Meteos back to the main roster to replace Rush, and bringing Bunny FuFuu back to the main roster to replace Hai. Additionally, the team added former Edward Gaming coach Bok "Reapered" Han-gyu as the team's first official head coach.
Cloud9 began the 2016 NA LCS Summer Split regular season with an 8–5 record. Up to this point in the season, Bunny FuFuu and Smoothie split starts, but on July 10, Bunny FuFuu stepped down from the starting roster. Similar to the 2016 Spring Split, Cloud9 finished the 2016 Summer Split regular season with a 12–6 record and the third seed in the Summer playoffs. In their quarterfinal match against Team EnVyUs, Jensen set an LCS record 20 kills in a single game as the team went on to win, 3–1. The team then defeated Immortals, 3–2, in the semifinals. For the fifth time in the team's history, Cloud9 faced Team SoloMid in the finals. In the match, Cloud9 took an early lead, winning the first game, but lost the following three, losing the match 1–3 and finishing the split in second place.