Cloud9’s new head coach Nick “LS” De Cesare, former T1 content creator and LCK caster, did an AMA (Ask Me Anything) on Reddit over the weekend.
He announced last week that he was committed to doing two AMAs, one on the League of Legends subreddit forum, and one on his Twitch stream.
In true LS fashion, he promised to “try to be as transparent as possible with answers” in this AMA, and spent half a day answering questions thoughtfully.
Besides learning the fact that he prefers to sleep without clothes, many Redditors received answers pertaining to his highly anticipated 2022 League of Legends Championship Series (LCS) season with Cloud9, including its players, his coaching style, drafts, and goals for the year.
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Head coach LS on expectations for Cloud9 going into the 2022 LCS season
When asked about what his goals are for the team, LS replied that he would like to see Cloud9 at least reach the Worlds 2022 semifinals. Similarly, “not winning [LCS] Spring/Summer would be a failure”, for he believes that second place is “not good enough”.
Regarding goals for specific players, he is determined to help top laner turned mid laner and good friend, Ibrahim “Fudge” Allami, become “the best Western mid laner”, and Robert “Blaber” Huang become the “best Western jungler”.
“I think a lot will be adopted quickly, probably two weeks or so, and then other stuff will take time,” the Cloud9 head coach added, in response to how long it might take for the League of Legends team to adopt his ideas.
In terms of drafting, LS also made it clear that he’ll be the one making the final decision, but of course “it doesn’t mean there aren’t conversations being had during the clock”.
The competition for the 2022 LCS season is expected to be stiff, of course, especially after multiple offseason roster swaps. Out of all ten teams, he has his eyes on Evil Geniuses, 100 Thieves, and Team Liquid as top contenders.
What it means for Cloud9 to bring in LS and his team of Korean coaches
Competing and living in South Korea for years since his Starcraft II days, he’s been in the process of applying for permeant residency in Korea.
Since coaching Cloud9 would mean moving to Los Angeles, California for the LCS season, one fan was curious about how this will affect his application process.
“One of the agreements I had prior to joining with Cloud9 was that they’d acquire me the Korean residency visa through investment (essentially buying it),” he replied on Reddit. “I’ve been talking with lawyers for a bit now and figuring everything out, paperwork/process will take a bit, but that’s how I’m going about it.”
The Korean permanent resident visa F-5 is equivalent to the United States of America’s green card. Besides basic criteria like living in the country for five years or longer, it includes investing at least USD$500,000, which he claims Cloud9 is willing to pay for.
After all, it’s not just him who will be joining the LCS team. He’s also bringing in two Korean Challenger ranked coaches who have appeared on his Twitch streams. According to LS, one is native in Korean and English, while the other is fluent.
“I’m sure some people will claim nepotism or something on these hires, to that I’d ask them to tell me who else fits these very specific skillsets and can be depended on to make the system work,” he added.
Read the full AMA on the League of Legends subreddit here.
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