Earlier tonight, it was announced that Cloud9’s long-time star mid-laner, Nikolaj Jensen, had been bought out and was on his way to Team Liquid. The Danish import leaves a roster where he spent more than 3 years, to join a Liquid team headlined by North American legend Doublelift and former World Champion and ex-Cloud9 top laner, Impact. This transaction follows a historic run by Cloud9, where the team became the first North American roster to ever make the semi-final round at the World Championships. While most Cloud9 fans will undoubtedly be shocked by the move, some may even feel a little deceived.
“He is not going anywhere”
Back on August 13, a disgruntled Cloud9 fan had vented on the team’s subreddit that they would “bet money” that the team would lose Jensen this season. Cloud9’s owner, Jack Etienne, saw the comment and replied to the fan, asking how much they were willing to bet. When the fan boldly claimed he’d put down “a grand,” Jack quipped that he was being offered easy money. He stated he didn’t want to draw the fan into a bad bet and guaranteed Jensen was “not going anywhere.”
That’s a significant amount. It would be easy money for me to take as he is not going anywhere but I wouldn’t do that to someone who clearly cares about the org.
I’ve got great relationships with these players, and we take great care of them. Every decision we’re making with the roster is focused on making us better for the long term. I can understand with that limited information you have why you could get upset. Please try to understand that the success of this organization is our primary goal.
– Cloud9 owner, Jack Etienne
A link to the reddit thread shows the full exchange between the fan, Soccerstud20, and Jack’s own personal reddit account, Cloud9Jack.
We’ve also provided screenshots of the conversation below.
Fan reaction so far
The decision to let go of a high profile player like Jensen will always carry enough scrutiny on its own. It looks a lot worse for Cloud9 given that the owner essentially guaranteed that it wouldn’t happen. Of course, the reddit thread in question has already been swarmed with new commenters. Many are asking for Jack to “pay up,” while others sarcastically discuss how his comment did not age well.
Something tells us that this isn’t the last we’ve heard from Jack on the matter. We will continue to monitor the situation and keep you all updated with any new information that comes out. As always, stay tuned for more.
Published: Nov 20, 2018 12:13 am