Cloud9’s Zven becomes free agent and switches roles ahead of LCS 2024

2024 will mark the start of a new era for the star bot laner.

Zven showing his fists to the camera like he's ready to fight.
Photo via Riot Games

League of Legends player Zven has parted ways with Cloud9 four years after his signing, and he’s ready to switch roles. The support player says he’s looking for opportunities as a bot laner ahead of 2024.

“After four years, four trophies and lots of good times, my time at Cloud9 has come to an end,” he wrote in a tweet Nov. 2.

Since the start of his League career in 2013, Zven has always played as a bot laner. For years, he had been renowned as the best at his role in North America. In May 2022, however, he switched to the support role in Cloud9 when he returned to the main roster, after spending the 2022 season in the Academy one.

Zven concluded a great year in 2023 as support, boasting high stats with Cloud9. He was the support player with the highest kill participation rate in the LCS Summer Split with 77.9 percent, according LoL Fandom.

“I wanna give a special thanks to [CEO] Jack Etienne,” Zven added in a reply to his tweet. “He took a big risk and gave me a chance when I was at the lowest point of my career when no one else would and I always be grateful for that.”

Zven refers to his signing in 2019. He joined Cloud9 after missing Worlds two times in a row with TSM, in 2018 and 2019. The team missed it once again the first year he played under their colors, but they qualified every year since then, in 2021, 2022, and 2023.

The team had a stellar 2023 year. They were crowned LCS champions of the Spring split, and ended the Summer split at the top of the rankings, even though they missed the title by losing to NRG in the finals.

They ended their 2023 season in the main event of the World Championship. Their journey was put to an end by Fnatic when they lost two-to-three in the fourth round of the Swiss stage.

Now, Cloud9 is rebuilding its roster ahead of the next season. In addition to Zven’s departure, it welcomed former player Hai as team manager on Oct. 10, six years after the end of his career as a midlaner.

It’s still unclear where Zven will head for the next season. Meanwhile, many personalities gave him encouragement and praised his performance on Twitter, such as C9 bot laner Berserker. “I’ve learned a lot in the past two years, not only in the game. It’s been fun to work with you. It will be fun to play against you next year,” he wrote. LCS fans are already eagerly awaiting seeing this future rivalry unfold in 2024.

Author

Eva Martinello
Eva is a Staff Writer from Paris. Her part-time job is charging into walls with Reinhardt. She has been covering League of Legends esports and other titles for six years. She still believes in a Moscow Five comeback. She also fell into the MMO pit and covers FFXIV and Genshin.

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