Reapered departs Cloud9 after five years as head coach

Hangyu “Reapered” Bok has departed from Cloud9 after five years as their Head Coach. The announcement follows a frustrating Summer Split where C9 failed to make Worlds for the first time in the organisation’s history.

Today, we announce the departure of #C9LoL's Head Coach, @Reapered. Thank you for all the memories, draft kingdoms, and achievements within the last 4 years & we wish nothing but the best in your future endeavors!

Watch: https://t.co/RcIOz73jbgpic.twitter.com/fzGIu2YIHm

— Cloud9 (@Cloud9) September 14, 2020

Reapered comes away with a raft of accolades from his time at Cloud9, including Coach of the Split awards in 2017, 2018, and 2020, and was successful in bringing the team to four consecutive Worlds appearances including a semi-finals appearance in 2018.

Cloud9 looked like one of the most dominant teams in LCS history this season after going 17-1 in the regular season, and then crushing playoffs to win the organisation’s first LCS title since 2014. They seemed guaranteed to continue on that trajectory in the first half of the Summer Split. But after reaching a game score of 9-0, the wheels started to fall off and C9 eventually dropped out of playoffs, losing first to FlyQuest in the upper bracket and then TSM in the lower to fail to reach Worlds despite their stellar Split and a half.

In a recent episode of The9’s, a Cloud9 talk show hosted by Christopher “MonteCristo” Mykles, C9’s owner Jack Etienne made some frank comments that much of the LoL team’s struggles in the second half of summer were down to poor practice and that ultimately stemmed from the coaching staff.

He went on to say that fans should expect at the very least a change in “configuration” in the coaching staff and floated ideas like bringing in a drafting coach, but certainly didn’t seem to imply that Reapered would be departing.

(Picture: Cloud9)

Despite this, it has come as a massive shock to fans and pundits alike that one of the most tenured and well-regarded coaches in League of Legends is departing C9, especially after the success from Spring and the first half of summer. Jack’s comments on The9’s about challenging “the status quo” are certainly brought to mind, here.

There is no confirmation as to whether the decision was made by either side or mutually as yet, but it is not a massive leap of judgment to question whether Jack’s promised coaching changes would have seen Reapered move from Head Coach to a less senior role. If that is the case, then one could understand Reapered’s decision to leave his long time organisation, and seek pastures new as a Head Coach elsewhere.

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Reapered leaves C9 as one of the hottest commodities on the market, and while his next moves are unknown, any number of LCS teams (or LEC teams, for that matter), will surely be interested in acquiring the veteran coach. A bold gambler might even note that T1 has recently parted ways with their own Head Coach, and thus have an opening...