Svenskeren confirms transfer from Cloud9 to Evil Geniuses

Confirming his departure on Twitter, Svenskeren wrote: “I’ve had an amazing last 2 years on @Cloud9 and I'll always cherish the memories I've made and especially I’m grateful to have played with all my former teammates.  

“But here’s to a new chapter in my life and I can’t express how excited I am for this opportunity.” 

This is not the first major change for the organization. It was also announced that Zachary “Sneaky” Scuderi will be replaced by Jesper “Zven” Svenningsen.  

Tristan “Zeyzal” Stidam is also apparently going with Svenskeren but that part of the agreement has not been finalized. Svenskeren leaves behind Eric “Licorice” Ritchie, Robert “Blaber” Huang, and Yasin “Nisqy” Dinçer, along with Zven and new support Phillippe “Vulcan” Laflamme. 

Svenskeren is quite the veteran player, beginning in Season 1 with LoL League. For the next couple of years, he jumped around on different teams including Copenhagen Wolves and Ninjas in Pyjamas. From 2013 to 2015 he played in EU with SK Gaming before moving to TSM and NA in November 2015. 

On TSM, Svenskeren had a rocky first split with the team until playoffs, where they defeated Cloud9 3-1 and swept Immortals 3-0. In finals, they faced CounterLogicGaming, and lost 3-2. However, they improved dramatically in the summer split and qualified for Worlds 2016 as first seed for NA. They finished 3rd in the group stage against Samsung Galaxy from the LCK, Royal Never Give Up from the LPL, and Splyce from the previous EU LCS (now LEC). 

2017 was also domestically a good year for TSM as they won their Spring and Summer Split Finals, giving them their third title in a row; a first in NA LCS history. However, at Worlds 2017, they were put in a group with Team WE from the LPL, Misfits Gaming from EU LCS and Flash Wolves from the LMS and finished 3rd again. TSM has not been to Worlds since. 

In 2018, Svenskeren was brought in along with Licorice. The beginning of the split went well until the last week, where they dropped from 2nd place to fifth and lost 0-3 in Spring Quarterfinals.  

This prompted the massive roster change in the mid season that turned things upside for the team. Veteran players Nicolaj “Jensen” Jensen, Sneaky, and Andy “Smoothie” Ta were benched, and replaced with three players from their academy roster. Greyson “Goldenglue” Gilmer, Yuri “Keith” Jew, and Zeyzal were now playing on the main stage alongside Licorice and Svenskeren in a move that left fans completely bewildered. 

This nervousness continued as the team was in 10th place by week five. By all accounts, Cloud9 would never make it to Worlds. By week six, owner Jack Etienne and coach Bok “Reapered” Han-gyu brought back Jensen and Sneaky and began to use another interesting tactic: substitution. Teams are allowed to use subs and even switch out academy and LCS players as long as they follow League rules, but no team in the LCS had used substitutions in the innovative style Cloud9 was reaching for. 

The team deployed new academy player Robert “Blaber” Huang and Goldenglue with Svenskeren and Jensen, using each of their playstyles to their advantage on the Rift. Switching players depending on which team was against them and keeping Zeyzal on the LCS roster caused them to surge into 2nd place, which prompted fans to claim they knew Jack and Reapered had a plan all along.  

At Worlds 2018, they made it to Semifinals, marking the first time since Season 1 that a NA team had made it that far. They lost to Fnatic 0-3, however, and their Worlds run was done. 

This year at Worlds, however, things were drastically different. Cloud9 were placed in Group A with Griffin from the LCK, G2 Esports from the LEC, and Hong Kong Attitude from the LMS and ended Worlds in 3rd place in the group.  

Svenskeren was not on stage most of the time, and instead was replaced by Blaber. The two junglers have vastly different playstyles; Blaber likes to be quite aggressive and jump into fights immediately, and his teammates need to be ready to be behind him. While the team is known for their substitutions as explained earlier, Svenskeren was largely unseen. The reasons for this are unknown. 

Now his new journey will begin on Evil Geniuses, an organization that has been around since 1999 but only started looking for a League of Legends team in 2013. They were in the EU briefly, came back to NA for a short time, and now have taken Echo Fox’s previous spot. Svenskeren is the only team member that has been named so far. 

Evil Geniuses’ official Twitter made their own announcement, featuring CEO Nicole LaPointe Jameson. 

On this new team, the former MVP of LCS 2019 Summer Split will be waiting for his new teammates, and it will be interesting to see who will join this roster and how the team will play in the 2020 Spring Split starting in January. Needless to say with a pick like Svenskeren, Evil Geniuses will be a team to watch out for.