LCS: Reapered’s Successful Yet Complicated Legacy on Cloud9

After famed coach Reapered has been fired by Cloud9, we take a look at his history of success with the organization and why it suddenly ended.

Diagnosing the Failures

The predominant trend of Reapered’s coaching career has been a failure to adapt. While he has been the head coach Cloud9 has struggled to adapt over the course of a split, as they seemingly always fall off, and during best of five series.

Westrice was promoted during the offseason to assistant coach to specifically address the team’s issues in draft and Jack mentioned how he felt the main reason C9 missed worlds was their failure adapt and learn from issues the team had identified.

This is not to pin all the blame on Reapered. The players themselves are probably more responsible for that particular issue this split, but his history of similar situations over the last four years does indicate he is at least partly responsible for those issues.

It seems totally unacceptable several series in his career have been lost due to pure arrogance and a failure to prepare. Dignitas 2017 Summer is a good example and so is their most recent playoff series against FlyQuest. Looking past their opponents has nearly always been an issue since he became head coach.

This seems like a paradox as Reapered’s greatest strength has been his ability to bring up rookies to the LCS level. Contractz, Blaber, Zeyzal, Nisqy (not a true rookie), and Licorice became either the best or a contender for the best in their role in NA under Reapered. Everyone who has ever worked with him speaks about how much he taught them about the game.

For Cloud9 I would hope they have another high-profile coach waiting to be signed. Someone like Youngbuck in Europe who has a track record of finding effective solutions to team’s internal issues. Reapered was a huge reason why Cloud9 remained relevant in the 4 years he coached the team. We reap what we sow as the old maxim goes, and this is a decision Cloud9 cannot come to regret.