Cloud9 have made sweeping changes to their League of Legends roster, adding three new Korean players to the iconic LCS squad. While two are untested rookies, Cloud9’s new top laner is LCK veteran Park ‘Summit’ Woo-tae.
This is not the offseason Cloud9 were likely hoping for.
Despite making the quarter-finals at Worlds 2021 in Iceland, Cloud9 were left with a major hole to fill after mid laner Luka ‘Perkz’ Perković announced he was leaving the team.
As part of their 2021 rebuilding efforts, Cloud9 have acquired Korean free agent Summit, with 2021 top laner Ibrahim ‘Fudge’ Allami role swapping to the mid lane.
Summit is rumored to be joining Cloud9 as their new top lanerWho is Summit?
Park ‘Summit’ Woo-tae is a mainstay of the LCK. Beginning his career as a sub for Afreeca Freecs in 2018, he has spent the past three seasons as the starting top laner for SANDBOX Gaming.
While SANDBOX Gaming have struggled to compete in the LCK, their best finish being 3rd in the 2019 Regional Finals, Summit has often stood out as one of the team’s bright spots.
In the 2021 LCK Summer split, Summit played 13 champions, earning a 55.3% winrate as SANDBOX went 26-21 in the matches he played in. His most picked champion was Gnar, playing the furry specialist 13 times for a 76.9% winrate.
Gnar was Summit’s most-picked champion in LCK Summer 2021 playAfter falling short in the 2021 Regional Finals, SANDBOX Gaming shook up the roster. On November 14, they released both Summit and jungler Kim ‘OnFleek’ Jang-gyeom.
C9 Summit?
In a brief video uploaded to his YouTube channel, LCS insider Travis Gafford revealed that Cloud9 would be acquiring Summit as their new top laner, with top laner Fudge role-swapping to the mid lane.
Summit brings in a wealth of experience from a highly-competitive league, and will definitely vie with the likes of Gabriël ‘Bwipo’ Rau and Kim ‘Ssumday’ Chan-ho for the title of best top laner in the LCS.
This was confirmed when C9 announced their full roster on November 20th, including young Korean players Kim ‘Berserker’ Min-cheol and Kim ‘Winsome’ Dong-keon.
However, questions will remain as to whether this is the best move for Cloud9. They will now field sophomore Fudge in an off-role, alongside a rookie bot lane.
Whether the moves pay off for Cloud9 will remain to be seen until the season begins in January.
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