In a surprising announcement, Cloud9 took to social media to announce that they had parted ways with their long-time head coach, Bok “Reapered” Han-gyu. Reapered has served as the head coach of Cloud9 for more than four years, having joined in May of 2016.
At this moment, there is no confirmation as to the reason behind his departure. However, it seems that this wasn’t a sudden split decision, as the team released an extensive interview and discussion with him during the announcement, showing some level of preparation.
In his tenure as coach, Reapered has led Cloud9 through plenty of ups and downs, but even the most jaded of fans are forced to admit that there have been many, many more ups for the titanic team. Having played for the team before coaching them, Reapered has had a hand in much of the organization over the last decade.
While the team had declined a bit during the second half of Summer, they still came into a strong finish, going second in the split and fourth in the playoffs. With no clear reason as to why Reapered would be departing, many are wondering why.
As a result, social media is abuzz with rumors – which, given that the news dropped a couple of hours ago as of writing this, one would expect. Many believe that he’s departing the team to fulfill his mandatory military requirement.
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/RcIOz73jbg pic.twitter.com/fzGIu2YIHm
— Cloud9 (@Cloud9) September 14, 2020
However, at the end of the video that Cloud9 released interviewing him, he directly states at the end that he will be looking for another team. This seems to indicate that he has no intention whatsoever of stepping away from the esports scene.
Another confusing factor to the news is that Cloud9 confirmed previously that they would be keeping their roster together for 2021 despite the poor recent form. One would assume that Reapered was a part of that roster, but apparently not.
Furthermore, Reapered was reportedly still under contract until 2022. This contract was meant to expire in November of 2022 specifically and was extended this year – though that announcement came in April before their form dipped.
While it’s certainly a bit confusing due to all of the contrary evidence that left fans feeling comfortable Reapered would be in for the years to come, it’s also quite a flippant dismissal of one of the most iconic and well-known figures of the LCS.
Given that Reapered intends to be searching for another team, we shouldn’t expect this to be the last that we see of him. Any team would be lucky to have such a legendary coach as a member of their staff or even their head coach. There seems to be no bad blood between Reapered and Cloud9, so hopefully, this is simply the next step in the journey of an icon.
