ESPN recently reported Cloud9 and Dignitas have come to a verbal agreement, specifically, in a trade deal that would send Dignitas support Philippe "Vulcan" Laflamme to Cloud9 in exchange for money amounting to $1.5 million and former TSM Academy bot laner, Johnson "Johnsun" Nguyen. With Cloud9's previous agreement to transfer 4 of its players, which include Tristan "Zeyzal" Stidam to Evil Geniuses, they were said to be in the market to seek support.
The same report said, "Vulcan debuted in the LCS this Spring with Clutch Gaming," whom Dignitas bought out and reached the Worlds 2019 with his whole team. The buyout for Dignitas support Vulcan was a major part of the successes of the team, having the same first-split to the top laner of C9, Eric "Licorice" Ritchie. Meanwhile, Johnsun was a bot laner of TSM Academy whom TSM scouted last year and played 4 games this summer behind Edward "Tactical" Ra, the starting TSMA bot.
The Deal
Invenglobal.com indicated an article, reporting as part of the buyout deal, Cloud9 purchased Johnsun from TSM, and is eventually sending him to DIG along with the million-dollar-and-a-half cost "in exchange for Vulcan." This amount is among the biggest buyouts in "esports" history. Incidentally, Dignitas has settled to a trade that would send support Vulcan to Cloud9 with an equivalent amount of, again, $1.5 million, as well as Academy AD carry, Johnsun.
These major moves during the League of Legends (LOL) are considered the most significant moves so far, from 2018-19 LOL offseason. Vulcan is expected to be part of the "blue and white" for next year's season after the team settled for another transfer that would send starters jungler Dennis "Svenskeren" Johnsen and support Stidam, as well as 2 Academy players AD carry Matthew "Deftly" Chen and top laner Ziqing "Kumo" Zhao, to Evil geniuses.
Cloud9 in Search for a new AD carry
Cloud9 is also searching for a new AD carry this off-season along with the future of Zachary "Sneaky" Scuderi's competitive career indefinite, sources said. Meanwhile, the team retains top laner Ritchie, jungler Robert "Blaber" Huang and Yasin "Nisqy" Dincer. Dignitas, on the other hand, is about to enter the "free-agent" support market from which the team settled for terms with its top laner Heo "Huni" Seun-hoon, for a 2-year contract extension amounting to $2.3 million in all, in sure-money throughout the deal. This report came from ESPN early this month.
For the upcoming LOL season, sports fans expect to see Johnsun competing on Dignitas's Academy team. For the past several months, this Canadian AD carry has played for Team SoloMid Academy, the team that gave him his current reputation "as a young prospect having so much potential." Cloud9 bought out Johnsun to be part of the agreement with Dignitas for Vulcan. Both teams, previously Clutch Gaming, competed at the LOL World Championship in October. None of the teams qualified for the tournament's bracket stage.
