Where art thou, Sneaky?
With All-Stars behind us, it's time to start looking towards the 2020 League of Legends season. In North America, the main rosters for all ten teams LCS have been confirmed. Besides who will be playing, this has also told us who won't be. A notable entry in the latter category is Zachary "Sneaky" Scuderi.
Leaving Cloud9
While a household name in North American League of Legends, the Cloud9 ADC saw his team sign former Team SoloMid player Jasper "Zven" Svenningsen to his position in November.
Following this, Sneaky confirmed that he would no longer be on the team. In his telling, some of his teammates did not want to play with him anymore. Because of this, he said that he also had no desire to compete for the spot with Zven.
The statements caused a lot of discussion amongst pro players and fans alike. Some felt that as a professional, competing for a position is part of your job. Others argued that C9 was not showing him enough respect for sticking with them. Sneaky has been with the organization since May 2013.
The debate became heated enough that Cloud9 CEO Jack Etienne felt the need to comment on the issue, despite stating it was the player's wish that he did not.
"Welcome to professional sports."
As these things go, this then started speculation about where the player would go next. Some thought he'd perhaps join 100 Thieves, with former teammate William "Meteos" Hartman. Others saw a return to Dignitas, where he served a short stint in early 2013, was in the books.
But when 100 Thieves then signed Sun "Cody Sun" Li-Yu and Dignitas acquired Johnsun "Johnsun" Nguyen, speculation turned into accusations. While these are great players in their own right, they are not considered of the same caliber as Sneaky. Did Cloud9 screw him out of a contract?
According to new details given by ESPN's Jacob Wolf, it was quite the opposite. Dignitas originally wanted to sign Sneaky and both organizations were ready to make the transaction happen. In the end, it was the player who could not come to an agreement on financial compensation, however. According to Wolf, Dignitas was the only party interested in buying out Sneaky’s contract.
If true, the situation is certainly unfortunate, but it can hardly be laid at the feet of Cloud9. Citing last year’s Meteos transfer as a similar situation, Wolf went on to suggest that this an instance where further professionalization from players' sides is necessary.
Either way, the upside of all this is that there's a good chance of more Sneaky streams and cosplays during the Spring Split. Yet, with no official retirement announcement made, many will be hoping to see the player return to the LCS Rift soon.