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Hai's departure

TheSequelsRBad·4/23/2015, 2:59:44 PM·35 votes·4,304 views

So Hai is leaving. And while I am very sad that my probably favorite pro player is stepping down, I hope that C9 can bounce back stronger than ever from their first roster swap r. But I am slightly worried that with Hai gone, C9 as we know it will also go.

And I also wish hai, who was in his prime in my opinion the best midlaner in NA, and was also hands down the best shotcaller in NA, will have success and fulfillment in his career as coach/supporting staff for C9.

I also think that Hai should get a lot of respect and not hate from the community, because Cloud9, led by hai, did so much to improve the level of play in NA. Their 25/3 record shows how much stronger they were in the summer split of 2013. And they were a major contributing factor to the growth of NA as a whole. Hai has done so much for the NA scene, just as much as the early founders of the scene, people like HotshotGG, Reggie, STVicious, and others. They were the founders, but hai was one the main leaders of NA growth as a region.

I for one will miss watching him play very much.

56 Comments

ZeroAnarchy4/23/2015, 9:36:22 PM6 votes

Hai was never the best mid in NA in his prime, he was and still is the best shotcaller however.

S3 best mid - Mancloud S4/5 - Bjergsen

Earl Eulrich4/23/2015, 4:09:38 PM6 votes

that´s a shame, would have hoped they´d try to swap him and meteos. He had been a brilliant Jungler when he first appeared on the scene (even carrying on tp-ap-jungle-yi) and it´s way easier to shoutcall as a jungler compared to sololaner in my experience (as you constantly look on the "bigger picture" anyway).

AbyssionKnight4/23/2015, 8:04:04 PM6 votes

It's really not unexpected. He's always had a limited champion pool and recently his health has been on the decline.

Despite that though he was a core part of C9, and I'm very curious to see how the team handles the loss of their shotcaller moving forward.

Curling Veigar4/23/2015, 7:35:33 PM5 votes

hotshot is a huge shitter though.

Minrog4/23/2015, 5:41:09 PM5 votes

I'm glad he retired. Watching his gameplay and knowing that he's been playing injured all split made me worried about him. Carpal Tunnel is brutal and he is a young guy still.

I wish him the best as a coach and I hope their new mid-laner works out.

soulbanana84/23/2015, 4:31:27 PM5 votes

I'm upset that Hai is leaving. But he's right: he needs his wrists to heal and his confidence level looks like its going down due to that injury. I hope he gets well soon so that he can start playing competitively again without having to worry about his injury.

The Bíg Ticket4/23/2015, 8:34:41 PM5 votes

Below average laner imo. Atleast for top tier play. Good shotcalling but to me he always seemed to be the weakest part in Cloud9 who have 3 mechanically skilled players in Meteos, Balls and Sneaky.

Champlooge4/24/2015, 1:20:47 AM4 votes

He win be missed greatly from the TSM organization. Lots o frespect amongst the teams, and bjerg has learned so much from hai. Hate to see him leave but,.. that wrist :(

Farewell summoner 7 HAI

ían4/23/2015, 10:33:57 PM4 votes

In my opinion, without hai and c9 bursting into the na scene, na would still be a shit team at international competition and only ever dream about beating any "world-class" teams. But because of cloud 9's revolutionary play, NA is actually a contender for international competitions now. I wish Hai the best of luck in the rest of his adventures and thank him for every single thing he has done for the league secene as a whole

Angelofchaos16x4/23/2015, 4:42:08 PM3 votes

{quoted}

I for one will miss watching him play very much.

True that Bro. I hope that this is not a goodbye 4 good from playing in the LCS. I hope that at some point he comes back.

Yxgl222HaX4/23/2015, 8:46:12 PM3 votes

Have you ever been deleted so badly by a cho'gath that you had to retire? that aside its a shame to see him go but, the wrist thing was obviously starting to hold him back and he did what he had to do- he himself realized he was holding his team back and like a real leader he put his team before his only desire to play in the lcs and step down. Good player and a good leader, just a shame to see the "all amerian team" have to take on new blood Teemo

Sammystorm4/23/2015, 9:24:52 PM3 votes

Honestly, he currently was probably the weakest link in c9. He helped develop a better NA scene but he was to inconsistent to really be considered a top mid laner. When he is doing well he carries games. when he isn't the entire team suffers.

Seductive Potato4/23/2015, 5:34:35 PM3 votes

C9 incarnati0n incoming?

4nth0l0gy4/23/2015, 8:17:58 PM2 votes

...I don't remember when people decided to start calling Hai the best shot caller in NA, and it still kind of confuses me. Wasn't Lemon supposed to be the major strategist for the team or something?

COMMANDER FRAKES4/24/2015, 12:57:27 AM2 votes

Now they just need to move LemonNation to a coaching role and get a Support that can hit his skillshots, and not make as many mistakes in positioning. Not an insult, since Lemon seems very smart, but his mechanics and positioning are flawed. Plus they have had the same roster, so they are able to get 2 foreigners if need be, since Hai is gone, and with Lemon gone they would be much better off in my opinion. Balls still does well enough that he should stick around, especially with certain champions. Meteos and Sneaky have nothing to worry about in terms of getting replaced. They do their jobs very well.

daemanic4/23/2015, 10:47:16 PM2 votes

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO item 3070 WHY HAI WHY im gonna miss him so much Goodbye C9 hopefully you can findsomeone to step into the biggest shoes on C9

Kürama4/23/2015, 7:23:07 PM2 votes

He did well leading Cloud 9 even though he fell short of perfection sometimes. Always admired Cloud 9, including him. I can see how it can hinder your success.

Despite the meta changing, I'm sure he would have been able to adapt, sure he would have to make changes to the way he played and perhaps his champ pool, but he was definitely capable of doing it!

Gotta admit I'll miss the guy. I wish him Good luck with his new position as CGO!!

iLuma5/14/2015, 10:24:29 PM1 votes

C9 Faker.

Yasuo

Linna Excel4/23/2015, 10:13:22 PM1 votes

Noo, not the main Ahri player!

Jrpitoloco4/24/2015, 1:29:07 AM1 votes

Long live Hai

arcinex4/24/2015, 2:57:13 AM1 votes

{quoted}

who was in his prime in my opinion the best midlaner in NA, and was also hands down the best shotcaller in NA

If this were true C9 wouldn't have ended their spring split in 2nd place Kappa

GibonGra4/24/2015, 3:39:23 AM1 votes

Honestly, Bals is the weakest link in C9. People just don't admit it because he rarely goes god mode and makes everyone forget all his play that's absolute shit.

Jweldy4/24/2015, 11:04:48 AM1 votes

Honestly, as long as the rest of the team stays together, I think that the team will be much, much better next season. Hopefully they can bring in somebody with better mechanics and have somebody on the existing roster replace him as shotcaller (Meteos maybe?). But overall, I think this will be an improvement for the team in the end.

Chromatic Eagle4/24/2015, 8:57:28 PM1 votes

When you have an injury it's best to step down. No need to be upset I'm happy for him. Health comes first. Besides he's still a part of the team, he's just in a new role. Wish him the best.

Fr0mTh3Ash3s4/25/2015, 1:15:47 AM1 votes

It is crazy how short a professional LoL player's career is.

I have mad respect for Hai. Regardless of whether you think he was THE best, he will always be a champion and no one can ever take that away from him. Seems like a nice guy. I'm sad to see him go.

cookiesforu4/28/2015, 11:53:33 AM1 votes

I dunno man, this season I've kept up with LCS eu and NA, LPL, LPK and even more obscure ones. Also this was my first season caring about esports and I barely missed a match even of the lesser teams. Hai wasn't anything special to me and made poor decisions in a lot of games I saw. C9 looked particularly bad at IEM. I feel he was holding the team back quite a bit. Balls was pretty meh too. They need a change. Once his champs are banned he can't do too much.