Boards›Esports

Link Replaces Hai at All-Star

Riot··1 votes·5,884 views

Like many players in the League of Legends community, we recently learned that Hai was hospitalized due to a collapsed lung, and as a result will be unable to attend All-Star Paris 2014 with his team Cloud 9.

As a result of this, Link has been traded to Cloud 9 and will represent C9 at All-Star Paris.

Counter Logic Gaming General Manager, Kelby May:

"When we heard the news about Hai, the team was deeply concerned for his well-being. It was also unfortunate that we would not be able to see C9 perform at their best after the immense amount of practice we know they have put in for the upcoming tournament. I reached out to Jack immediately to see if there was anything CLG could do to help, and fortunately in working with Riot we were able to find a way to provide support for C9 as they look to represent the growing strength of the North American region."

Cloud 9 Owner & General Manager, Jack Etienne:

"We were devastated by the news that Hai wouldn’t be able to travel to Paris as it’s been our goal all year to be a part of All-Stars and play against some of the best teams in the world. We’re extremely thankful to CLG who reached out to offer Link in our time of need and to Riot who worked hard to process this trade quickly so we could start scrimming immediately."

Nick Allen, Esports Manager:

"Normally we wouldn’t approve a player transaction of this nature, as we don’t want to see so-called ‘super teams’ forming before major events. Under these very unfortunate circumstances, we thought it important to aim for the highest level of competition possible, as locking Cloud 9 into All-Stars with a less competitive roster would be doing both fans, and the team, a disservice for such a monumental event. Additionally, this trade aligns with LCS rules and procedures and has been approved by LCS officials.

As a side note, our LCS rules state that teams must wait 3 weeks before they are able to make a player tradeback. Because of the timing of the NA LCS summer split, Cloud 9 and CLG are able to make this trade and still tradeback before the start of the LCS."

For more All-Star Paris 2014 news and previews, visit lolesports.com.

98 Comments

Para118 votes

The missing Link has been found

Shindou162 votes

Phreak would like a word with you

Thamios14 votes

...not so much a word as an open hand.

KC Mustang2 votes

And maybe some of your hair

Zappion2 votes

Ahhh I see what u did there

Hattermattigan40 votes

Best wishes to hai in his recovery and good luck to c9 at all-stars. Hopefully they will do better than their challenger teams.

FlareCity33 votes

Link, make Hai proud!!

Deus In Absentia12 votes

C9 Link has a ring to it man lol.

trontim9 votes

why not Bjerg? lol

pinkiezzzzzz25 votes

i don't think he can play with them because he is playing on "team fire," but i'm not sure obviously. Just an opinion ^-^

khagne3 votes

Also, they wouldn't approved bjerg to play in c9, because as an eSports management said: "Normally we wouldn’t approve a player transaction of this nature, as we don’t want to see so-called ‘super teams’ forming before major events"

Erkul6 votes

Any team with Bjergerking is a super-team. Way to break the rules, Rito.

Noenum20 votes

hai is the better midlaner

trontim1 votes

I believe so

Thamios6 votes

The ruling is that none of the players from the top placed teams could participate in the All Star challenges. Bjerg would have to give up his spot on Team Fire as well as force event organizers to pick another captain.

Plus I think CLG beat TSM to the punch on this, despite Hai and Bjerg's obvious bromance.

Tigratikus3 votes

Em if you didn't know this but Bjergson is not the captain of team Fire it's Diamond so no replacement there would be needed it's just that since the teams have been locked in there is not going back for team Fire and Ice

Thamios2 votes

Ah balls you're right. My bad I didn't have the page up when I was typing that xD.

Dudermen3 votes

hehe "Balls" (C9)

iPlayNude9 votes

I think Link will hold his own and do well like he did all year, just sucks he won't be as coordinated with C9 as Hai.

Funk Enterprize3 votes

I have a feeling that if C9 gets knocked out of the group stages, this will be why. Personally, I think TPA (because they lost hard to Gambit who got 5th in Europe) or Fnactic (due to their inconsistency) will get knocked out but with the roster change, NA has the possibility of getting knocked down as well :(

Ssataniko1 votes

You seem to have gotten that all backwards. TPA lost hard to C9 (and did Team WE) and Gambit and Fnatic both got rocked by the Asian teams at IEM. And given that HAI is the primary shotcaller on C9, it will obviously be incredibly hard, if not impossible to replace that synergy, especially on such short notice. Link doesn't even call shots on CLG (that's Aphro and Dexter).

ddrox131 votes

It may be needed to note here that Meteos has stated that often very few calls are made by C9, especially in the teamfights where they thrive. However, they did leave C9 with a quiet team, as Meteos and Lemon are all fairly quiet, and being Sneaky implies being silent. I think Balls may end up being the one who does the calls, as he seems to be the most outspoken of them

Control13378 votes

Well goodluck link!

Heart Of Iron7 votes

I hope Hai recovers as soon as possible. C9 is our ray of Hope!!!!!!

ModJikker6 votes

Good guys CLG and Link

Fudjaydz6 votes

CLG succeeded in sending a spy to C9. Still, Link is a good replacement since he can bring a really good utility mid like Hai does. Good Luck in All-Stars.

Ogk5 votes

Wish Shiptur could have been the replacement too bad Coast did shit this year

pinkiezzzzzz15 votes

It's also because (I think.. ._.) C9 and CLG are close scrim partners so Link has probably more of an understanding of C9's playstyle better than some other midlaners, such as Shiphtur.

Gamefanaticz3 votes

I thought it was TSM and C9 that are close scrim partners

PoisonTea2 votes

TSM and C9 are the closest Scrim partners.

PaxIsHere1 votes

I thought we were gonna see C9 Bjergsen but then he's already on team Fire. although. I also like Link's play style cause he also roams, not as much as Hai but at he roams. Just an opinion though.

Neoshadows1 votes

I would have like to see Bjergsen replacing Hai at the All Star Paris for C9, but he is playing on Team Fire :(

Daalad4 votes

Now, if c9 ever achieve to beat europe, european are still going to say NA sucks and that they win only cause we had a «buffed» team. We're up for another 6 months of debate without any good argument...

Rutherfordium8 votes

And if we lose then It will be Europe's best team against our best team down one man. Either way, All-Stars isn't going to prove anything. It sucks that Hai got a collapsed lung.

JoJolyne12 votes

Another 6 months of debate over who the 3rd, 4th and 5th best regions are? The fact that it's Toyz' carpel tunnel away from it being an argument over who the 4th and 5th best regions are? Meh. Seriously, a lot of those kids need to chill out.

Edit: On further reflection. I think Fnatic has the most credibility to lose out of all of the teams. They're the only team coming in at anything resembling 100%.

OMG - cool looked pretty shaky in their last match with iG. He is not in top form yet and he will need to be.

C9 - Obviously missing their team captain. That's a pretty big deal. There isn't a whole lot of history of teams losing their captains and then performing super well going into big events.

TPA - DinTer just stepped down for Winds. Debatable upgrade but either way even if Winds has been the jungler for their sister team for a while I'd be surprised if their coordination was optimal.

SKT T1 K - Struggles well documented. They got sent to the D-League after barely stumbling into the playoffs by Ozone. The same Ozone who a week later basically got dumpstered by their own B team. At this point it is debatable whether or not SKT T1 K is truly even a top 3 team in Korea. I think they still are, but I wouldn't defend them too hard if anyone gave me a compelling argument otherwise.

If Fnatic has a bad showing here, that does not bode well for them. Hate if you want, I'm just calling it as it is.

Silimaur8 votes

While I am not questioning the validity of many of your points I would argue that Fnatic has not been on entirely great form. Yes towards the end of the split they picked it up but they have been very shaky, they also benefited from some of the other leading LCS teams choosing that point to have their own issues (see end of season Gambit, Roccat etc).

Still, assuming they have actually put in the practice work I would say this is the best chance they have at coming out on top so you aren't wrong their!

JoJolyne4 votes

I didn't say they were firing on all cylinders themselves. I said they were the only ones coming in resembling 100%. Fnatic is the only team coming in that hasn't done a roster swap recently. I think inconsistency is just part of Fnatic's game though and I really feel like that stems from Cyanide. That said, Fnatic wouldn't be as good without him, because he has the highest carry potential on a team full of carries. It just makes being a fan of their team quite a roller coaster since you never know which Fnatic will show up to an event.

capdetren1 votes

i actually disagree with you. Cyanide and rekless (well , i guess yellowstar as well) have been the most consistent elements of Fnatic this split. Cyanide is not a flashy jungler , yeah ..it's true , but his style revolves on being more of a supportive jungler that snowballs his lanes. You will see him often leave wraiths or other camps for peke for example , and i think he is the jungler that gives the most blue buffs in EU LCS if i'm not mistaken. On the side note , the most incosistent player this season , have bean Soaz , with his inability to let the ap tops alone....followed closely by xPeke. Because usually Fnatic puts a good amount of attention on their solo , when those lines underperform , it drags the team very very hard , and makes Cyanide seem invisible. I mean if u have a very supportive jungler , that gives a lot of buffs and camps to solo lines , you will obviously be weaker considering you will have less gold then the opponent jungler. Now if your line also underperforms , you have a weaker jungler then the enemy AND a weaker laner then the enemy , making most 2v2 very very hard , or 2v1 ganks , very dangerous as well.

Sizao2 votes

Well you can't call it out to team's struggling at the time. For example at IEM WC some weeks ago FNC had major struggles in the LCS and big struggles during the first day. Still they managed to come out on Top on the 2nd Day just loosing to the koreans at Day 3 in the finals. But seriously, in that C9 vs FNC Match, NA Fans wouldve said EU sucks careless whether FNC had been struggling or not. I personally think NA and EU are pretty even.

JoJolyne3 votes

I agree. Both regions suck equally. :p It is getting better though.

Ätsû4 votes

Our prayers are with you Hai GL Hf :)

spectralsight4 votes

inb4 c9 decides to decline the trade back and keep link

AznLJ1 votes

That's what I was thinking!

ddrox131 votes

That would be funny, except the ominous signed contract that says that wont happen

43702749_DEL3 votes

I feel sorry for him. He was the most excited of C9 to play against the all-star tournament. But I thing Link is not in suitable level to replace Hai. I don't see Link as a great player also.

Sizao7 votes

He's probably the best midlaner in NA LCS to replace Hai, Hai has a pretty unique Playstyle in terms of Midlane in NA, he is pretty selfless, roams a lot and sacrifices himself for the greater good. Link is a really solid Midlaner and fills the role of Hai better than any other midlaner like for example Bjergsen in my opinion.

BlazinNewel2 votes

Like it matters, SKT T1 KKKKKK

illiji5 votes

when they stop sucking i might root for them but i wouldn't get your hopes too high for SKT T1 K any time soon

pinkiezzzzzz9 votes

They're still probably better than a lot of NA teams tho. They're sucking in their own region, which is against high level teams.

Dainjah1 votes

lol apparently NA Challenger is Korean Bronze =P

More from Esports

Is this investigation and explanation enough for an 'unauthorized member' joining the tournament
Esports30 comments
538
votes
Champs Seen at Words: A List
Esports230 comments
470
votes
NA Fans, I'm Embarassed
Esports501 comments
333
votes
Champs seen at worlds: A list
Esports262 comments
305
votes
third year in a row, C9 the last hope of NA
Esports152 comments
249
votes
Help me get Riot's attention
Esports101 comments
244
votes