UPDATED 11/16: Cloud9 has announced it has parted ways with mid laner Yasin "Nisqy" Dincer as well as C9 Academy mid laner Cristian "Palafox'" Palafox and support David "Diamond" Bérubé. Nisay is expected to go to Fnatic to replace Tim "Nemesis" Lipovšek.

UPDATE 11/2: Cloud9 has confirmed the promotion of Kim "Reignover" Yeu-jin to the League of Legends Championship Series. Reignover has coached for C9 since May 2019 and was the head coach of C9 Academy throughout 2020. He will now head the LCS team in 2021.

UPDATE 10/30: Cloud9 has announced that top laner Ibrahim "Fudge" Allami will be promoted to the organization's League of Legends Championship Series roster for the 2021 season. Fudge joined C9 Academy for the 2020 season after starting his career in the Oceanic Pro League and put on a clinic against other LCS Academy League top laners during C9 Academy's four consecutive 1st place finishes throughout the season. 

UPDATE 10/27: Cloud9 has parted ways with C9 Academy jungler Rami "Inori" Charagh. Inori's veteranship and LCS experience helped lead C9A to a full year's worth of 1st place finishes in 2020.

Inori has announced he is looking for offers now that he is a free agent, and specifically thanked his Head Coach Kim "Reignover" Yeu-jin for what he learned throughout the season on Cloud9 Academy. 

UPDATE 10/23: Cloud9 has published a video to its YouTube channel thanking Licorice for his time with the organization. In the video, Licorice recalls the entirety of his C9 career and reflects on its context now that he is moving on while footage of his best moments are intercut throughout the video. Licorice's new team is currently unknown.

UPDATE 10/19: Cloud9 has also confirmed the organization's parting of ways with Assistant Coach Jung "RapidStar" Min-sung, who has worked with the team since June 2018. Rapidstar is parting ways with the team to return to his home country of South Korea to fulfill his mandatory military service. 

UPDATE 10/19: Licorice has confirmed via Twitter that Cloud9 approached him last week, informing him he won't be part of C9's 2021 roster. 

Original story:

According to a report by ESPN Esports' Jacob Wolf, Cloud9 is looking to promote Cloud9 Academy head coach Kim "Reignover" Yeu-jin and top laner Ibrahim "Fudge" Allami to its League of Legends Championship Series roster for the 2021 season. Former head coach Bok "Reapered" Han-gyu was let go following the end of C9's 2020 season, and its current starting top laner Eric "Licorice" Ritchie is being placed on a buyout offer, even though C9 originally stated that the team will stay together next year.

Should the report hold true, Reignover will be Cloud9's first new head coach since Reapered took over for Daerek "LemonNation" Hart before the start of the 2016 NA LCS Summer Split. C9 attended four World Championships and won one LCS title with Reapered at the helm, but after failing to qualify for Worlds for the first time in organizational history, it's clear the organization wants to shake things up.

Of the two roster moves, the change to the top lane is perhaps the more surprising one. Since his LCS debut in 2018, Licorice has been in the conversation of the best domestic top laner in North America. 

On the Academy side, Fudge has also made strong arguments that he's ready for the LCS after his standout performance in the Academy League, as he and Reignover led C9 Academy on a tour de force in 2021, winning both Splits and both playoffs. 

It's also worth mentioning that with the disbandment of the Oceanic Pro League, OCE imports like Fudge are now considered domestic top laners in the LCS and do not take up an import slot.  Fudge would be able to start alongside Cloud9 mid laner Yasin "Nisqy" Dincer and Jesper "Zven" Svenningsen, who are both European imports. 

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