Despite the abrupt end of the team’s bid for the 2022 World Championship in October, Cloud9’s League of Legends division saw enough potential in the roster’s expansion to bring back the majority of the team for the following season.

The team’s CEO Jack Etienne explained all of the significant changes to C9’s starting lineup in an announcement video. He also said that after the season ended, the entire team had a meeting to discuss any adjustments they felt would help them perform better in 2023.

Almost all of the players were pleased with their teammates’ performance, according to Etienne. “There were certainly areas where we might have done better, but they really wanted to run it again. We just made one alteration, which was to the middle lane.

Dimitri “Diplex” Ponomarev, the team’s new mid laner, most recently participated in the LFL with Team Vitality’s Academy squad. He will be making his LCS debut with C9. The German, who is 19 years old, is a melee expert who thrives in teamfights, according to Etienne. He has impressed the team with his great mechanical talent and even better potential.

Alfonso “Mithy” Aguirre Rodrguez, a well-known European support-turned-coach, will take over as C9’s head coach while Max Waldo, the previous head coach, will become the top lane positional coach.

Last but not least, C9’s Challenger roster is undergoing a complete makeover with the addition of North American player Jang “EMENES” Min-soo and veteran players Aaron “FakeGod” Lee, Tomio “Tomio” Chan, Lawrence “Lost” Hui, and Tristan “Zeyzal” Stidam. Seong “Reven” Sang-hyeon, an assistant coach, will take over as head coach.

Four-fifths of the defending LCS champions are returning, so C9 is looking like a strong contender for the Spring Split despite competing against a variety of different rosters in the new year.