As the iconic North American organization continues its turbulent offseason, Cloud9 is expected to sign Korean player Park ‘Summit’ Woo-tae.
This is most likely not the offseason Cloud9 had hoped for.
Cloud9 were left with a major hole to fill after mid laner Luka ‘Perkz’ Perkovi announced his departure from the team despite making the quarterfinals at Worlds 2021 in Iceland and is expected to sign Korean free agent Summit, with 2021 top laner Ibrahim ‘Fudge’ Allami moving to the mid lane, as first reported by Travis Gafford.
The LCK’s Park ‘Summit’ Woo-tae is a mainstay. He began his career as a sub for Afreeca Freecs in 2018, and has spent the last three seasons as SANDBOX Gaming’s starting top laner.
While SANDBOX Gaming has struggled to compete in the LCK, with their best finish coming in the 2019 Regional Finals, Summit has consistently been a bright spot for the team.
Summit played 13 champions in the 2021 LCK Summer split, winning 55.3 percent of the time, while SANDBOX went 26-21 in the matches he played in. Gnar was his most popular champion, and he played the furry specialist 13 times, winning 76.9% of the time.
SANDBOX Gaming appears to be reorganizing their roster after falling short in the 2021 Regional Finals. Summit and jungler Kim ‘OnFleek’ Jang-gyeom were both released on November 14. On November 15, they released the rest of their 2021 roster and signed Lee ‘Clozer’ Jy-hyeon, a former T1 substitute mid laner.
LCS insider Travis Gafford revealed in a short video on his YouTube channel that Cloud9 would be acquiring Summit as their new top laner, with top laner Fudge moving to the mid lane.
Summit brings a wealth of experience from a highly competitive league, and will undoubtedly compete for the title of best top laner in the LCS with Gabril ‘Bwipo’ Rau and Kim ‘Ssumday’ Chan-ho.
However, whether this is the best move for Cloud9 will remain a question. They’ll start sophomore Fudge in an off-role, and academy prospect Johan ‘Isles’ Rosario is expected to join them in the starting lineup.
Whether Cloud9’s moves pay off will have to wait until the season starts in January.
