Including the coaches.

Picking early game comp again where every mistake will lead to a disaster is pure ignorance.

Bad prep, bad mental.

APA must feel so vindicated right now! I’m happy for him.

Surely, next year we keep most of this core (and runback another blaber team) and THIS time, we don’t choke important matches!

guys, trust me, one more year. It will work! i promise!

our budget carries and blaber won’t giga choke again

From an NAmen interview highlight posted on Twitter. I can't post it on the wider r/ lol subreddit because of spoilers, so for C9 fans who (smartly) don't have twitter, I decided to post it here. Let me know if you have any questions.

Q: Do you think C9 played at the same level today as yesterday?

JoJo: I'm not sure, I think they were playing better yesterday — but we were also playing really bad yesterday, so it's hard to judge them on that. But I felt like today they were... I don't know. They felt a little desperate, I think.

Q: I agree. Especially later in the series.

JoJo: Yeah. So I'm not sure if that's their level, you know? I'm just not sure. They seem very stressed.

Q: Honestly, what do you think is wrong with C9? NA fans are so mad at them right now.

JoJo: I have no idea about what's wrong with them. I feel like they... I don't know, they feel kinda lost in-game. Like sometimes, they're just like, “We have to group, we have to be together, let's do something as five” — and I don't think that's how the game works today.

I feel like they get lost in-game, and then they are just throwing the games, or putting themselves in bad spots. But I don't think they are bad players at all, like individually. I think the group is just... I don't know. Maybe they can't handle pressure.

I don’t know anymore man, like seriously. What are we even doing anymore? We can’t close out a game to save our lives, the moment the clock hits 20 we just lose all brain cells.

We choke against teams that are worse than us.

The players are mechanically good, but I don’t know.

We’re kind of a laughing stock.

It sucks.

I’m depressed.

I’m kind of tired at having hope in this team.

Not here to say anything other then his expression at the end was hilarious and i feel bad. Looks like a complete mental collapse. Can't fault vulcan at all for today either.

Technically, C9 just failed to qualify for worlds - for the third year in a row

I followed them from the very start of the year when Dom joined as a secondary coach.

Even tho I am European, I wanted them to smack KC yesterday...

4 series in a row they fck up the most crucial moments... 4 SERIES. (Lyon Rematch, TL, KC, Furia)

Let's not even talk about the crash in Spring before MSI.

See ya at quarter-finals onwards.

At least I hope TL has a good showing.

Abandon ship. Women and children first. Vulcan too get out while you can

Tanks and scaling adcs and pray.

SCALING IS THE NAME OF THE GAME.

I honestly am at a loss for words. I know I shouldn't be so negative but man this team just constantly disappoints and I don't know what is going through their minds. These jerseys at least remind me of the good old days... 🥲

I really hope this was his last game in a C9 uniform. He has been a cornerstone of this team for so long and I appreciate that from him but its time. Everyone has an expiration and even if people felt like it was years ago it definitely here. Its better for everyone him and us if we spilt. Thank you blaber for everything you done for us. I really wish you could have pulled through for us. Good luck on what ever team you go to next year but for everyone including yourself it shouldn't be c9. I know we wanna flame him and he deserves it but maybe we can just post some good memories like a send off for him. If you wanna vent and shit on him go ahead as well.

Can't believe this team. All of them are such potentially talented players. All of them completely inting at every moment of the game. I don't know if it's the coaching or the "system" or the players, but they clearly are not well enough practiced. There is no synergy. Vulcan and blaber are supposed to be the voice and minds for the young Korean talents on the team, but we look worse with every team fight...

#EMENESWASRIGHT

I bet you're all oh-so excited for the upcoming changes, arent ya. But arent you forgetting something? This roster is signed until twenty twenty EIGHT hahahahahahahaha Cmon you negative nancies, they clearly just need a bit more time! A year, two tops. Lets run it back babyyyyyyyyyy!!!!! the stone wont carry itself sisyphus lets get it moving ay?

The whole reason we supposedly got Loki over APA is that he can play both melees and mages but looking at his play and our draft, it looks like he can only play melees.

And don’t get me wrong Loki is MILES better at champions like Yone/Locke/Sylas/Akali than APA.

But Loki still makes bad mistakes on those champions and ends up looking invisible vs better laners.

APA at least brings his macro. Loki’s “strength” seems to disappear when faced with real competition.

I just don’t understand why we felt we needed a change at mid when we could’ve kept APA/Blaber/Vulcan and then play around Tactical.

He’s a beast mechanically so give him the tools to the kingdom with APA on champions like Ryze/Taliyah/TF/Anivia/Ori/Cassio/Viktor and just defend him.

Instead we put him on Ziggs and pray that Loki/Thanatos carry which just doesn’t seem to work. And part of that is on Tactical since it seems like he’s not a great Ziggs but then why are we drafting it for him?

I am genuinely pleading with Jack to understand that we have reached a point where if you don’t make an immense overhaul of the team’s roster, and of the staff to some degree, then this team will have almost no meaningful fanbase going forwards.

At this point it’s not even a question of results anymore. The viewers and fans are so emotionally spent on nearly all of these players after 3 full years of relentless disappointment and zero improvement to their core issues, that even winning a split will feel hollow if it’s with this team. There desperately needs to be a core overhaul to give fans something fresh to root for and something new to hope for.

I’m saying this as probably the biggest Blabber fan ever and someone that still believes in nearly all of these players individually, they simply can’t stay on this team if you want fans to still cheer for you. If you try to run this back, it won’t even matter if you succeed because there won’t be anyone still left to celebrate. Please realize that it’s not just about results anymore, it’s about the fans being genuinely bored of this group.

I’m immensely grateful for all the awesome memories a lot of these players have brought us, but you need to know when to move on.

I can only imagine it’s worse for them. I’ll be back to cheer for the team next year, best wishes to all yall

worlds play ins, and it was 1-2 to Furia, we were playing blue side, furia as red, and Dom said:

'Guys, if you think we are good, let's prove it now'. 1-2"

Dom: "did we comeback?"

blaber: "of course not. 1-3"

Well this is an interesting day we find ourselves in after well…letting the end of game 2 slip through our fingers, underestimating their bot lane strat in game 4, and falling apart in game 5 against KC which led to us letting NA down and becoming national disgraces.

But heck, we keep balling on.

And our next opponent is…our South American nightmare in Furia.

Oh boy…

But hey, Americas Cup in the past. We mount up and keep on keeping on through the lower bracket to keep our Worlds going. If not, god help us all…

#NAmen

I’m heartbroken. I’m disappointed with this year, with Worlds, and with how far away we feel from the Cloud9 I fell in love with. And I think what makes this hurt so much is that I’ve been here long enough to remember everything this team can mean.

My fandom started when Balls, Meteos, Hai, Sneaky, and LemonNation qualified for the NA LCS in 2013. I watched those five come into the league and take over. The goofy personalities, the confidence, the way they played together. That was the beginning of something I had no idea would still mean this much to me all these years later.

I remember Hai’s collapsed lung and Link stepping in for All-Stars. I remember the rivalries with TSM, the finals, the wins, and the losses that stayed with you long after you closed the stream. I remember watching that original roster slowly become a memory and wondering what Cloud9 would look like without the players who made me a fan.

Then came more reasons to believe. Hai coming back in the jungle. The 2015 gauntlet run. Reverse sweeps that felt impossible until somehow we were watching them happen. This team taught me that counting them out too early was a mistake.

I remember the years when Worlds meant hoping Cloud9 could carry NA just a little further. Getting out of groups when we were already written off. Giving us another series, another week, another reason to set an alarm and believe.

And then there was 2018.

Watching us sweep Afreeca and make Worlds semifinals is something I’ll never forget. For a moment, a Worlds final felt within reach. Then Fnatic ended the run, and it hurt—but we had gone far enough to dream about something that big. I was so proud of that team.

I’ve watched the rosters change, favorites leave, and new players give us reasons to care. I’ve watched us finally lift the trophy again after years of waiting, and I’ve watched seasons full of promise fall apart. Through all of it, I’ve kept coming back.

That’s why tonight hurts. There are years of memories behind the disappointment. I know what it feels like to watch this team make us proud, and I want so badly to feel that again.

I don’t want us to live off the past forever. I want better for this team. I want a Cloud9 that earns its place at the top of NA and goes to Worlds ready to fight for something. Loving this team doesn’t mean pretending this year was good enough.

But I also can’t pretend I’ll ever stop caring.

I still dream about another trophy. Another Worlds run that has us all losing our minds together. Another moment where the rest of the region has fallen and everyone turns toward that blue-and-white logo because there’s still a chance.

I want to hear “NA’s last hope” and know they mean us again.

I don’t know when that day comes. But when it does, I want to be here; the same fan who watched those original five qualify in 2013, still cheering for the team they made me fall in love with.

Until then, I’ll be disappointed. I’ll be frustrated. And when the next season starts, I know I’ll find myself believing again.

After all these years, I still dream in blue.

It just hurts tonight. Real bad.