2025’s LCS Rookie of the Year is Already Leaving the League

Despite having won Rookie of the Year in the LTA (now LCS) 2025 Season, Cloud9 mid laner Lee “Loki” Sang-min has decided to leave the LCS after just one year with the team.

The LCS is heading into one of the most turbulent off-seasons ever. FlyQuest is almost certainly making roster changes, Team Liquid is already rebuilding their roster, 100 Thieves has left entirely despite a fantastic Worlds 2025 run, nothing’s known about Sentinels’ roster yet, and there are sure to be changes on other teams.

However, if one thing was certain, it was likely that Cloud9 would try to hold on to Loki. He managed to get Rookie of the Year despite C9 having a subpar year overall.

Though it’s been made clear he’s leaving for personal reasons and that it was his choice to leave the team, this decision throws a massive wrench in an already chaotic off-season.

Loki Leaving Cloud9 Despite Impressive Rookie Year

Importing players from South Korea can be a hit-or-miss endeavor. Some players like Jo ‘CoreJJ’ Yong-in and Jeong ‘Impact’ Eon-young have had long and successful careers in North America, with them adapting well to life in LA and picking up English as time went on.

However, many other import players only last a split or two. Sometimes things just don’t work out, whether it be an issue with communication or the player not being able to adapt to living in a new country.

In Loki’s case, it was the latter.

“Loki has made the necessary and deeply personal decision to remain in Seoul to be close to his family,” Cloud9 said in a statement. “We respect his choice completely and are fully supporting him as he makes this transition. Family comes first.”

Who Will Replace Loki on Cloud9?

Loki played well in North America, but that doesn’t exactly guarantee him a spot on an LCK team. It’s hard to say where his career goes from here. Meanwhile, on C9, the mid lane is a challenging role to fill at the moment. Lim ‘Quid’ Hyeon-seung is already all but locked for Team Liquid, leaving hot prospects in the role pretty slim.

They could opt to grab someone like Eain ‘APA’ Stearns if they wanted an NA mid laner to try and use the import slot in a different role. Or perhaps they dig into the LCK CL talent pool again and try to find the next big mid laner.

Either way, this move puts Cloud9 back on the market and looking for one of the most sought-after roles on the Rift at the moment. They don’t have long to figure out who they’ll be putting in his place.