Just over two years after League of Legends veteran Christian #IWillDominate Rivera was hired by esports powerhouse Cloud9 as a streamer and content producer, his employment is now over. The company acknowledged his resignation on December 22.
Meanwhile, the official announcement came regarding the G2 Esports’ 2023 LEC roster.
Two players from the 2022 roster, top lane BrokenBlade and mid lane Caps, are back in the League of Legends team. The three new players are support Mihael #Mikyx Mehle, jungler Martin #Yike Sundelin, and ADC Steven #Hans Sama Liv. They were all speculated to have been signed by G2 at the start of the offseason.
G2 Going Strong In 2023
The latest addition to G2, Mikyx, is not a novice to their jersey. He was a member of the storied lineup from 2019 that won the Mid-Season Invitational and advanced to the Worlds finals, where G2 fell to FunPlus Phoenix. He returned to the European organization in November following a year with Excel Esports.
Hans Sama and Yike are the two new players on the G2 team, with the former being one of the most seasoned players from Europe. Hans Sama participated in 2022 for Team Liquid of the LCS. But after making unsuccessful domestic runs and failing to earn a spot in the 2022 World Championships, he left the North American squad, which also changed its roster in time for the upcoming season.
Since Yike will make his LEC debut in 2023, he is the player that LEC fans are most likely to be least familiar with. The 22-year-old is a well-known ERL player. He was a member of the LDLC OL roster in 2022, which won both LFL splits and advanced to the final and semifinals of the Spring and Summer editions of the European Masters, respectively.
Since the former G2 jungler Jankos revealed that the lineup was practicing against the Pole’s new team, Team Heretics, the G2 roster has received a lot of media attention lately.
Following certain adjustments to the league’s schedule that were revealed on November 18, the LEC will resume play on January 21 with the beginning of the 2023 Winter Split.
IWillDominate Parting Ways With C9
“What an incredible two years it’s been”, tweeted Cloud9. “We appreciate how you always keep us amused with your co-streams and fiery takes. Good luck on your upcoming journey.”
IWillDominate told supporters that he departed on good terms and that the organization treated him well during his time with them. He said that he plans to release a video explaining what transpired. After some of his admirers called his split “a issue,” he sent out a message.
IWillDominate allegedly revealed it during a stream and said Twitch forced him to do it after reducing his ad revenue since he was connected to an esports company. Evidently, Cloud9 sought to bargain with the major Amazon players, but they were implacable. C9 and IWD agreed that it would be preferable for him to move on rather than risk his losing money.
This relates to IWD’s claim that they parted ways amicably. When he uploads the video, it will be interesting to see what IWillDominate has to say about the issue. Twitch has previously faced criticism for their method of compensating creators from ad income. They constantly making adjustments to make things better, but IWillDominate’s circumstances sound difficult.
IWD entered the world of content development six years ago. His professional League career, which lasted from 2010 to 2016, spanning six years and four teams, including Haters, compLexity Gaming, Team Curse, and Team Liquid. Even though he never took home a medal, he placed second twice, third four times, and fourth three times, earning him $30,000 in prize money. He participated in as much as 175 games during his career.
He played one game for Liquid in the 2016 NA LCS Spring Split before retiring, however he remained with the team for another four years before joining Cloud9 in 2020.
