A Riot ruling on Cloud9 Tempest is coming

One of the League of Legends teams favored to qualify for the next season of the League Championship Series through the challenger scene may be sunk before their season has even begun.

The team is awaiting a pending Riot Games ruling, apparently regarding their alleged illegal use of a ringer in their Challenger Series qualifier match against Team Confound, according to sources close to the matter.

When Cloud9 returned to the challenger scene, they picked up a lineup filled with some of the top talents in the scene after a lengthy tryout process. Headlined by mid laner David “Yusui” Bloomquist, who many consider the best North American talent not currently playing in the LCS, Cloud9 Tempest was one of the favorites entering the Challenger Series. 

In the qualifier, they played like it. Cloud9 Tempest swept Roar Gaming, the team featuring former Team SoloMid marksman Shan “Chaox” Huang, before destroying Team Confound, a squad featuring Dignitas substitute jungler Andrew “Azingy” Zamarripa.

But the team allegedly used a non-roster player on one of their accounts, sources tell the Daily Dot, which would have broken the competition’s rules. Riot Games’ competitive ruling on the matter should come soon, with one source telling us “today” and another, close to the team, confirming that a Riot ruling with the “full story” is on its way.

Should the team be penalized by forfeiting the match and their spot in the Challenger Series, as has been the case in other similar situations, then Team Confound will likely earn a spot in the upcoming Challenger Series, though there’s also the possibility of play-in games between non-qualified teams.

And that would be a sad way for one of the challenger scene’s most promising teams to end their quest for the LCS.