Cloud9 has finalized its coaching staff by retaining one of its coaches, Royce "Bubbadub" Newcomb, and adding Bok "Reapered" Han-gyu and Kublai "Kubz" Barlas, sources close to the organization tell ESPN. The news comes a day after the organization announced its new League Championship Series lineup.
These three coaches will head up the new Cloud9 LCS lineup, which includes two roster moves made this offseason. Season 3 world champion and former SK Telecom T1, Team Impulse and NRG Esports top laner Jung "Impact" Eon-yeong signed with the team several weeks ago, and substitute jungler William "Meteos" Hartman has been promoted to the starting position.
The remainder of the lineup will stay the same, with Nicolaj "Jensen" Jensen, Zachary "Sneaky" Scuderi and Michael "Bunny FuFuu" Kurylo returning.
Additionally, the team has built out a Challenger squad and purchased Enemy's spot in the qualifier for the Challenger Series. That will include former LCS starting top laner An "Balls" Van Le, jungler Lee "Rush" Yoon-jae, mid laner Hai "Hai" Du Lam and support Daerek "LemonNation" Hart.
While the AD carry for that lineup has yet to been locked down, the team is currently using Johnny "Altec" Ru on-loan from NRG Esports.
The new Cloud9 coaches are no strangers to leading competitive teams. Bubbadub has been with the Cloud9 organization since May 2015, when he joined its Challenger squad as head coach. In July 2015, he was promoted to head coach of the main team. This spring, he served as an assistant coach to LemonNation, who temporarily served as head coach, but will now return to a competitive role with Cloud9's Challenger team.
Reapered is a legendary player during his time with Azubu Blaze, SK Telecom T1 and the Jin Air Green Wings Falcons. He also served as a coach most recently for Chinese squad EDward Gaming, and has assisted in positional coaching for some teams during Korean boot camps, such as one-on-one sessions with former Renegades top laner Oleksii "RF Legendary" Kuziuta this winter.
Rounding out the staff is Kubz, who was the head coach for European Challenger squad Team Huma. That team nearly qualified for the European LCS, but ultimately lost primarily due to the offloading of its star jungler Lucas "Santorin" Tao Kilmer Larsen due to financial issues. Prior to working with Huma, Kubz was known for coaching Copenhagen Wolves Academy and compLexity Gaming.