C9 EMENES: “After that meeting [with Jack and Blaber], I made a commitment to give my everything for Cloud9”

After weeks of dominating the Challengers scene, Jang "EMENES" Min-soo will be making his LCS debut on C9 this week, subbing in for Dimitri "Diplex" Ponomarev. Although some may have predicted this move to occur at some point, many didn't expect it to be this soon.

Ahead of making his LCS debut, Esports.gg's Jordan Marney had the opportunity to speak to EMENES for an exclusive interview.

There is no hiding the fact that EMENES is seen as a notorious figure in League of Legends. The Korean mid-laner has had trouble remaining on a team, with his most recent stint on JD|XL ending with EMENES being placed on the inactive roster due to "irreconcilable differences".

Despite his past, Cloud9 has always been an organization that is willing to give players a second chance. Nicolaj 'Jensen' Jensen — one of the organization's greatest-ever players — was given a second chance by Cloud9 after initially being banned for verbally abusing players online along with DDOS attacks.

During the offseason, EMENES had the opportunity to speak to Cloud9's co-founder and CEO Jack Etienne, and current jungler Robert "Blaber" Huang. This was the second chance that EMENES had been dreaming of, after an extensive 1:1 with Blaber, Cloud9 decided to pick him up for their Challengers roster.

"I had a virtual meeting with Blaber and Jack before joining the team. I really appreciated that they tried to listen to my side of the story and what I thought. After that meeting, I made a commitment to give my everything for Cloud9 and this opportunity."

So far, EMENES has been keeping that commitment he made to Cloud9. The Korean mid-laner has been dominating the Challengers scene since game one when he made his debut. EMENES has over twenty solo kills already, a number that many professional players will not achieve in their entire career, EMENES has done so in twenty games.

"I'm a player who likes to play aggressively and win the lane. I prefer to bait opponents into situations to win us the game." EMENES said when asked about his playstyle, this has been evident through his time in C9C, constantly going for aggressive trades before striking.

Although he did not name any names, EMENES calls to his strength from the way he absorbs information from watching the best players in the world. "I think my strength is observing what other pros do and applying that to my own games."

Blaber was a key figure in bringing EMENES to Cloud9. The initial meeting did not go as planned according to Jack in the Cloud9 stratus video that was posted on their YouTube channel. However, once EMENES and Blaber were able to speak alone with no agents or management, Blaber was convinced this is a player that Cloud9 should take a chance on.

"I was really surprised and a little bit worried, but also happy at the same time when I heard I will join the main team. Because I didn't expect it at all" said EMENES the moment he found out Cloud9 would be bringing him up to the main roster. Having the belief from what is now a teammate is very important in an esport, there has to be a certain level of trust if you are going to succeed at the highest level.

EMENES is excited to work alongside Blaber, both of them have very aggressive playstyles and it will be interesting to see how the pair performs. "We both like to play aggressively as a mid and jungle duo so it will be great. You can look forward to it."

EMENES is the second Korean import that will be playing on Cloud9 this split, Kim "Berserker" Min-cheol has been on the main roster since 2022 and has been an instant success both with the fans and on the rift. EMENES said Berserker came to visit him when he found out Cloud9 would be picking him up. "Berserker also met with me in Korea after Blaber and I had a virtual meeting. He came to my agency where I practiced to meet me."

EMENES closed the interview with a message to the Cloud9 fans.

"I want to beat every team [...] I'll prove to the fans that I belong here and try my best to help Cloud9 win.

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