From a planned player walkout to the potential cancellation of the 2023 Summer Split and subsequent removal of the LCS from the World Championship, these past few weeks have been the most important in the history of the LCS. Heading into what was the expected start of the split, fans and pros alike remained uncertain as to what exactly to expect from the North American scene both domestically and internationally in the coming months.
This was a particularly tense period for Cloud9’s top laner Ibrahim “Fudge” Allami, who had just returned alongside his team from MSI after representing North America. Upon returning to the region where he has amassed numerous championships in his tenure, his sights were set entirely on defending his title—while hoping to prove himself as the best top laner in the LCS once more.
But instead of simply returning to a normal practice schedule, Fudge was needed more than ever as a board member of the LCS Players Association (LCSPA), where the fate of the LCS’ immediate future hung in the balance.
“Even though there was like a two-week break, it wasn’t really a break [for me],” Fudge told Dot Esports. “It was definitely more stressful than if we were actually playing our games because you don’t know if you’re going to have a job next week.”
Fudge joined the LCSPA as an executive council member in April following the retirement of storied LCS mid laner Bjergsen, accompanying a lineup of notable players from LCS history, including Vulcan, Darshan, and CoreJJ. Yet his obligations to the LCSPA grew exponentially this summer following changes Riot instituted to the North American Challengers League (NACL), allowing the franchised LCS teams to opt out of fielding an amateur team starting with the upcoming Summer Split and subsequently resulting in many people losing their jobs overnight.
Thus, attempts at conversations between Riot and the LCSPA ensued. For Fudge, being both a tenured LCS player and an important member of this board, this period of negotiations proved to be incredibly stressful as the immediate future of the LCS as a whole was at stake. But seeing so many players within the LCS being willing to stand up for those in the NACL proved to Fudge their efforts weren’t for naught, regardless of what the outcome would be.
“When I did the vote, I did want to believe that the players still cared, but from my perspective, a lot of players don’t care about Academy—who are already in the LCS,” Fudge said. “When I saw that it was like, 90 percent of players voted yes [to the walkout], I was extremely surprised and really happy.”
The negotiations between Riot and the LCSPA, while not resulting in all of the demands of the latter being met, did result in the resumption of the Summer Split, though on a delayed, six-week, three-games-per-week schedule to not interfere with the scheduling of the LCS Championship tournament. Fudge doesn’t feel this crunch is a detriment to C9 in the slightest, believing it may even bring out the best of the competition knowing how little time they have to prove themselves—echoed by other veteran players like Dignitas’ jungler Santorin.
“I actually prefer the condensed schedule—I prefer short bursts of high-concentrated effort,” Fudge said. “[I prefer this] rather than like, an elongated season where the games aren’t as important, and you feel like you can sort of just relax for a couple weeks at the start. Now, you sort of have to play well every week.”
Even for someone with an illustrious LCS career like Fudge, it’s still an upward climb to get to that spot where he feels he belongs. While he doesn’t feel an immense amount of pressure to continue succeeding, Fudge notes that the challenge he gets from the ever-changing landscape of the LCS pales in comparison to the experience he gets internationally and thus places his performances there to a higher standard.
“I’m not necessarily beating people really hard, but I’m not being destroyed in lane,” Fudge said. “I just don’t feel like I’m being challenged like I would against Bin or Zeus, there’s less pressure. But obviously, I want to keep winning, and I want to be the best top laner in the league, undoubtedly. And I don’t think I’m at that right now.”
A week into the Summer Split, C9 currently sit in a tie for first place alongside Team Liquid, undefeated in their first three games—not without a few hiccups along the way. When looking at the rest of the field, teams that were expected to succeed have yet to find their footing, while those that have fallen into recent slumps are climbing the standings at a rapid pace.
This hasn’t gone over the head of the multi-time LCS champion, who remains adamant that C9 are still one of the best teams in the league. But the volatility of the remainder of the scene intrigues him.
“It’s hard to say who’s actually going to be the other member [at the LCS Championship] because I don’t feel like we’re necessarily a lot better than the other teams,” Fudge said. “It seems like some teams, like FlyQuest, I expected to 3-0 the first week, but they obviously did not do that. [Liquid] is obviously going to be our hardest competition—it’s going to be another banger playing against Summit.”
C9 will attempt to continue their winning ways heading into the second week of the 2023 Summer Split, starting with a match today against FlyQuest, where Fudge will have the opportunity to see firsthand whether Prince and crew can truly compete with the reigning champions.
