Cloud9 CEO says Perkz ‘here to dominate’ after move from G2
Esports organisation Cloud9 (C9) announced Saturday (November 21) that they have officially signed former G2 Esports AD carry and European League of Legends (LoL) superstar, Luka “Perkz” Perković, to be their new midlaner.
Prior to the start of free agency, it was reported that Perkz’s buyout from G2 was a whopping US$5 million.
While the details of his eventual transfer to C9 have not been released, it is expected that both teams were able to settle on his US$5 million transfer fee or a figure close to it.
In any case, Perkz’s transfer from G2 to C9 is one of the biggest free agency moves in LoL’s competitive history, as it saw arguably the best player in Europe move to North America in the largest buyout in all of esports.
“It’s not every day you get to welcome a player of Perkz’s calibre to your team, so to say we’re excited is an understatement. He has been a dominant force of competitive League of Legends since pretty much his first day of competition and we’re all looking forward to working closely with him,” C9’s LoL general manager, Jonathan Tran, said in a statement.
“[Søren “Bjergsen” Bjerg] retiring from competitive play left the LCS with a massive vacuum that couldn’t be filled by just any player. With the arrival of Perkz, that vacuum is not only filled but we’re also gaining a player who will be the driving force in guiding the LCS to international competitiveness. Perkz is not coming to NA to retire and collect a huge paycheck. He is here to dominate both inside and outside our region,” added C9 co-founder and CEO Jack Etienne.
Perkz will be taking over the midlane for C9 from Yasin "Nisqy" Dinçer, who has reportedly been bought out by Fnatic. In turn, G2 will be filling the hole left by Perkz in their own roster with former Fnatic star AD carry, Martin “Rekkles” Larsson.
With their signing of “the most accomplished and most impactful Western player in the history of League of Legends,” C9 will be looking to be dominate North America’s LoL Championship Series (LCS) next year.
Perkz won the Rookie of the Year award in the Spring Split of the 2016 EU LCS, which he helped G2 claim in his first year as a member of the squad.
He went on to lead the team to three-straight Top Four finishes in the LoL World Championship from 2018 to 2020 — including a second place finish last year — and is the only European player to have won eight titles in the history of the LEC.
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