After spending more than six years away, one of the OGs of the competitive North American League of Legends scene is coming home.
Former professional mid laner Hai “Hai” Du Lam has returned as the new team manager for Cloud9’s League division, marking the veteran’s first foray back on a tier-one LCS esports organization since leaving the Golden Guardians back in 2018.
The announcement was shown off on C9’s LinkedIn page, which meant that many fans missed the announcement until a few hours after the initial post was made.
The 31-year-old was considered to be one of the most innovative shotcallers during the first few years of competitive League, leading his squad of fan favorites to a handful of championships, along with a rare international tournament win at IEM San Jose 2014. He also played across multiple roles for C9, including mid lane, support roles, and even jungle.
He is most-known for his time with C9 alongside other legendary NA players like Zachary “Sneaky” Scuderi and William “Meteos” Hartman. They weren’t able to capture too many accolades during their time together, but they had some memorable runs through the years, including two LCS championships, three World Championship appearances, and storied rivalries with other legacy orgs like TSM and Team Liquid.
Eventually, Hai parted ways with C9 as he bounced between FlyQuest and Golden Guardians between 2017 and 2018, before finally founding his own esports organization called Radiance. The amateur program has been competing in various lower tier tournaments, and recently played in the Proving Grounds this past year.
Hai will be a familiar face that some of C9’s players can learn from as they head off to the 2023 World Championship in South Korea, where they will be taking on the best players in the world during the main stage on Thursday, Oct. 19.
