Image credit: LoL Esports
North American League of Legends franchise 100 Thieves and AD carry Liyu "Cody" Sun have mutually parted ways on Nov. 10, both sides have announced on social media after ESPN Esports' Jacob Wolf reported on it. As a result, the AD carry has become a free agent ahead of Nov. 16 and is fielding offers.
Cody Sun's departure marks the second time that he has left 100 Thieves, with both departures following that of jungler William "Meteos" Hartman. However, the relation between the player and the team significantly differed after both events.
The player's first departure in Nov. 2018 followed a tumultuous tenure within the organization, one that took a turn for the disastrous after Meteos's transfer, as he was benched from the roster throughout the 2018 World Championship despite being a core member of the roster until the end of the summer playoffs.
On the other hand, his current departure follows two consecutive first-round playoff exits in 2020. The spring split roster, with Meteos on the lineup, reached third place in the regular season before exiting the playoffs in a contested 2:3 defeat against Team SoloMid. Their summer playoff exit was far swifter against Evil Geniuses 0:3, but 100 Thieves had shown an inclination to test emerging talent such as Philippe "Poome" Lavoie-Giguere.
Cody Sun's proclamation on his tweet has substance. In the 2017 summer split and the 2018 spring split, his teams reached the playoff finals and fell to eventual champions Team SoloMid and Team Liquid. Furthermore, the player has reached the World Championship twice: in 2017, where an inspired Fnatic claimed a qualification spot over them in the closest group call in Worlds history, and in 2019, where Clutch Gaming were outmatched. However, given that current top-tier LCS rosters are fielding AD carries (to the possible exception of Evil Geniuses), his offseason may prove tricky on that front.
