Update: Nov. 20, 2020 at 19:10 CET — Luka "Perkz" Perković has joined Cloud9 as their mid laner for the 2021 season, after G2 Esports announced that Martin "Rekkles" Larsson has joined G2 to replace him in the bot lane. Cloud9 announced the landmark move on social media, concluding their free agency with a bang.
Update: Nov. 17, 2020 at 18:00 CET — Luka "Perkz" Perković's departure from G2 Esports is made official by the team through a video that reminisces over his five-year tenure.
Original report: Perkz rumoredly leaving G2 Esports, possibly headed to Cloud9 for 2021 — posted Nov. 12, 2020
League of Legends mid laner Luka "Perkz" Perković is reportedly headed to Cloud9 for the 2021 season, according to investigative journalist Jacob Wolf. The move would have a significant impact on the free agency market in Europe and in North America.
With League of Legends Championship Series (LCS) franchise Cloud9 addressing a verbal commitment to G2 Esports and to Perkz, the Croatian player's days in the League of Legends European Championship (LEC) are potentially numbered as the free agency market and transfer window open Nov. 17. Despite a repoted $5 million transfer fee, the North American organization may have scored the biggest deal of the offseason.
The transfer could set a series of domino effects, with Yasin "Nisqy" Dinçer garnering interest from Western teams across the board, Alfonso "mithy" Aguirre Rodriguez possibly heading alongside Perkz to North America, and with G2 starting its search for a fulltime AD carry. The latter would be a significant opening with top-tier players possibly lining up for the occasion — be they under contract for 2021 or with expiring ones, such as free-agent-to-be Juš "Crownshot" Marušič.
The move would mark the end of an era for G2 Esports as Perkz was the sole remaining member of the team that qualified to the LEC ahead of the 2016 season (then the European LCS). With him on the lineup, G2 won eight split titles out of 10 and attended the World Championship on a yearly basis, reaching two semifinals (2018 and 2020) and one final (in 2019). The organization also scored Europe's first international tournament victory since the inception of the LCS era in 2013 as they lifted the 2019 Mid-Season Invitational trophy.
In the process of achieving these team milestones, Perkz swapped to the AD carry position to accommodate Rasmus "Caps" Winther's arrival to the team in 2019. Although the player thrived at his new role that year, he returned to the mid lane in the 2020 spring split, before swapping back to AD carry to bolster the team's chances at a deep Worlds run. However, he also experienced a significant life tragedy as his father passed away, eventually skipping Week 4 of the summer split to focus on recovery.
Following the acquisition, Cloud9 would focus on finding landing spots for Nisqy and for top laner Eric "Licorice" Ritchie, who they replaced earlier in November. The moves they would have in store would potentially shape the LEC and the LCS for years to come.
