Overwatch pro lashes out after being “thrown in trash” by OWL team

Brad Norton
Overwatch League LhCloudy

The 2020 Overwatch League season has now come to an end and teams have already begun to act on new roster shuffles. Mere hours after being let go by the Los Angeles Gladiators, Roni ‘LhCloud’ Tiihonen had some harsh words for his former team.

It wasn’t the most successful year for the LA Gladiators. The organization finished among the Top 8 in North American playoffs, failing to win a map against Philadelphia Fusion and Florida Mayhem. With the offseason now underway, teams are free to make roster adjustments as needed.

Among the first to make a move was the LA franchise. They let LhCloudy go after just a few months with the team. It wasn’t long before the Main Tank expert took to Twitch and reacted to the news.

“I play 10 hours a day, I don’t get paid s***, and then I get thrown into the trash,” he said on October 12. “That’s just life.”

The Finnish pro came to the league in 2019, joining Paris Eternal after a run with Team Gigantti in Contenders. He was soon traded over to the Gladiators, though his time spent with the team appears to have left him quite bitter.

When asked what his biggest disappointment was for the year, he aimed his complaints at the coaching staff. “I think our coaching staff made a lot of stupid f***ing decisions in our playoffs.”

“They come to me after… oh s***, you were right.” Ultimately, the team was unable to win a map in their playoff run. Even after apologizing for not taking his supposed advice, LhCloud believed that it “didn’t mean anything.”

While his initial comments were scathing, he soon followed up by explaining that everyone on the team worked hard for the games.

“I think we just made wrong decisions in the playoffs… it’s not just the coaches fault, it’s everybody’s fault,” he added.

After wrapping up his Twitch stream for the day, he took to Twitter to apologize for his comments. “I just wanted to say I really fu**** up today and said stupid stuff on stream. I was very emotional and it was very stupid of me to blame others. I live for OW and dedicate all of my hours to it so hearing that I was going to be released crushed my soul.”

The offseason has only just begun so there’s still plenty of weeks ahead of LhCloudy to find a new team. In case you missed the closing moments of the 2020 Overwatch League finals, here’s how things played out.

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About The Author

Brad Norton is the Australian Managing Editor at Dexerto. He graduated from Swinburne University with a Bachelor’s degree in journalism and has been working full-time in the field for the past six years at the likes of Gamurs Group and now Dexerto. He loves all things single-player gaming (with Uncharted a personal favorite) but has a history on the competitive side having previously run Oceanic esports org Mindfreak. You can contact Brad at brad.norton@dexerto.com