Liyu "Cody" Sun[4] (Chinese: 孙立宇; born April 25, 1997) is a Canadian professional League of Legends player who was most recently the bot laner for Mirage Elyandra of the Ligue Française de League of Legends (LFL). He first rose to prominence while playing for Immortals in 2017, qualifying for the World Championship in his debut year in the LCS.[5][6] The next year he qualified with 100 Thieves,[7] and again the year after with Clutch Gaming.[8]

Cody Sun
Personal information
Born (1997-04-25) April 25, 1997 (age 27)[1][2]
NationalityCanadian[3]
Career information
GamesLeague of Legends
RoleBot
Team history
2015Magnetic
2015Team Imagine
2015–2016Team Frostbite
2016Dream Team
2016–2017Immortals
2017Team Liquid
2017–2018100 Thieves
2018–2019Clutch Gaming
2019Dignitas
2019–2020100 Thieves
2020–2021TSM Academy
2021–2022Mirage Elyandra
Chinese name
Simplified Chinese孙立宇
Traditional Chinese孫立宇
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu PinyinSūn Lìyǔ

Career

edit

Cody Sun began his League of Legends career in the Challenger scene, playing for several semi-professional teams from mid-2015 to late 2016. These teams included Magnetic, Team Imagine, Team Frostbite and Dream Team.

Immortals (2017)

edit

On December 9, 2016, he joined Immortals[9] and in the following year debuted in the LCS as the team's bot laner. Following a seventh-place finish in the spring split, Immortals finished second in the summer regular season and advanced all the way to the summer finals, where they were defeated by TSM.[10] Nonetheless, Immortals qualified for the 2017 World Championship by having the most championship points at the end of the summer split.[10]

At the 2017 World Championship, Immortals were placed in Group B of the main event group stage, along with Europe's Fnatic, South Korea's Longzhu Gaming and Vietnam's GIGABYTE Marines.[11] A crucial misplay by Cody Sun in a game versus Fnatic led to his team's loss and the start of Fnatic's comeback in the group stage,[12][13] as in the following match Fnatic defeated the GIGABYTE Marines to force a three-way tie in Group B. In one of the two subsequent tiebreaker matches, Fnatic defeated Immortals and knocked them out of the tournament.[11] After failing to secure a spot in the newly franchised LCS, Immortals disbanded on November 20, 2017,[14] and Cody Sun's contract was briefly held by Team Liquid[15] before he joined 100 Thieves for the 2018 spring split.[16]

100 Thieves (2018)

edit

100 Thieves finished the 2018 spring regular season in first place after five straight wins and a tiebreaker victory over Echo Fox,[17] giving them a bye into the semifinals, where they defeated Clutch Gaming in a close series.[18] However, 100 Thieves went on to be swept by Team Liquid in the finals.[19]

100 Thieves finished third in the summer regular season and won their quarterfinal series against FlyQuest playing exclusively with Cody Sun as their bot laner, but in the semifinals he was suddenly swapped out for Rikara, despite Rikara having never played in the LCS.[20] 100 Thieves ended up losing to Team Liquid in the semifinals[21] and TSM in the third-place decider match.[22][23] Nonetheless, Cody Sun's team once again qualified for the World Championship by having the most championship points; however he did not play a single game at the World Championship, as 100 Thieves opted to use only Rikara.[12]

Clutch Gaming (2019)

edit

Prior to the start of the 2019 summer split, Clutch Gaming announced that it was signing Cody Sun, replacing Piglet as the team's starting bot laner.[24] Cody Sun's prowess in the bot lane was integral to Clutch Gaming's improved performance, which secured them a fifth-place finish in the regular season and a spot in playoffs.[25] In the quarterfinals Clutch Gaming defeated TSM,[26][27] but lost to Team Liquid in a close semifinal series.[28] Clutch Gaming was then reverse swept by CLG in the third-place decider match,[29] forcing them to begin in the first round of the regional qualifier for the 2019 World Championship. After defeating FlyQuest,[30] CLG[31] and TSM[8] in the first, second and third rounds respectively, Clutch Gaming secured a spot in the 2019 World Championship as the LCS' third seed.

Clutch Gaming began in the play-in stage of the 2019 World Championship, where they were placed in Group A with the CIS' Unicorns of Love and Australia's Mammoth. After losing to the Unicorns of Love and defeating Mammoth in both round robins, Group A was locked in a three-way tie, but Clutch Gaming avoided the first tiebreaker match due to them having the shortest total game time (63:37) among their victories.[32] Clutch Gaming then defeated the Unicorns of Love to secure first seed in their group.[33] In the second round of play-in stage, Clutch Gaming was pitted against Turkey's Royal Youth, who they promptly swept to secure a spot in the main event.[34]

Because of group draw rules for the main event, Clutch Gaming was forced into Group C, which was nicknamed the "group of death" due to it having three regional superteams: South Korea's SK Telecom T1, China's Royal Never Give Up, and Europe's Fnatic.[35] Clutch Gaming finished last in their group and were eliminated without picking up a single win in the double round robin.[36]

Return to 100 Thieves (2020)

edit

In late 2019 it was announced that Cody Sun had rejoined 100 Thieves for the 2020 spring split.[37][38][39][40]

References

edit
  1. ^ @DIGUpdate (April 25, 2019). "Happy Birthday @CodySun! So far you've shown remarkable drive and dedication, and we're proud to have you on the squad" (Tweet). Retrieved May 4, 2021 – via Twitter.
  2. ^ Esguerra, Tyler (December 9, 2020). "TSM rounds out 2021 Academy roster with Hauntzer, Cody Sun, and Yursan". Dot Esports. Retrieved May 4, 2021.
  3. ^ Erzberger, Tyler (July 26, 2017). "Cody Sun aims to be tops in the bot lane". ESPN. Retrieved May 18, 2020.
  4. ^ @CodySun (December 5, 2019). "Not a lot of people know this but my Chinese name is Liyu Sun. My English name is Cody. Liyu "Cody" Sun aka LCS. Makesa sensa" (Tweet). Retrieved January 4, 2020 – via Twitter.
  5. ^ @lolesports (August 27, 2017). "Congratulations to @Immortals on qualifying for the 2017 World Championship! #Worlds2017" (Tweet). Retrieved January 5, 2020 – via Twitter.
  6. ^ Erzberger, Tyler (October 18, 2017). "Immortals out of the NA LCS is a black eye to the league". ESPN. Retrieved January 5, 2020.
  7. ^ Erzberger, Tyler (September 27, 2019). "Cody Sun shines away from the spotlight in League of Legends". ESPN. Retrieved January 5, 2020.
  8. ^ a b Endres, Elena (September 8, 2019). "Clutch reverse sweep TSM to secure a spot at Worlds". Dot Esports. Retrieved September 8, 2019.
  9. ^ Volk, Pete (December 9, 2016). "Immortals sign Flame, Cody Sun on new roster". The Rift Herald. Retrieved January 8, 2020.
  10. ^ a b Abbas, Malcolm (September 4, 2017). "TSM defeat Immortals to win their third straight NA LCS title". Dot Esports. Retrieved January 8, 2020.
  11. ^ a b Goslin, Austen (October 12, 2017). "Worlds 2017 Group Stage: Group B finale recap". The Rift Herald. Retrieved January 8, 2020.
  12. ^ a b Li, Xing (August 22, 2018). "What happened to Cody Sun?". Dot Esports. Retrieved January 8, 2020.
  13. ^ Chouadria, Adel (October 20, 2019). "League of Legends World Championship disappointment another lesson for Cody Sun". ESPN. Retrieved January 8, 2020.
  14. ^ Li, Xing (October 19, 2017). "Why kicking Immortals out of the NA LCS is a mistake". Dot Esports. Retrieved January 9, 2020.
  15. ^ "Team Liquid - Roster Update". www.teamliquid.com. Team Liquid. Retrieved January 9, 2020.
  16. ^ Abbas, Malcolm (December 16, 2017). "100 Thieves signs Cody Sun to complete its NA LCS roster". Dot Esports. Retrieved January 9, 2020.
  17. ^ Mickunas, Aaron (March 18, 2018). "100 Thieves force a first-place tiebreaker by bringing down Echo Fox". Dot Esports. Retrieved January 9, 2020.
  18. ^ Li, Xing (April 2, 2018). "How macro doomed Clutch Gaming in the NA LCS semifinals". Dot Esports. Retrieved January 9, 2020.
  19. ^ Mickunas, Aaron (April 8, 2018). "Liquid and Doublelift triumph over 100 Thieves to claim the 2018 NA LCS Spring Split title". Dot Esports. Retrieved January 9, 2020.
  20. ^ Binkowski, Justin (September 2, 2018). "Rikara will start over Cody Sun in 100 Thieves' NA LCS semifinal match against Team Liquid". Dot Esports. Retrieved January 9, 2020.
  21. ^ Esguerra, Tyler (September 3, 2018). "Team Liquid beats 100 Thieves in NA LCS semifinals". Daily Esports. Archived from the original on June 13, 2020. Retrieved January 9, 2020.
  22. ^ Waltzer, Noah (September 9, 2018). "TSM beats 100 Thieves for third in NA LCS". ESPN. Retrieved January 9, 2020.
  23. ^ Esguerra, Tyler (September 9, 2018). "TSM takes down 100 Thieves for NA LCS third place". Daily Esports. Retrieved January 9, 2020.[permanent dead link]
  24. ^ Esguerra, Tyler (May 27, 2019). "Cody Sun will be Clutch Gaming's starting ADC for week one of the 2019 LCS Summer Split". Dot Esports. Retrieved August 19, 2019.
  25. ^ Li, Xing (August 4, 2019). "Huni's Rumble helps Clutch beat Golden Guardians, secure an LCS playoff seed". Dot Esports. Retrieved August 20, 2019.
  26. ^ Esguerra, Tyler (August 11, 2019). "Clutch Gaming take down TSM to qualify for the 2019 LCS Summer Split semifinals". Dot Esports. Retrieved August 20, 2019.
  27. ^ Kolev, Radoslav (August 11, 2019). "Cody Sun, Clutch Gaming trample TSM in LCS quarterfinals". VPEsports. Retrieved August 20, 2019.
  28. ^ Abbas, Malcolm (August 19, 2019). "Team Liquid qualify for Worlds after semifinal win over Clutch Gaming". Dot Esports. Retrieved August 20, 2019.
  29. ^ Li, Xing (August 25, 2019). "CLG reverse sweep Clutch in the LCS third place match". Dot Esports. Retrieved September 7, 2019.
  30. ^ Abbas, Malcolm (September 6, 2019). "Clutch Gaming begin Worlds qualifer [sic] gauntlet run with win over FlyQuest". Dot Esports. Retrieved September 7, 2019.
  31. ^ Samples, Rachel (September 7, 2019). "Clutch keep their gauntlet run alive after taking down CLG". Dot Esports. Retrieved September 8, 2019.
  32. ^ @lolesports (October 4, 2019). "Tiebreakers explained: ..." (Tweet). Retrieved October 4, 2019 – via Twitter.
  33. ^ "Clutch Gaming, Splyce win their groups on Day 3 of League of Legends World Championship play-ins". ESPN. October 4, 2019. Retrieved October 23, 2019.
  34. ^ Endres, Elena (October 7, 2019). "Clutch Gaming advance to the main stage at Worlds 2019". Dot Esports. Retrieved October 23, 2019.
  35. ^ Esuguerra, Tyler (October 14, 2019). "What can Clutch Gaming do to change their winless start to Worlds 2019?". Dot Esports. Retrieved October 23, 2019.
  36. ^ Esuguerra, Tyler (October 19, 2019). "Clutch Gaming eliminated from Worlds 2019 after a horrible backdoor attempt against Fnatic". Dot Esports. Retrieved October 23, 2019.
  37. ^ Esguerra, Tyler (November 26, 2019). "Cody Sun officially returns to 100 Thieves". Dot Esports. Retrieved January 5, 2020.
  38. ^ Ousley, Parkes (November 22, 2019). "League of Legends: [Official] Cody Sun returns to 100 Thieves!". Inven Global. Retrieved January 5, 2020.
  39. ^ Yim, Miles (December 26, 2019). "The biggest 2019 LCS offseason winners and losers". Washington Post. Retrieved January 5, 2020.
  40. ^ Wolf, Jacob (November 22, 2019). "Sources: Cody Sun to 100 Thieves, Stunt promoted over Aphromoo". ESPN. Retrieved January 9, 2020.
edit