FlyQuest to sign Licorice, Palafox, and Diamond from C9, completing roster with Josedeodo and Deftly

Announced via League of Legends roster guru Jacob Wolf on the Free Agency show last night, FlyQuest has agreed to a package buy-out of Licorice, Palafox and Diamond.

A double #WolfBomb just dropped 🤯

Tune in now to https://t.co/ndedM5x9N8 pic.twitter.com/19amg0HTaX

— Evil Geniuses (@EvilGeniuses) November 17, 2020

Licorice has been seen as a premier top laner in the LCS for a number of years while also holding the coveted resident status, while Palafox and Diamond are both highly touted academy players who won back to back splits with C9A in 2020.

Dominance was asserted in both positions on the Rift but it’s time to bring the top tier gameplay beyond the Academy League. Thank you for all your hard work at Cloud9 and many titles to #C9LACS, and we wish you both nothing but the best!

Farewell, @C9Diamond & @palafoxlol 💙 pic.twitter.com/Ex7wKJ0e2L

— Cloud9 (@Cloud9) November 16, 2020

The news follows the other high-profile signing of Rainbow7’s star junlger Josedeodo, who made waves at Worlds this year with his aggressive jungling style on picks like Graves and Evelynn. His signing marks the first time an LLA player has made the move to the LCS.

Undefeated no more and the 5-way-tie is STILL alive! @Josedeodo shows the world how to play Evelynn, finishing the game with the highest damage to champions of all players! #Worlds2020 pic.twitter.com/W1JwvCfsJP

— LoLEsports Stats (@LoLEsportsStats) September 27, 2020

While their ADC is still somewhat up in the air, FlyQuest seems mostly committed to Matthew “Deftly” Chen - another former Cloud9 member - who was most recently on Evil Geniuses’ Academy roster.

Initial outlooks for this roster look good in isolation: one of the best performing top laners in the league and a veteran presence in Licorice, an import jungler with high prospects and good numbers, and two rookies with massive potential in Palafox and Diamond.

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Out of a vacuum and some potential issues are apparent.

Flyquest will be hoping Josedeodo's skills translate to the LCS. (Picture: lolesports)

How well will Josedeodo translate his dominance in the LLA to a major region? Will Palafox and Diamond make the step up from academy to the mainstage? Prospective talent is all well and good, but C9, TL, TSM and 100T all have stacked rosters to name a few, and throwing rookies against former World Champions and finalists is a big ask.

A roster to get excited about to be sure, but how high is FlyQuest’s ceiling and can they reach it?