Who is Isles?

• Jonah “Isles” Rosario is an Australian who made a name for himself in the “Oceanic” region as a teenager. He even managed to qualify for the 2020 Worlds. Australia is a small region in LoL, but still sends a team to the Worlds.
• In late 2020, during the Corona Pandemic, Isles made the jump to the junior team of one of the best US teams, Cloud9, as a young support talent. Isles also had the option to move to a weaker team and play directly in the pro league, but wanted to take his time after another Australian failed to make the jump “directly to the LCS”.
• At Cloud9 in 2020 he first got a place in the junior team and played there for one year.

In April 2022 came the breakthrough – After 2 years in the U.S.

That was his breakthrough:

At the end of 2021, Cloud9 made a bold new start. A new coach wanted to expand the squad: as part of this plan, they took Isles out of the academy team and gave him a go in the pro team, sharing the spot as a supporter with South Korean Winsome. Korean Winsome was in the starting lineup, but Isles was used in training matches, the scrims, and occasionally got a chance to play properly.

His contract was extended until 2024.

In fact, Isles was there when it mattered. Things didn’t go well with Winsome in the playoffs, communication with the South Korean apparently proved difficult, and Cloud9 gave Isles a chance: in his 5th game as a pro, he appeared in a playoff match for Cloud9, did well, and got his team the win on a big stage. In an interview with Dexerto, he says:

“You can hear the crowd screaming. It’s one big rush. It’s a great feeling when that happens.”

After Isles was given a chance as a pro, he worked. His coach said of him, “With Isles as a supporter, the team would play better in training matches, and communication would run more smoothly. On April 8, Cloud9 announced that Isles would now replace Winsome as the starting supporter (via inven).

With Isles in the lineup instead of Winsome, Cloud9 actually won a playoff series against the Golden Guardians 3-0. With heroes such as Leona and Lux, Isles put up some fierce stats: By April 10, 2022, it looked like Isles would finally be the new supporter for one of the best teams in the US.

But the following week, on 4/17, they had to play Evil Geniuses, the team that later became champions. Cloud9 was eliminated from the playoffs 0-3 and suddenly everything was different.

A month after the breakthrough came the dismissal

That was the end:

As Isles says, he was dismissed in May 2022 without much explanation along with Park “Summit” Woo-tae and the other supporter Kim “Winsome” Dong-keon.

The manager basically told me that C9 wanted to make a change and that was pretty much it. They didn’t give me any more information – really just said they were going to make a move. It wasn’t really explained to me exactly why. There was no goodbye talk with a coach or anything like that.

Because the firing now comes after a half– Season and Isles is without a team in the middle of his LoL year, he’s critical of his chances of getting a new job in the US. Isles is annoyed though, he had just gotten the chance to prove himself in the LCS and thinks he can compete well here.

The CEO of Cloud9 doesn’t give him much hope. He said on Twitter that they tried to give the 3 players to other teams for free – but nobody wanted Isles or the two South Koreans.

Without a job, Isles’ visa runs out – countdown ticks down

This is Isles’ problem now

Without a job in the USA, he can’t stay in the country. He has already put down roots in the USA, has a girlfriend in the USA and a cat named Penny. He doesn’t want to ship her halfway around the world to Australia.

On May 14, his visa expires – then he has 30 days left to find a new team, the 21-year-old writes on Twitter. He will look at every offer from every region, he writes. Obviously, he would prefer to play for a US team.

As Dexerto writes, he also needs to get out of his apartment, which he can no longer afford.

Isles seems to be struggling with his situation. He thinks about how his career would have turned out if he had decided to start in the LCS right away instead of spending a year in the Academy team.

He also frets that he’s only had such a short time to play and make a name for himself as a pro:

I think I should have replaced Winsome after only 4 weeks if people had looked more closely at the practice matches. I think there was too much hesitation to make a decision and the people with the most power don’t necessarily have the most knowledge of the situation.

Isles

This is what’s behind it: Isles’ example shows how unsteady and difficult life as an e-sportsman can be. Ultimately, a few games and distant forces decide the weal and woe of the young player. At his age and with such a short career, Isles hasn’t had the opportunity to build up financial reserves to cope with such a blow.

The peak of his life as an athlete and the defeat that led to his dismissal were only 7 days apart here. But the consequences are huge, and future prospects seem difficult:

It always seems more appealing for teams to keep the next 19-year-old and start “fresh” than to sign someone who has had some experience.