Cloud9’s star support Philippe “Vulcan” Laflamme recently opened up about his career in esports, saying that he is unsure if he will continue working in the industry after his retirement from professional League of Legends. The Cloud9 bot laner is currently 20 years old, and his LCS career started just a year and a half ago when he played for Clutch Gaming during the 2018 Summer Split.
When asked about his future in an interview with Dot Esports, Vulcan responded, “Right now, I’m not too sure if I’d want to keep doing stuff in esports.” He then went on to say, “Maybe after I’m done being a player, I’m like, not over it, but I want to move on and do something else.”
The Canada native also expressed his thoughts on esports as a whole, saying, “Being an esports player is kinda useless to the world.” He also mentioned how being a professional gamer “isn’t doing anything for society” and that he hopes his future involves doing something that helps people more. Vulcan also expressed interest about the potential of going back to school after he is done playing.
With many players such as TSM’s Søren “Bjergsen” Bjerg, T1’s Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok and Cloud9’s own Zachary “Sneaky” Scuderi becoming part-owners in their prospective teams, the opportunity to take an ownership role within a team is something Vulcan said he would have to consider.
Earlier this past offseason, Cloud9 made waves in the competitive League of Legends scene by acquiring Vulcan from Team Dignitas for a buyout of $1.5 million, making him the most expensive player in western esports history. This deal, despite being mighty expensive for Cloud9’s owner, Jack Etienne, has already shown to be fruitful. Vulcan and his Cloud9 teammates have won every single game of the 2020 LCS Spring Split, sitting atop the standings with a perfect 8-0 record through week 4. Cloud9 has a three-game cushion on 2nd place Flyquest, and they’re currently looking like one of the best teams in the world.
On a personal note, Vulcan is leading all supports in the LCS in KDA (kill/death/assist ratio) with a whopping 26, average assists per game (9.3) and gold per minute (253), as well as leading supports in lowest deaths per game at just 0.4. Not to mention how his laning partner, Sven, has only died twice so far this split, and both of those deaths were in teamfights that took place outside of the lane.
Being just 20 years old and having the talent that he has, retirement is something that shouldn’t even be on the mind of the young star. Vulcan’s got a bright future ahead of him, and it’ll be exciting for all League of Legends fans to see what the future has in store for him.
Sources: Dot Esports, Cloud9 and Game of Legends eSports
