Cloud9 to replace Luminosity Gaming in ELEAGUE playoffs

Cloud9 will take Luminosity Gaming's spot in the ELEAGUE playoffs, ELEAGUE confirmed to theScore esports Thursday.

After Luminosity Gaming and SK Gaming were disqualified from ELEAGUE yesterday, Cloud9 and SK were removed from the last chance qualifier bracket and replaced by Renegades and Gambit. It was unclear at the time whether or not Cloud9 was moved to the playoffs bracket as a result.

Cloud9 finished second in Group A at ELEAGUE, behind the former Luminosity Gaming roster, now playing for SK Gaming. Luminosity formally transferred their roster to SK Gaming on July 1, after settling months of contract disputes.

ELEAGUE was presented with a petition, which the organization independently confirmed to theScore esports was signed by Team SoloMid, Cloud9, Counter Logic Gaming, Echo Fox, NRG Esports, OpTic Gaming and Team Liquid. However, ELEAGUE reiterated that no decision was reached before the petition was presented.

"It should be emphasized that the petition did not impact ELEAGUE’s decision to disqualify SK Gaming and Luminosity from ELEAGUE," ELEAGUE stated in an email. "The decision was based solely on the mid-season roster change rules violation."

At the beginning of the season, team owners signed contracts with ELEAGUE, which had them abide by the rules laid out in ELEAGUE's rulebook in order to keep their spots. One of those rules was to have a full roster presented on May 18. As team owners signed the contracts and not the players, they own the spots in the league, which leaves Team X, the former SK Gaming roster, out of the league entirely.