Lauri « Cyanide » Happonen, a Finnish player and League of Legends champion at the very first World Championship, has died aged 31. The Finnish daily Ilta-Sanomat broke the news on 26 October 2026. According to the paper, the Finnish Digital and Population Data Services Agency (DVV) confirms a death on 31 July. The cause has not been made public, and this article offers no speculation.
The site Dexerto, then Insider Gaming picked up the story during the day. The former Fnatic jungler was born on 15 November 1994.
The youngest League of Legends champion in history
In 2011, Riot Games held the first League of Legends world final, for Season 1. Cyanide was 16 when Fnatic beat the French team aAa 2 games to 1 in the final. He remains the youngest player to have lifted the trophy, Insider Gaming notes.
The League of Legends champion spent four years at Fnatic. According to Dexerto, the team won three European titles between 2013 and 2014. Ilta-Sanomat adds a World Championship semi-final in 2013. Cyanide ended his professional career at the end of 2014.
He then went on to streaming and business studies in Helsinki, hosted a video game show for the Finnish channel Yle Kioski, and worked on smaller esports projects, Ilta-Sanomat details. His last known public appearance was on 25 July: an exhibition match between former European players, six days before his death.
Tributes from former teammates and opponents
Fnatic responded on 26 October. The organization says it is « deeply saddened » and writes that Cyanide « leaves behind a legacy that will never be forgotten », according to the text relayed by Insider Gaming.
His former teammate YellOwStaR posted a photo taken at that last exhibition match. He writes that Lauri was much more than a teammate, that they shared their everyday lives for more than two and a half years, and that he was one of the kindest, most genuine souls he had known. Dexerto reports that YellOwStaR had seen him again in July, days before his death.
The French organization aAa, his opponent in the 2011 final, called him a « formidable opponent » at the first world championships. Andrei « Odoamne » Pascu, now assistant coach at Fnatic, says he grew up watching this League of Legends champion play and met him for the first time at that exhibition match. Fabian « GrabbZ » Lohmann, Fnatic head coach, says he helped shape the early scene, and that many players came to love the game thanks to players like him.
A second loss among the 2011 champions
Dexerto and Insider Gaming point out that Cyanide is the second League of Legends champion of the 2011 winning roster to die, after Maciej « Shushei » Ratuszniak, who died in April 2025 aged 36.
In 2018, Ilta-Sanomat had collected Cyanide’s memories of that world title: people wanted photos with him, he who saw himself as a plain « nerd » with fragile self-esteem. The 2026 World Championship is played fifteen years after his victory. Our thoughts are with his family, his loved ones and his former teammates.
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