North America’s sole Major champion, Cloud9, announced they have left CS:GO with the intention to hopefully return.
In the Summer of 2020, Henry “HenryG” Greer was given full reign over Cloud9’s CS:GO department. Intent on making Cloud9 internationally relevant once again, HenryG crafted a promising international roster. Under the “Colossus” banner, the original roster featured ALEX, Mezzi, Woxic, Floppy, and most notable Astralis’ 6th man, Es3tag. An early roster swap was made as after Woxic’s removal, ex-Chaos rifler, Xeppaa, was brought in following a hiatus from competitive play.
Both iterations of Colossus found middling results throughout their tenure, which made it clear that this project was always an uphill battle for C9. Announcing their pause from competitive play, Cloud9’s official tweet cited issues regarding “remote training” that motivated their decision.
Unlike NA teams such as Team Liquid or Evil Geniuses who were able to set up either training facilities or semi-permanent homes in Europe, Cloud9 operated entirely from a distance. For many NA teams, maintaining a CS:GO presence was quickly becoming a financial burden. Considering the massive buyouts and salaries for players like Es3tag, this undoubtedly was a factor for C9.
Cloud9’s announcement tweet, as well as statements made from CEO Jack Etienne, have all emphasized this will not be a permanent withdrawal from CS:GO. Cloud9 has almost always maintained an influential position in the North American scene and will likely wait for the COVID-19 pandemic to subside before making a re-entry into CS:GO.
As for the players, all were released from their status as CS players but Floppy and Xeppaa have been rumored to make the switch to Cloud9’s VALORANT roster. Having not seen recent success in Riot’s tactical shooter, reuniting Xeppaa with Leaf and potentially adding Floppy as a veteran presence could propel this otherwise underperforming team.
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