Cloud9 signs top player on NA Valorant leaderboards, poiz

Cloud9 has added one of the top-ranked North American players on the official Valorant leaderboards, Michael “poiz” Possis, to its Cloud9 Blue roster. The organization brought him in as a sixth man, signing him to the bench for the time being.

The American became a noteworthy name at the end of 2020, when Riot Games released its top ranked players for each regional server. Cloud9’s new addition had three accounts ranked in the top 15, with his alternate account "DOINKMACHINE97" ranking at number one at different points. He even edged out Tyson “TenZ” Ngo, Cloud9’s former ace and one of the best players in the world, who was the runner-up at the time.

poiz is a relative newcomer to the competitive gaming ecosystem. He has only played for one team, SOR or Straight Outta Ranked, for only two tournaments. In his short pro match history, poiz and his fellow top-ranked teammates took maps off some of the higher ranked organizations at the time, NRG Esports, Andbox, and XSET.

He is also not the only player from that SOR roster to be signed by a top organization. Two of his fellow teammates are now part of the Immortals roster. 

Before Valorant, poiz was a highly ranked Overwatch player, breaking into the top 30 of the North American server. The North American organization has made some big moves ahead of the Valorant Champions Tour. After TenZ moved to content creation, Cloud9 needed to find a replacement ahead of the Riot Games-sanctioned circuit. This move also came on the heels of releasing former in-game leader Josh “shinobi” Abastado and trailing the newly signed Nathan “leaf” Orf. The organization also recently added Korean player Son “xeta” Seon-ho to round out its starting five.

Now, Cloud9 is adding its third player in three months and exited the first stage of the Valorant Champions Tour without qualifying for the main event. This signals an aggressive push from the organization to add as much firepower to the team as possible, instead of sitting on its current iteration. Cloud9 may debut poiz in the next stage of the VCT.