Cloud9 announces new player and changes ahead of Challengers

Jan 27, 2021

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In a video outlining Cloud9’s thoughts about the organization’s Valorant team moving forward, it was revealed that a new player was signing along with a new coach and general manager.

Update on the status of #C9BLUE and our plans going into the future from @RelyksOG, our new GM @C9Robin, & our new Head Coach @autumnkorea! pic.twitter.com/JbG3ahof7U

— Cloud9 (@Cloud9) January 26, 2021

Who is joining the Cloud9 Valorant roster?

The new addition to the Cloud9 Blue roster will be Son “xeta” Seon-ho. The former Cloud9 Korea player recently stood in for the team at the Nerd Street Gamers Winter Championship tournament from Korea. Even with over 200 ping, xeta performed well on Breach and impressed the organization enough to warrant a chance with the main team.

Also coming over from Cloud9 Korea will be that team’s former coach, Yoon “Autumn” Eu-ddeum. Autumn is joining xeta in the Korean exodus.

The final addition to the Cloud9 Valorant staff is general manager Robin Lee. Lee is the general manager for many of the organization’s shooter titles and was the main orchestrator behind both of the recent moves made by the team.

What led Cloud9’s Valorant team here?

In the video, Lee along with Cloud9 player Skyler “Relyks” Weaver explained that the team is now in a developmental phase. After the disappointing results from early Valorant tournament series, mainly the Ignition series and First Strike, the team came together and wanted to make a change, according to Relyks.

The organizations decided to cut its former in-game leader Josh “shinobi” Abastado and trail its other recent signing Nathan “leaf” Orf. From there, Lee explains that after he took up the mantle of manager for the team as Tyson “TenZ” Ngo told him about his desire to step away from the team and competition in order to focus on streaming.

That, according to Lee, was when the rebuilding of the roster truly started and led to the current team that Cloud9 has today.

Lastly, in the announcement video Autumn explained his intention to build a professional culture around the team and start from the ground up as a developmental squad. He also confirmed that Daniel “vice” Kim will be the team’s in-game leader moving forward.