Cloud9 terminates its CSGO team, considers a later return
Cloud9 has decided to temporarily pull out of Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, only months after heavily investing in a brand new roster.
The decision follows a string of disappointing results, as Cloud9 failed to qualify for IEM Katowice and didn’t make it out of its group in the ESL Pro League. The roster, which was assembled in September of last year, has been placed on the bench and its players are available for transfers. In the official statement regarding the discussion, Cloud9 says that the departure will be temporary and that it will examine options to field a new American roster in the future.
The roster was initially supposed to be based out of Los Angeles, but the current travel restrictions made it impossible for its European players to relocate. Cloud9 will reconsider competing in CSGO once it’s able to go ahead with its initials plans for a team based in LA.
Cloud9 has been competing in CSGO since 2014 and managed to win the Boston Major in 2018. But since winning that major, the organization has struggled to keep a stable roster. In the past three years, its lineup has seen more than 30 changes. The organization historically fielded a roster with players based in North America, but its latest lineup was primarily built around European players. The organization appointed former caster Henry “HenryG” Greer as its general manager in September of last year and gave him the task to assemble a “colossus.”
The roster was initially built around AWPer Özgür “woxic” Eker and in-game leader Alex “ALEX” McMeekin. woxic was released early on in the project and replaced with Erick “Xeppaa” Bach, with personality issues being rumored as the reason why. The roster also parted ways with their coach Aleksandar “kassad” Trifunovic after the first few weeks. He was replaced by Chris “Elmapuddy” Tebbit, who started his second tenure on Cloud9.
The following players are now benched by Cloud9, and are able to explore their options:
- Alex “ALEX” McMeekin
- William “mezii” Merriman
- Patrick “es3tag” Hansen
- Ricky “floppy” Kemery
- Erick “Xeppaa” Bach
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