EternaLEnVy's Cloud9 goes winless in debut at Dota Summit 12

Steven Rondina Published 12/03/2020

Fans got their first taste of the new Cloud9 Dota 2 roster and that taste was pretty darn bad.

The team made its debut at Dota Summit 12 in disastrous fashion, getting eliminated from the group stage. Worse yet, the team amassed a 0-10 record along the way.

Dota Summit 12 started in ugly fashion for Cloud9. Jacky “EternaLEnVy” Mao started the event by facing one of his former teams, Fnatic. The team went 0-2 in the series as Fnatic bullied Cloud9 to two quick losses. The team then took a similar loss to Team Liquid, with Liquid carry Michael “miCKe” Vu racking up a 31 kills and zero deaths in the team’s two wins.

Fnatic and Liquid represent two of the best teams in the world, but Cloud9 didn’t fare any better against weaker teams. OG.Seed, sister team to OG that has failed to qualify for a Dota Pro Circuit event since forming, handed Cloud9 its most brutal defeats of the event, with OG.Seed racking up 59 kills in the two games compared to Cloud9’s 18. Even the unheralded Thunder Predator had little trouble besting Cloud9, slowly working its way to two methodical wins.

Strangely, Cloud9’s best performance actually came against tournament favorites Evil Geniuses. Cloud9 was neck-and-neck with the tournament favorites throughout game one, with the game being decided late by a single botched initiation by Cloud9. The second game was also razor thin for a prolonged period of time, until Evil Geniuses’ stronger mid-game composition took over.

Though Cloud9 lost in a number of different ways, fans of the organization have cause to be worried about how badly things went for the team here.

Cloud9 has a lot to fix before Epicenter Major qualifiers

On one hand, Cloud9’s poor performance can be brushed off. The team just recently came together, and largely faced top caliber competition in its first outing. A weak showing was predictable in many ways.

That said, there’s no way to sugarcoat a 0-10 run in the group stage against competition that largely isn’t made up of the world’s best teams. The side looked weak on almost every front and that suggests there are deeper issues with this team.

Cloud9 might be able to shake things off and right the ship, but it will need to do so in a hurry. The team is likely going to return for the qualifiers for the 2020 Epicenter Major and only has a few weeks to get into shape.

It’s unclear which region Cloud9 will compete in, but the team will need to start clicking in order to make the cut regardless.

Steven Rondina

About Steven Rondina

Steven Rondina is a true lifelong gamer. His earliest memories are of playing video games, and he has continued playing them throughout his life with no plans to stop any time soon. Steven’s favorite franchises in gaming include Pokemon, Dark Souls, and Counter-Strike. He has previously published with Bleacher Report and other gaming outlets.

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