Floppy, Xeppa leave CSGO to join Cloud9's Valorant roster
Ricky “floppy” Kemery and Erick “Xeppaa” Bach have officially stepped back from Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, but will remain under Cloud9’s banner as a part of its Valorant roster.
Rumors of floppy transitioning to Valorant have lingered for a while now, but few expected Xeppaa to make the big switch. Cloud9 took to Twitter to confirm reports of floppy and Xeppaa joining the Valorant roster, two days after dropping its oldest player Skyler “Relyks” Weaver.
This one’s no imposter ඞ
— Cloud9 (@Cloud9) April 19, 2021
We’re excited to announce that @floppyCSGO has joined #C9BLUE! pic.twitter.com/KwMH6X52Gr
Relyks was one of the core players in Cloud9’s men’s Valorant roster, signed after Tyson “TenZ” Ngo, who paused his hiatus from competitive play to join Sentinels as a substitute. TenZ’s switch to streaming was a major hit to Cloud9’s Valorant roster that came alongside a number of poor outings. The team recently took a loss against Version1 in the lower bracket of Valorant Champions Tour Stage 2.
According to RushBMedia’s Ryan, Floppy will instantly get to the action in the Cloud9 white roster, but Xeppa won’t be part of the starting five for now. Floppy’s extensive experience in CSGO and FPS games should allow him to effectively replace Relyks and propel the team to its former glory.
Floppy and Xeppa the latest to leave CSGO for Valorant
North American CSGO has been in dire straits over the last year, with tons of pro players transitioning to Valorant. Floppy and Xeppa’s switch is another blow in the already-flailing CSGO esports scene in the region.
Floppy joined pro CSGO in 2014 and has actively been competing since then. He debuted in Cloud9 when the organization absorbed the roster of ATK near the beginning of 2020. Lackluster results led the organization to hand the reins to Henry “HenryG” Greer, who only kept floppy from the former ATK lineup. The so-called “Colossus” roster fell apart six months after coming together, leaving floppy with even fewer options in North America. Cloud9 is currently reassessing its options in CSGO.
His move to Valorant was highly expected as he’s already invested seven years in CSGO, with HenryG’s project being the apex of his career. While the North American CSGO scene is crumbling during the online era, Valorant’s budding esports scene has a lot to offer for a talent like floppy and floppy still has a lot to offer Cloud9.
Conversely, Xepppa’s transition has surprised fans. HenryG plucked one of the highest-rated players from Chaos Esports Club to replace Özgür “woxic” Eker in Cloud9. The 20-year old is still a newer talent, but likely has tons of potential to be unlocked. However, his switch to Valorant will put an end to his short journey in CSGO. The young star himself acknowledged that he “never reached [his] peak in Counter-Strike.” The rifler will be joining his former teammate Nathan “leaf” Orf in Cloud9, who also switched to Valorant when Choas dissolved its CSGO division in 2020.
The overhauled roster will debut at VCT Stage 2: Challengers 2 in a game against T1 on April 22.
Fariha Bhatti is a long-time gaming writer who loves competitive FPS games and slots with particularly fun themes. She got her start playing classic games developed by SNK, from legendary fighting game series The King of Fighters to challenging platform franchise Metal Slug. She now spends most of her time playing Valorant and Counter-Strike 2 while working her way through new slot releases to find her next favorite. Fariha has been published at PCGamesN, TalkEsport and ONE Esports.
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