5 reasons for the failure of the Cloud9 lineup
The current Cloud9 roster began to take shape in July 2023. Then Ilya Perfecto Zalutskiy and Denis electroNic Sharipov from Natus Vincere joined the team. With their joining, it became obvious that the team was gathering with the goal of claiming the highest places in all tournaments. The status of the star lineup was confirmed with the signing of Kirill Boombl4 Mikhailov, who was eager to return to the tier-1 stage and once again prove to everyone that, despite all the problems in his career, he is still worthy of competing with the best.
But many questions immediately arose for the roster, which it has not resolved to this day. In this material, we propose to discuss the global problems of Cloud9, which do not allow the team to consistently perform at the highest level, having enormous ambitions.
1. The absence of a sniper
Cloud9 fans warmly welcomed the addition of Kirill Boombl4 Mikhailov, but according to the community, he replaced the wrong player. The club had one of the best snipers in the world – Dmitry sh1ro Sokolov. However, he left the team shortly before Mikhailov’s transfer. The management of the organization decided to leave Abay HObbit Khassenov and Sergey Ax1Le Rykhtorov on the roster instead of looking for a new sniper. The reason for this was the instability of AWP in Counter-Strike 2. The team decided that they could cope without a player in this position – the role of a sniper in Cloud9 flows from one esports player to another, depending on the map. Sometimes this is successful, but it also leads to ridiculous defeats, for example, in the opening match at IEM Katowice 2024, the squad lost to the Polish five Rebels (118th place in the HLTV rating).
The lack of a stable sniper is the main problem of Cloud9. And until the club secures this position for one of the players, it will not be possible to compete with the best teams. But there is no one to choose from within the team; it contains promising riflers, but nothing like shooters with AWP. This leads management to the necessary changes.
2. Decline of HObbit's career
Abay HObbit Khassenov stands out the most in Cloud9. And not in a positive way. The esports player has lost his former form and dropped in statistics. Perhaps he remains in the team because he plays a big role in building a positive moral component, because the player has been in the core of the team since 2020, when he represented Gambit Esports. Khassenov’s teammates also noted in interviews that he is an extremely pleasant teammate.
But as the years go by, the level of HObbit’s individual form has dropped noticeably. Keeping a player on the team for old merits is not Cloud9’s way if the club’s goal was to assemble a star-studded roster and compete for trophies at big tournaments. Now Abay Khassenov is 29 years old and he is approaching the end of his career. It’s time for Cloud9 to let go of the player and find a younger candidate. A good attitude in the team is important, but this will not get you far when you are up against such giants as Team Vitality, FaZe Clan, Natus Vincere and other strongest teams.
3. Transition from Ax1Le to CS2
With the release of the updated version of the shooter, Cloud9 has partially lost one of the key players. Sergey Ax1Le Rykhtorov has a hard time adapting to Counter-Strike 2, which was noted not only by him, but also by his teammates. His role in the team remains unchanged – he must make the maximum number of frags, but so far he has not been able to cope with this.
In CS:GO Ax1Le often took the game into its own hands and was one of the reasons for Cloud9’s victories. And in CS2, his teammates have to cope with this, simultaneously deciding who will play with AWP.
Another factor is the conflict of interests in the team, which arose after Denis electroNic Sharipov joined. On many maps, gamers play in similar positions – they themselves noted this in interviews last year. To solve this situation, they had to rebuild and change roles, which also has a bad effect on individual form.
4. Boombl4 adaptation to the tir-1 scene
Kirill Mikhailov’s transfer to Cloud9 caused a storm of hype and discussions. But it was too early to rejoice: everyone had forgotten that since May 2022 he had stopped playing on the professional stage. He returned to esports only in February 2023 as part of 1WIN. Boombl4 spent less than a year playing in small online tournaments there. Of course, this is not the level that Mikhailov aspired to. Moving to Cloud9 gave him the opportunity to return to the top of the professional scene, but it’s not a fact that he was ready for it.
After such a long break, the player needs time to adjust to the tournament schedule, frequent flights and constant grueling workouts. This is especially difficult when the team is being built almost from scratch. Over time, the need for captaincy was added to these responsibilities. Denis electroNic Sharipov decided to focus on his personal game and shift the burden of leadership to Boombl4. Also, the player has to play the role of one of the snipers of the team – Mikhailov takes AWP most often.
5. Groove as a coach
One of the weak links of Cloud9 is their coach. Konstantin Groove Pikiner has been working with Gambit Esports since 2020. Of course, the team has achieved significant results in several tournaments with him. But the main achievements of the mentor fell at the time of COVID-19 – the long era of Gambit’s online victories.
After the return of Counter-Strike to the LAN format, the team rarely managed to perform well at big championships. Perhaps Cloud9 should think about changing the coach and get a fresh look at the problems and tactics of the team. Unfortunately, the current Cloud9 is able to consistently play only online, as well as the former Gambit Esports.
On January 31, Owen smooya Butterfield shared rumors about upcoming changes in the Cloud9 lineup. According to the esports player, Ilya m0NESY Osipov and Valeriy b1t Vakhovskiy can join the team.
These changes will certainly have a positive impact on the performance level of Cloud9. These players are the missing link: together with them, the team will receive the necessary sniper, who claims to be the best player in the world, as well as a stable young shooter.
It is currently unknown who they will replace in the roster, but the obvious candidates for exclusion are Abay HObbit Khassenov and Sergey Ax1Le Rykhtorov. After the long-awaited reunion, the trio of Boombl4, Perfecto and electroNic is unlikely to break up after the first setbacks in the new line-up.
But it is worth noting that these changes will have to wait at least until the completion of PGL CS2 Major Copenhagen 2024. It all depends on the results of Natus Vincere and G2 Esports in the major. However, Vakhovskiy himself noted that he did not want to play in an international team, such as NAVI is now, and G2 has lost its position in the top of the best teams in the world.