amazingxkcd Profile Blog Joined September 2010 GRAND OLD AMERICA 15736 Posts Last Edited: 2016-08-24 18:46:00 #1 A Cloud9 beaching

With the MLG Columbus Qualifiers coming up for Cloud9, Cloud9 have had a controversial start to the year. Being invited to the major due to their 9-16th placing at Cluj-Napoca, C9 have looked like a shadow of their former self; the recent failure of qualifying for Dreamhack Malmö fails to help that outlook. They had 2 chances for the spot, having to face Tempo Storm and Counter Logic Gaming. In their first chance, C9 would fall to Tempo Storm, losing on Inferno, winning on Train, then losing on Dust2 from an explosive showing of sniper Henrique “hen1” Teles. In their last chance spot match against CLG, C9 displayed horrid and uncoordinated T sides, only gathering 6 T rounds across Cache (16-12 for CLG) and Cobblestone (16-3 for CLG).



The start of Cloud9’s controversial new year of 2016 would be the announcement of their new fifth, Jake “Stewie2k” Yip. The announcement stems as a follow up from the retirement of C9’s original 5th Sean “sgares” Gares, who was an influential figure in C9’s brief tournament run that started in EEPL Season 2. The reason for the controversial news of Yip would be due to the fact the community viewed him as a “pugger”; multiple people also criticized the fact his style of play would not work out in a professional game, pointing out his constant smoke jumps. Another reason would be his “onliner” status, which was most evident in his first LAN at RGN Pro Series.



With the MLG Columbus Qualifiers coming up forCloud9, Cloud9 have had a controversial start to the year. Being invited to the major due to their 9-16th placing at Cluj-Napoca, C9 have looked like a shadow of their former self; the recent failure of qualifying for Dreamhack Malmö fails to help that outlook. They had 2 chances for the spot, having to faceTempo Storm andCounter Logic Gaming. In their first chance, C9 would fall to Tempo Storm, losing on Inferno, winning on Train, then losing on Dust2 from an explosive showing of sniperHenrique “hen1” Teles. In their last chance spot match against CLG, C9 displayed horrid and uncoordinated T sides, only gathering 6 T rounds across Cache (16-12 for CLG) and Cobblestone (16-3 for CLG).The start of Cloud9’s controversial new year of 2016 would be the announcement of their new fifth,Jake “Stewie2k” Yip. The announcement stems as a follow up from the retirement of C9’s original 5thSean “sgares” Gares, who was an influential figure in C9’s brief tournament run that started in EEPL Season 2. The reason for the controversial news of Yip would be due to the fact the community viewed him as a “pugger”; multiple people also criticized the fact his style of play would not work out in a professional game, pointing out his constant smoke jumps. Another reason would be his “onliner” status, which was most evident in his first LAN at RGN Pro Series. Turbulent start to 2016

With Stewie2k, Cloud9 were able to qualify for the Gameshow Esports Cup (GEC) Finals, beating Winterfox, albeit with the help of ex-iBP and current C9 “streamer” Braxton “swag” Pierce, who stood in for Tyler “Skadoodle” Latham. Drawn into the LAN group which included G2 eSports (ex-Titan), Astralis (ex-?), and Method (which included 2 stand-ins), Cloud9 would be paired up along the French side, which recently made the move to G2 beforehand. Likewise to their patriots brothers in CLG the day beforehand, Cloud9 would start off the best of 3 with a win on Cache over G2 eSports -- a close match that went into overtime. Thanks to a heroic play in the final round by Yip, the newly added player of Cloud9 opened up the A site with 4 frags, winning them the first map 17-19. Ironically, on map 2, where the term “Choke9” came into play, as their T side was similar to their past major performances, only gaining 1 round in the first 7. They would pull back the round counter to 9-6, thanks to Ryan “fREAKAZOID” Abadir’s entry fragging. G2’s Richard “shox” Papillon and Adil “ScreaM” Benrlitom sparked fire on their T side, winning the map for G2 16-13. Cobblestone as the last map exposed the lackluster leadership of Jordan “n0thing” Gilbert, netting only 3 rounds on cobble to lose the series 2-1.



C9 would fall down to the losers match in the group against Method. With 2 stand ins, there’s not much to say in this match, as Method would be easy pickings for a team like C9; they obliterated Method in a 2-0 showing, which we won’t talk about in respect of Method and their families. Having qualified for the playoffs, they would go against G2 to determine if they would face EnVyUS or CLG. The first 2 maps would be just the same as their first battle, Cache and Train being the battlegrounds. G2 crushed them with no mercy at all.



On Cache, C9’s CT start would be nowhere near that of their first matchup; G2’s motors coming into fruition and newfound strategies where too much for C9 to handle. With a 13-2 half for G2’s T side, Cloud9 could make no comeback at all, losing the first map. Next, as mentioned, would be Train, which is a map C9 has seemed to have made progress on. C9 would get a 2nd chance for a stronger CT side than what was the former of 5 minutes ago. C9 starts out guns blazing to a 7 to nil CT start. As similar of their last train match, C9’s grip on the game loosens as G2 grabs 5 rounds to close the half. Once again, C9’s T side under the leadership of Gilbert malfunctioned. The team kept going in 1 by 1 into fantastic setups of G2, only gaining 1 round enroute to a 11-16 loss against G2. It seems by now that you, the reader, would have predicted that this would be the beginning of C9’s terrible T gameplay. Ironically Tres “Stunna” Saranthus stated in a



C9 plays EnVyUs to close the group. At the time, nV was considered the best team in the whole scene, so a thrashing of c9 was expected by many. The first map would be Mirage, a peculiar map for both c9 and nV due to their historical poor performances.. Above all, the current C9’s true colors would show though. Likewise to the current C9, January C9 at the GEC finals showed (yet again) a stellar CT side, but a horrendous T side. This was the case against nV, as they grabbed only one round on T side after a 12-3 CT lead, then proceed to get slaughtered on the 2nd map, knocking them out of the tournament.



This would be a precedent for the new C9, as it sticks with them to the present. The failures in the IEM Katowice Qualifiers were a huge blow to the morale and the community’s view on the new Cloud9. They called for immediate changes, as C9’s grand final against Tempo Storm ended in a bitter heartbreak. With leads such as 14-4 on Mirage and Cache, C9 threw their leads away, albeit to the fact server DDoS issues may have affected their morale. Tempo Storm came back from that 14-4 deficit, winning 14-16 in a map they should have never won; they would also go on to win Cache, where C9 had the huge CT lead, but failed to capitalize after winning both pistols and being up 13-5 at one point in the game.



With Stewie2k, Cloud9 were able to qualify for the Gameshow Esports Cup (GEC) Finals, beatingWinterfox, albeit with the help of ex-iBP and current C9 “streamer”Braxton “swag” Pierce, who stood in forTyler “Skadoodle” Latham. Drawn into the LAN group which includedG2 eSports (ex-Titan),Astralis (ex-?), andMethod (which included 2 stand-ins), Cloud9 would be paired up along the French side, which recently made the move to G2 beforehand. Likewise to their patriots brothers in CLG the day beforehand, Cloud9 would start off the best of 3 with a win on Cache over G2 eSports -- a close match that went into overtime. Thanks to a heroic play in the final round by Yip, the newly added player of Cloud9 opened up the A site with 4 frags, winning them the first map 17-19. Ironically, on map 2, where the term “Choke9” came into play, as their T side was similar to their past major performances, only gaining 1 round in the first 7. They would pull back the round counter to 9-6, thanks toRyan “fREAKAZOID” Abadir’s entry fragging. G2’sRichard “shox” Papillon andAdil “ScreaM” Benrlitom sparked fire on their T side, winning the map for G2 16-13. Cobblestone as the last map exposed the lackluster leadership ofJordan “n0thing” Gilbert, netting only 3 rounds on cobble to lose the series 2-1.C9 would fall down to the losers match in the group againstMethod. With 2 stand ins, there’s not much to say in this match, as Method would be easy pickings for a team like C9; they obliterated Method in a 2-0 showing, which we won’t talk about in respect of Method and their families. Having qualified for the playoffs, they would go against G2 to determine if they would faceEnVyUS or CLG. The first 2 maps would be just the same as their first battle, Cache and Train being the battlegrounds. G2 crushed them with no mercy at all.On Cache, C9’s CT start would be nowhere near that of their first matchup; G2’s motors coming into fruition and newfound strategies where too much for C9 to handle. With a 13-2 half for G2’s T side, Cloud9 could make no comeback at all, losing the first map. Next, as mentioned, would be Train, which is a map C9 has seemed to have made progress on. C9 would get a 2nd chance for a stronger CT side than what was the former of 5 minutes ago. C9 starts out guns blazing to a 7 to nil CT start. As similar of their last train match, C9’s grip on the game loosens as G2 grabs 5 rounds to close the half. Once again, C9’s T side under the leadership of Gilbert malfunctioned. The team kept going in 1 by 1 into fantastic setups of G2, only gaining 1 round enroute to a 11-16 loss against G2. It seems by now that you, the reader, would have predicted that this would be the beginning of C9’s terrible T gameplay. IronicallyTres “Stunna” Saranthus stated in a past interview that you couldn’t force players to play a role they don’t like. That is exactly what n0thing is doing right now, and it is not working out.C9 plays EnVyUs to close the group. At the time, nV was considered the best team in the whole scene, so a thrashing of c9 was expected by many. The first map would be Mirage, a peculiar map for both c9 and nV due to their historical poor performances.. Above all, the current C9’s true colors would show though. Likewise to the current C9, January C9 at the GEC finals showed (yet again) a stellar CT side, but a horrendous T side. This was the case against nV, as they grabbed only one round on T side after a 12-3 CT lead, then proceed to get slaughtered on the 2nd map, knocking them out of the tournament.This would be a precedent for the new C9, as it sticks with them to the present. The failures in the IEM Katowice Qualifiers were a huge blow to the morale and the community’s view on the new Cloud9. They called for immediate changes, as C9’s grand final against Tempo Storm ended in a bitter heartbreak. With leads such as 14-4 on Mirage and Cache, C9 threw their leads away, albeit to the fact server DDoS issues may have affected their morale. Tempo Storm came back from that 14-4 deficit, winning 14-16 in a map they should have never won; they would also go on to win Cache, where C9 had the huge CT lead, but failed to capitalize after winning both pistols and being up 13-5 at one point in the game. A Ticking time bomb

Here is the thing with C9: they are a ticking time bomb. They are an unstructured and “puggy” team. With the current meta relying heavily on winning through the T side, there is no chance for a team like C9 to win in such an environment. n0thing as the in game leader has no experience in utilizing strategies or utilizing player roles, which is most evident from past controversies; his past teammates, primarily seangares and Hiko, have criticized n0thing’s dedication inside the game. A popular criticism of n0thing would be his forgetfulness to listen to the strategies and tactics called.



You have 2 players playing roles they are not necessarily comfortable in. With a player like Tyler “Skadoodle” Latham, you need to utilize him with the AWP in a spot where he can carry. The reason Skadoodle’s former team, iBUYPOWER, was the premier north american team was due to the skills owned by (now banned) IGL Sam “DaZeD” Marine. Marine directly stated in a Reflections video with analyst Duncan “Thorin” Shields that the reason iBUYPOWER won multiple rounds is due to the fact DaZeD knew where to position and how to correctly utilize a player like Skadoodle. You also have Stewie2k, who could be an insane fragger as long as you let him do his own thing. Problem is, he’s been placed into a role that he does not have comfort with and in positions that just don’t work tactically.



To add to all of the stated problems above, n0thing can’t make good mid round calls at all nor set up effective strategies which allows a close or guaranteed round win. This is clear as day in their T sides, most notably their Mirage failures against both EnVyUs and Tempo Storm; a lot of missed smokes and ineffective flashes were on display for public ridicule.



Here is the thing with C9: they are a ticking time bomb. They are an unstructured and “puggy” team. With the current meta relying heavily on winning through the T side, there is no chance for a team like C9 to win in such an environment. n0thing as the in game leader has no experience in utilizing strategies or utilizing player roles, which is most evident from past controversies; his past teammates, primarily seangares and Hiko, have criticized n0thing’s dedication inside the game. A popular criticism of n0thing would be his forgetfulness to listen to the strategies and tactics called.You have 2 players playing roles they are not necessarily comfortable in. With a player likeTyler “Skadoodle” Latham, you need to utilize him with the AWP in a spot where he can carry. The reason Skadoodle’s former team,iBUYPOWER, was the premier north american team was due to the skills owned by (now banned) IGLSam “DaZeD” Marine. Marine directly stated in a Reflections video with analystDuncan “Thorin” Shields that the reason iBUYPOWER won multiple rounds is due to the fact DaZeD knew where to position and how to correctly utilize a player like Skadoodle. You also have Stewie2k, who could be an insane fragger as long as you let him do his own thing. Problem is, he’s been placed into a role that he does not have comfort with and in positions that just don’t work tactically.To add to all of the stated problems above, n0thing can’t make good mid round calls at all nor set up effective strategies which allows a close or guaranteed round win. This is clear as day in their T sides, most notably their Mirage failures against both EnVyUs and Tempo Storm; a lot of missed smokes and ineffective flashes were on display for public ridicule. A Wakeup call?

I honestly do not think C9 will qualify for the major, let alone put up a fight against the other teams in their group; Dignitas, Gambit Gaming, and Renegades have all revamped and seemingly improved their rosters. Cloud9 is a fractured and boneheaded team fighting against the impossible odds. A puggy style against teams who have better aimers will not work. One cannot have a T side which solely relies on picks. It does not work in the current meta game.



C9 is poised to bomb out of the major qualifier, disappointing themselves and their fans. The question must be asked of them and their management: How much more will C9 take in beatings before a change is made for the better?





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I honestly do not think C9 will qualify for the major, let alone put up a fight against the other teams in their group;Dignitas,Gambit Gaming, andRenegades have all revamped and seemingly improved their rosters. Cloud9 is a fractured and boneheaded team fighting against the impossible odds. A puggy style against teams who have better aimers will not work. One cannot have a T side which solely relies on picks. It does not work in the current meta game.C9 is poised to bomb out of the major qualifier, disappointing themselves and their fans. The question must be asked of them and their management: How much more will C9 take in beatings before a change is made for the better?Writer: Dope Editor: Amazingxkcd CSS: FO-nTTaX Graphics: DearDave The world is burning and you rather be on this terrible website discussing video games and your shallow feelings