







According to sources close to Rush B Media, North American organization Cloud9 have started searching for replacement players for the in-game leader Maikil 'Golden' Selim, due to the Swede’s continued health issues. It is unclear at this time if Cloud9 are searching for a permanent replacement, or if it will just be a temporary measure while Golden takes care of his serious medical issues. Cloud9 has started to push the clock, however. While the Major doesn't start until the 2nd week of February, due to roster lock rules they will need to find a fifth member by January 1st if they don't want to be penalized.





Due to Cloud9’s placing at the FACEIT London 2018 Major, the team secured a spot in the New Challenger stage. Major rules dictate that any team maintain a three person core of their lineup from the previous placing for them to receive a bye into the following Major. With the removal of Golden, Cloud9 would no longer have a majority of the lineup following the departures of STYKO and Skadoodle. With the new Emergency Transfer rule (2.12.5) in the IEM Katowice 2019 rulebook, it is possible that Cloud9 could use a new player. The one caveat is the last line, where it states that the emergency transfer is not solved by using just that one substitute.





“In case of a serious and short notice emergency (e.g. unforeseeable cancellation of all flights or a severe illness or injury of a player) that leaves a team without a full lineup to play with, the tournament direction can decide to allow an emergency transfer in disregard of most of the rules in 2.12 . Rule 2.12.1.1 remains in place even for emergency transfers. This rule can only come into play if the team roster had a substitute (coach) but the emergency is not solved by using just that one substitute.”









Golden is known for his time on Fnatic, one of the best Swedish teams in the world, and the numerous top five finishes he was able to lead legends like Jesper 'JW' Wecksell and current teammate Robin 'flusha' Rönnquist to. Most notably the young IGL managed to help them take home trophies at both IEM Katowice 2018 and the WESG World Championships. Prior to his joining of the team, Fnatic hadn’t reached first place at a LAN event since IEM Katowice 2016.





Sadly due to poor health, we haven’t been able to see much of the IGL’s work in action under his new team in North America. After his first three events with Cloud9, Golden had to miss part of BLAST Pro Series Copenhagen. He unfortunately then had to follow up this partial absence with permanent ones at both the ECS Season 6 Finals as well as the final BLAST Pro Series event of the year in Lisbon.





It has been quite a bit of time since we have seen Golden in action, and sadly it appears we will have to wait through yet another event to finally see Cloud9’s new roster fully in action. The organization has been trialing several different players and is not yet set on a new player to join the team.





Rush B Media approached a representative of Cloud9 who declined to comment on the report.