Based on these results, you can clearly see that Cloud9 was a top 10 team in the world in 2018. But it didn’t get better than this. Their main redeeming results were the following: 1st place at ELEAGUE Major: Boston 2018, 2nd place at WESG 2017 North American Finals, 2nd place at cs_summit 2 and 3rd place at Blast Pro Series: Lisbon 2018.

Cloud9 went through massive roster changes in 2018. As they began to lose their grip in the wake of their totally unexpected victory at the Major, Cloud9 also started to hemorrage players. First, it was Stewie2K who departed and joined MIBR. Then tarik, who joined the same team. Then Skadoodle, who gave up professional CSGO entirely at just 25.

As players were being sold or released, Cloud9 had to bring in new ones. STYKO, FNS and Golden were among them. They all came, played for a while and then became inactive or were sent to other teams. Just in 2018 alone, Cloud9 managed to fail with a variety of lineups. Now they have a new one.

Cloud9’s current roster consists of the following 6 active members: valens (coach), Zellsis, kioShiMa, flusha, RUSH and autimatic. The last 2 players are what’s left of the Cloud9 core that won the ELEAGUE Major a year ago. KioShiMa is a well known, experienced and very strong player. Flusha is also a CSGO legend. But Zellsis is a completely unknwn character at this level of competition.

Going into ELEAGUE CSGO Invitational 2019, Cloud9 have a lot to prove. Not just to themselves but their fans too. And since the competition is taking place on their home soil, we do expect them to play in the Grand Final.