Cloud9 have announced the signing of the ATK roster, confirming a report from DBLTAP that first linked the two organizations in November.

Cloud9 found themselves struggling to post results in 2019 as they fumbled to find a working roster composition, with their lacklustre showings at offline events eventually leading to the departure of the core trio of Timothy "⁠autimatic⁠" Ta, Damian "⁠daps⁠" Steele, and Kenneth "⁠koosta⁠" Suen to Gen.G.

Instead of once again looking to rebuild around their remaining players, Oscar "⁠mixwell⁠" Cañellas and Tyson "⁠TenZ⁠" Ngo, Cloud9 have instead opted to sign an entirely new roster, acquiring a roster who ended the year on a high note in the form of ATK.

Cloud9 have acquired the ATK roster

Johnny "⁠JT⁠" Theodosiou and company made their first appearance at a Big Event at the ESL Pro League Season 10 Finals in Odense, Denmark, where they impressed by notching best-of-three victories over North and G2 before being eliminated by the eventual tournament champions mousesports to end their run in 7-8th place.

Notably, Cloud9's last place finish in their ESL Pro League Season 10 Americas group left them facing Relegation if they hoped to hold on to their spot in the league for Season 11. However, according to Ryan Friend of Rush B Media, Cloud9 were also looking to acquire ATK's ESL Pro League license as part of the signing to avoid that step, although the organization have yet to confirm if that is indeed the case.

"Joining Cloud9 is a dream come true for the entire squad. Words can't describe how excited we all are to represent such a prestigious organization," coach Tiaan "⁠T.c⁠" Coertzen said in a statement.

"We're very grateful for the opportunity. I think it came at the perfect timing to provide us with more resources to continue our growth and to strive for new heights. Our team is still very young and 'm very excited to see how far we can go with the support Cloud9 can offer."

Cloud9 now have: