The new Cloud9 roster has been unveiled and while we have no matches to go off of, a look at the players individually can give us an idea of how this composition could work.

My goal here is to break down what Cloud9 does and doesn’t have with this new lineup based on the what the new players bring.

Damian “daps” Steele:

daps was recently benched by NRG after the team seemed to stall out following the addition of Tarik. Playoff appearances are a regular occurrence but semifinals and finals were harder to come by. Proven in-game leaders are a hot commodity though and Cloud9 has given him another chance.

Strength: Proven leadership, the ability to mold together teams and find solid cohesion. He has shown his ability to be the shot-caller having led both NRG and OpTic gaming to new heights during his time with them.

Weakness: Fragging power. It is very far and in between that daps frags better than anyone on his teams. While in-game leaders typically get a free card on this, the best teams in the world typically get more firepower out of their IGLs (Astralis, Liquid, ENCE).

Kenneth “koosta” Suen:

koosta’s career is an interesting one and a rollercoaster at that. From his early days on Enemy/Selfless, koosta looked to be a prodigy with the AWP. Others took notice and he was soon grabbed up by Team Liquid. Issues with his role resulted in a loss of confidence and somewhat of an identity crisis for the player in-game.

Strength: koosta is experienced at the top level, has the ability to both AWP and rifle and has the potential to be a solid role player.

Weakness: If we’re being honest, koosta’s stats over the last several months have been less than impressive. In his last 20 maps with Ghost, he only went positive five times. If he was being thrown on the AWP I’d say okay, maybe they just really want autimatic back on rifle (they do) and have faith koosta can get his groove back. However, they picked up mixwell to AWP so unless they can get more performance out of him in this system he’s my biggest question mark (well TenZ..but he gets some slack).

Oscar “mixwell” Cañellas

mixwell was a highly sought after talent following the explosion of OpTic Gaming, however, he elected to return home to Spain where he was most recently playing for Movistar Riders at the Tier 2/3 level.

Strength: Experienced. mixwell has shown what he’s capable of with an AWP in his hand and seems to have been more accepting of this role than he was in the past. A strong AWP presence for Cloud9 is important and even though autimatic proved to be deadly with it, he can now play a role he’s more comfortable with.

Weakness: My main concern here is the time away from the top of the scene mixwell has had. He’s been out of the loop against the worlds best for quite some time now and Movistar Riders didn’t exactly impress during their few big chances with mixwell.

If mixwell can return to the form of the past, this is a really solid pickup.

Tyson “TenZ” Ngo

This fresh face is getting his first shot at the top tier of Counter-Strike. TenZ had recently been playing alongside Bad News Bears and ATK in the Mountain Dew League.

Strength: The 18-year-old has shown his ability to frag at the MDL level, in scrims, and in FPL. A young talent with the right mindset and ability to grow with proper guidance and leadership is always a nice piece of the puzzle to have.

Weakness: I think this one is pretty self-explanatory – inexperience. The pressure, schedule, grind of being on a top team is something he will have to adjust to.

I have high hopes for TenZ and think he could be on a similar path to that of Twistzz in CS:GO.

Related article: