Cloud9's main Counter-Strike roster previously comprised of a majority of the compLexity team's players, including shroud, SEMPHIS, Hiko, n0thing, and sgares. Cloud9's owner, Jack Etienne, said that after witnessing the CS:GO scene at EMS One: Katowice 2014, he decided he wanted to run a CS:GO team and ultimately took advantage of the chance to acquire the former compLexity players, who finished in the 5-8 spot at the major. Cloud9 made history in 2018 by being the first (and still only) North American team to win a major title at ELEAGUE Boston 2018.
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ESL One 2014 in Cologne
Cloud9 was placed in Group D at ESL One: Cologne 2014, with Team Dignitas, Titan, and Australian fan-favorite Vox Eminor. On Dust II, Cloud9 faced the French team, Titan, in their first encounter of the competition. After falling down 4:11 at halftime, it seemed like Cloud9 had little chance of catching up. Amazingly, the Americans tied Titan for the same score and forced overtime. Cloud9 won the game in overtime, winning the second overtime with a total score of 22-18. On Mirage, the group winner's match was against Team Dignitas. This game is now known for Hiko's amazing performance during Cloud9's CT comeback against the Danes, which prompted commentator Anders Blume to utter the now-famous line "Hiko, are you kidding me?" With a total score of 16-14, the team had won their group for the second time at a Major, having done it the year before at DreamHack Winter 2013. Their opponents in the quarter-finals were the Swedish team Ninjas in Pyjamas. They'd battle it out on Nuke, Dust II, and Cobblestone in a thrilling three-map series. Cloud9 won the opening map on Nuke 16-8, which many fans deemed a shock since NiP was renowned for their domination on the map at the time. In the second game, great efforts from Xizt and Shroud kept the game close, but the Ninjas eventually triumphed, winning the map 16-14. With momentum on their favor, NiP eventually won the series following another tight match, this time with a final score of 14-16. Ninjas in Pyjamas went on to win the Major in the grand finals against Fnatic.
Winter DreamHack 2014
Cloud9's performance began to deteriorate after Cologne. The squad was assigned in Group A at the next Major, DreamHack Winter 2014, with Fnatic, HellRaisers, and Bravado Gaming. Cloud9 was expected to win the group, however, a surprise performance from CIS-based team HellRaisers prevented this, beating Cloud9 16-5 on Inferno and Swedish favorites Fnatic 16-14 on Mirage. On Cache, Cloud9 faced South African newcomers Bravado Gaming, who was now 0-1. Cloud9 looked impressive and won the match 16-1. The Americans played Fnatic once again in the elimination round and were defeated by a final score of 5-16 on Dust II.
It was obvious that some roster adjustments were required after the Major and other shaky performances, such as the ESEA Season 17 Finals, when the team finished 5th-6th. As a consequence, on December 14th, Denial eSports acquired ShahZaM to replace Hiko.
In the summer of 2015
The team dismissed SEMPHIS and ShahZaM in April 2015, as well as signing Skadoodle from iBUYPOWER and fREAKAZOiD. Cloud9 had a fantastic summer in 2015, with victories against EnVyUs in several BO3 upsets and other solid performances throughout the summer, leading to second-place finishes at the ESL ESEA Pro League Season 1 Finals, ESWC 2015, and the FACEIT 2015 Stage 2 Finals. Subsequently that year, in November, seang@res stepped down from the lineup due to internal team problems; he later joined Torqued, who went on to become Rick Fox's first Echo Fox squad.
Beginning of the year 2016
The squad controversially signed Stewie2K in January. During this period, n0thing would be the team's in-game captain. Irukandji was also hired by the squad to coach and prepare the team for the next Major, MLG Columbus 2016, however, he was unable to attend the Major owing to previous obligations with dental school. With a defeat to Gambit and two close wins against Dignitas and Renegades, the team made it through the qualification. The squad performed badly at the Major, losing 9-16 and 3-16 against Natus Vincere and G2 Esports, respectively. After a period of inactivity, Major fREAKAZOiD stepped down from the active roster and subsequently joined Echo Fox. Cloud9 started testing possible new 5th players now that there was a vacant spot on the team. adreN of Team Liquid was one of the more prominent players that were trialed during this time. Slemmy from Without a Roof, Cloud9's new in-game leader, was eventually discovered.
Championship Victory and autimatic Transfer
Irukandji stepped down as the team's coach after the first season of ELEAGUE. Slemmy requested to be taken from the active roster just a few weeks later. TSM's autimatic and valens were subsequently purchased by Cloud9 as replacements. Valens took on the role of team psychologist, assisting the squad in resolving certain internal issues and boosting the team's confidence. The team's performance surprisingly and quickly improved, with a 3rd-4th place result at StarLadder's StarSeries Season 2 finals, a second-place finish at Dreamhack Bucharest, and another second-place finish at Northern Arena Toronto. Furthermore, Cloud9 enjoyed a near-perfect run in the online season of the ESL Pro League, losing just one map against former Cloud9 captain seangares' Echo Fox. Despite their strong performance in the online phase, Cloud9 was not expected to do well in the offline finals, since they were placed in a group containing dignitas, NiP, FaZe, and SK. Despite this, Cloud9 advanced through their group with a 4-1 record, losing only to SK. Cloud9 swept OpTic in the quarterfinals and mousesports in the semi-finals without losing a map to each opponent. Cloud9 faced SK in the grand finals for the second time, the only team Cloud9 had lost to throughout the tournament. After a 2-13 comeback by SK on Overpass, the first map finished in overtime. Despite this setback, Cloud9 comfortably won the second and third maps, astounded many with their outstanding play.
Cloud9's victory was the first by a North American team in an international S-Tier event in ten years, the last being compLexity at CPL Summer in 2006.
In the summer of 2017
The team struggled with leadership after winning the ESL Pro League Season 4 tournament, as both autimatic and Stewie2k would frequently swap the IGL position. Stewie2k was eventually handed the position to enable autimatic to concentrate on his fragging in the game. The team struggled to advance past the group stages of many tournaments during this time of IGL switching, but once Stewie2k was permanently set as the IGL, the team was able to break their curse by finishing 3rd-4th at the ECS Season 3 Finals, defeating Fnatic 16-8 and getting an upset victory over Astralis 19-15 to make the playoffs, before losing to FaZe Clan in the semi-finals. The next week, they won the PGL Krakow Major Qualifier with a 3-1 record, securing their first major berth since MLG Columbus 2016. Cloud9 shot to prominence after finishing second at ESL One: Cologne 2017, establishing them as one of the top teams heading into the Major.
An Era Has Come to an End
Despite reaching the semi-finals of the ECS Season 3 Finals and finishing second at ESL One: Cologne 2017, the team finished 9th-11th in the PGL Major Kraków 2017 group stage, marking yet another Major group stage elimination. After the dismal performance, Cloud9 benched its two longest-serving players, n0thing and shroud, and replaced them with RUSH and tarik, a former OpTic Gaming combo. Following these modifications, tarik starts to take the lead in-game after demonstrating a desire to take on the position.