Cloud9's Colossus project has just got that bit stronger. A prominent figure in the world of competitive gaming, the Jacques Etienne-led organisation promised to build an ultra-competitive team, one that could return their CS:GO side to former glories. Though one thing is for sure: they seem to have set out on the right path.
This is no easy task, given the side’s last notable win occurred at the Boston Major in 2018, and they haven’t really convinced at the top level since. And it’s for that reason that the organisation has invested itself fully into its goal of creating a team that can compete in Europe.
Last September, Cloud9 essentially announced the creation of a shiny new roster: Alex (ex-Vitality), woxic (ex-mousesports), mezzi (ex-GamerLegion), and floppy (already at Cloud9) were the first members to be brought in, and the wait for a 5th name was visibly starting to drag on.
Ultimately, it was es3tag who would round out the roster, announced this week in a transfer from Astralis. At the conclusion of his contract with Heroic last summer, he joined the triple major champions — a team very much in crisis following the burnout of two of their stars, gla1ve and Xyp9x.
Under fire from both critics and the community, Astralis took several months to adapt to their 6-man active roster, a rare feature in esports, which required a new approach to tournament preparation. From one tournament to another, or even one match to another, the players began to take turns in the active roster. This decision appears to have paid off for the Danish side, as they came away ESL Pro League champions several weeks ago — their most recent tournament win since ESL Road to Rio in May.
Although we’ve been kept completely in the dark when it comes to the living and working conditions of Astralis’ players — for the organisation, these issue stem from CS:GO’s competitive landscape itself and not their training methods or their financial situation — it appears that Xyp9x is set to return after five months out of the side.
Astralis will now return to a 6-man lineup (the five original members of their legendary lineup with Bubzkji as a backup) even though their sporting director, Kasper Hvidt, has publicly expressed his desire for Astralis to have 10 Counter-Strike players. The only flaw? Undoubtedly the fact that they publicised their policy of recruiting additional players to the roster as a way of preventing burnout. Several months later, following the departure of one of their three recruits, the middling play of second, and when the third has more value as a source of income than in a match — selling on a player you brought in on a free isn’t half bad after all — then you could say that it’s turned into a bit of a fiasco.
To compensate for the loss of es3tag, Astralis will have to be patient, make the right recruitment decisions, and try to avoid any new burnouts. His transfer to Cloud9 will be “one of the biggest transfers ever recorded” according Anders Hørsholt, the CEO of Astralis Group.
As for Cloud9, their General Manager HenryG has not shied away from discussing the total value of the transfer: $2.1M according to the former commentator. This is a rare move of clarity for the Counter-Strike scene, where these sorts of figures are traditionally kept under wraps, and one that may set up other teams to follow suit for future transfers.
Although we’ll have to wait a while for our first glimpse of the Colossus, Cloud9 will play in Betway Nine to Five 5, a second-tier tournament, but one that still has the incentives to attract some of HLTV’s top 30 teams. Cloud9 has made no secret of their desire to also move towards a 6-man roster whenever the right player is available. They will soon take part in the second season of Flashpoint, a franchised league running from 9th November to 6th December, and will compete for their share of THE million dollar prize pool.
FaZe Clan are the European champions of IEM New York 2020. This year, the competition was split into separate regions due to the pandemic, but this still represents a significant achievement for the European side, who will receive $70,000 and 400 ESL Pro Tour points for their win.
