After over a year of absence from the Dota 2 scene, Cloud 9 makes a return by signing the five ex-Imperial Danish players.
The five Danes teased the announcement for their new organization from early December when they all left Imperial stating only that their new sponsorship "will be announced in not too long." The full announcement arrived today, a month later, via a post on the Red Bull Esports website. "Dota 2 is and will continue be a top esports title for the foreseeable future," said Cloud 9 CEO Jack Etienne to Red Bull and continued to refer to the five players as “young talent that I believe, if supported correctly, can establish themselves as a solid team."
Cloud 9 roster:
Marcus 'Ace' Hoelgaard
Jon 'BabyKnight' Andersen
Mikki 'HesteJoe-Rotten' Junget
Danny 'Noia' Junget
Christopher 'Ryze' Winther
During their nearly six month tenure on The Imperial, the five Danes finished fourth at DreamLeague Season 6, emerged as champions of Royal Arena Season 1 and ProDota Cup Europe 12th edition, but missed the Boston Major by placing 5th-10th in the European Qualifiers for the event. However, under The Imperial banner, the five players qualified for WESG LAN finals from Changzhou, China, next week. Placing first in the European and CIS qualifiers for WESG back in October last year ahead of Alliance, Team Ukraine, and Fantastic Five, the now rebranded to Cloud 9 guys are going to China as solid contenders. This will mark the organization’s comeback to Dota 2.
This isn’t Cloud 9’s first return to the Dota 2 scene. In 2015 the organization dropped two rosters: one after The International 5, which featured EnVy, Fata, b0ne7, N0taiL and MiSeRy, and the other one after the Frankfurt Major drama that surrounded their NA squad--more specifically Ravindu 'Ritsu' Kodippili.
But as they say third time's the charm, and it might apply for Cloud 9 who is now on their third Dota 2 roster. The Danish boys are more than excited to join the organization, and as Jon 'BabyKnight' Andersen said for Red Bull, "[the] goal right now is to get good at this patch. We felt very confident last patch, and we're getting there with this one but it takes time. Eventually our goals for 2017 will be to do our best and attend as many big events as possible. The final goal will always be a good placement at TI."
source: redbull.com
