The pieces of the Colossus are now being picked apart, but Cloud9 is taking advantage of first dibs to bolster its improving VALORANT roster. Cloud9 announced on April 19 that it has officially added both Ricky “floppy” Kemery and Erick “Xeppaa” Bach to its VALORANT team, transferring them over from CS:GO.
No new jerseys or merch needed. Floppy and Xeppaa are sticking with Cloud9. Image via DreamHack.
Both players have been trialing with C9 Blue since the most recent Cloud9 CS:GO project known as the Colossus was decommissioned in late March. That group came together starting in September 2020, under the leadership of new general manager Henry Greer. But the project wasn’t sustainable. The teams’ coach and star AWPer left a few months after the creation of the program. The results weren’t up to par, and it was proving too costly for an organization trying to save money during a pandemic.
So Cloud9 backed out of CS:GO, for the time being, and put all the players up for transfer. Floppy and Xeppaa are the first two to find permanent homes, although they didn’t have to go far. The two of them join a Cloud9 Blue VALORANT team on the cusp of breaking into the upper echelon of NA. But the path to get there has been anything but conventional.
Cloud9 started its run in VALORANT with another of its own players swapped over from CS:GO. Tyson “TenZ” Ngo swapped to C9 VALORANT a year ago. He quickly established himself as one of the most prolific players in the game. Despite that, the team struggled to win as the year progressed. TenZ eventually chose to step back from competition before the start of the 2021 VCT. He’s since returned but on loan to Sentinels when the team needed a last-minute sub for Masters One. He’s been absolutely cooking for them during this time but remains under contract with Cloud9. The rumored buyout number is said to be in the millions.
The current Cloud9 Blue roster is fascinating. Mitch, the go-to sentinel, is the only original member, having joined in July. Leaf came over from CS:GO after TenZ stepped back. He is actually a former CS:GO teammate of Xeppaa’s from their Chaos Esports Club days. Xeta played for the short-lived C9 Korea roster, joining right after Leaf when C9 Korea was disbanded. Poiz is a very young Jett main originally meant to be a sixth-man. But he has stepped up to the starting role when vice left at the end of March.
With floppy and Xeppaa joining, the roster has reverted to a six-man form, but with no indication yet how the formations will be made. For Cloud9 Blue, it will have to wrangle together a composition that works in just a few days. VCT Challengers Two right around the corner. The team will face a couple of familiar faces in CS:GO major winners autimatic and Skadoodle, who have T1 VALORANT looking sharp right now.
