Cloud9 announced on Sunday that they signed the VALORANT roster of MAJKL to create the all-female Cloud9 White VALORANT team. Cloud9 White is the first all-women’s roster in the history of the organization. After the creation of Cloud9 White, the teams original VALORANT roster will henceforth be known as Cloud9 Blue. Both rosters will compete on the tier one VALORANT circuit.
The new female roster will be known as Cloud9 White, while their male roster will now be referred to as Cloud9 Blue. (Photo courtesy Cloud9)
The roster of Cloud9 White consists of:
Alexis “alexis” Guarrasi
Annie “AnnieDro” Roberts
Jasmine “Jazzyk1ns” Manankil
Katja “Katsumi” Pfahnl
Mleanie “meL” Capone
“I had this group of girls together, I thought we could achieve things no one has done before,” explained Mel, the in-game Leader of the newly formed Cloud9 White team. “Our goal is to compete at the tier one level. . . I think it was the culture of C9 that drew us to them over any other organization. I feel like female empowerment, equality, and supporting marginalized communities is part of their culture. When we interacted with [the team] at first, our initial point of contact was a woman in a position of power who set us up and guided us through the process.”
All five members of the new roster formerly competed together for MAJKL, an orgless North American VALORANT team which was formed in June. In July, the team managed to earn a quarterfinal finish at the Counter Logic Gaming – Blitz Cup Pro event. They followed up that success with a semifinal finish at the small weekly Esports Arena Tournament #7. However, the team really started to earn the notice of the VALORANT community when they won the VALORANT Ignition Series FTW Summer Showdown event in September, earning themselves a $25,000 cash prize and the respect of the VALORANT community. Not only did the win put them on the competitive map, the prize money also made them the sixth highest earning VALORANT team in the world.
“What stood out to me about MAJKL is that they had to work hard to perfect their play, find each other, and then compete as a unit,” explained Gaylen Malone, Senior General Manager of Cloud9. “They are a talented group of women who came together with the goal of being the best at the game and were committed to doing what it took to get there, and watching their improvement over just the past few months has been incredible. They displayed so many of the values we have here at C9, both within the game and out of it, and I’m beyond excited to be welcoming them to Cloud9.”
Cloud9 is the latest esports organization to sign an all-women’s VALORANT roster. In May, GODSENT announced that their main roster would consist of all female professional players, becoming the first VALORANT team to sign exclusively women to their inaugural roster. In August, Dignitas announced that their two-time world championship CS:GO women’s team, Dignitas Fe, would compete in VALORANT along with the Dignitas all male team. Major organizations signing all female rosters is a growing trend in esports, especially in the VALORANT scene.
“Cloud9 prides itself on continuously finding some of the best gaming talent the world has to offer, so we are elated to have the opportunity to bring in the MAJKL roster,” the team explained in their press release. “Given the strong values Cloud9 and AT&T share around gender equality, when the opportunity arose to work with some of the top women within the VALORANT space, we were able to come together to provide them the resources, support, and environment needed to take their talent even further. We can’t wait to see what successes they achieve in the future.”
Cloud9 White will make their debut under the Cloud9 banner at Riot’s upcoming North American First Strike event. Both Cloud9 White and Cloud9 Blue are set to compete in the qualifiers of the tournament, which kick off on Monday, October 26th.
