Cloud9 CSGO Adds New Academy Roster

The young Cloud9 CSGO lineup will look to gain competitive experience. Over time breach the top thirty teams in the power rankings.

Yesterday evening, North American organization Cloud9 announced it would be expanding its CS:GO program. The former Boston Major champions will be taking on a young upcoming Russian roster which will be coached by Ivan “⁠F_1N⁠” Kochugov.

⁠F_1N⁠ has some experience with the current Cloud9 setup as he used to be a coach for the roster when they were competing on Gambit Esports. The roster ⁠F_1N⁠ will be taken on has little to no experience on the competitive side of Counter-Strike – Vladislav “⁠H1te⁠” Khait has the most competitive experience with 62 maps played.

Cloud9 released a small quote within their announcement tweet, stating its intentions for its academy roster. “Our initial goals for this squad are to get competitive experience and with time establish itself as a top 30 team in the world.”

Following the announcement, Cloud9's CSGO manager Aleksandr “Sweetypotz” Shcherbakov spoke exclusively to HLTV to give more insight into the pick-up of an academy roster.

“Firstly, the opportunities provided by the Cloud9 organisation, combined with the coaching staff's experience putting together rosters from scratch, made the prospect of building another squad appealing. Secondly, Cloud9 Academy will be able to participate in events the main squad are unable to attend. Lastly, the academy players will be able to act as substitutes to the main team.”

In the same HLTV article, it has been confirmed that Cloud9 would love to have its academy team play in the WePlay Academy League, but the decision is not in their hands but in the hands of the organisers.

Here is how the Cloud9 Academy roster will lineup: