After newly releasing their official Dota 2 roster back in January after a long hiatus of over three years, Cloud9 has decided to revamp and change the team again. Rolen Andrei Gabriel "Skemberlu" Ong and Cheng "vtFαded" Jia Hao have been moved to the bench, while Francis "FLee" Lee has been released. Jacky "EternaLEnVy" Mao, Marcus "Ace" Hoelgaard, and Jingjun "Sneyking" Wu will take their spots and ultimately complete the roster.
Cloud9's decision to switch things up with their active roster was unexpected. But the new team will be representing Cloud9 at the Dota 2 Summit 12 on March 10th. Here is the teams position information:
- Jacky "EternaLEnVy" Mao - Position 1
- Marcus "Ace" Hoelgaard - Position 2
- Jingjun "Sneyking" Wu - Position 3
- Rasmus "MISERY" Filipsen - Position 4
- Johan "pieliedie" Åström- Position 5
Some of the members have quite a long history with the organization. EternaLEnVy has played with Cloud9 since 2014. When he did play, he achieved multiple upper bracket tournament placements. He even won a few tournaments like the NVIDIA Game 24 and StarLadder StarSeries Season 12: EU and CIS with his previous Cloud9 team.
But EternaLEnVy isn't the only returning player that's joining back into Cloud9's frontlines. Ace played for Cloud9 way back in 2017, and just like EternaLEnVy, he's won multiple achievements with the team as well. Ace secured upper bracket tournament placements during his time three years ago with Cloud9. His most recent success with the organization was winning the Omen Dota 2 Cup a few weeks after his entry into the team.
Both players have had experience with Cloud9 except Sneyking. Sneyking has not played for Cloud9 in the past, but he has played for a lot of equally big names like VGJ.Storm, Infamous, Team Dignitas, and the most recent being Fighting PandaS. Throughout his career as a professional Dota 2 player, Sneyking has accomplished many feats. His most recent tournament win is GESC: Thailand Dota 2 Minor with VGJ.Storm back in 2018.
With EternaLEnVy and Ace returning to Cloud9 after what it feels like centuries, and Sneyking being the fresh input the team needed, it only creates uncertainty for how things will turn out for the team. But one thing is for sure. With players filling in the empty spots and making the roster different, yet also somewhat nostalgic, Cloud9 is in a better position than it was years ago.