Cloud9 announces "full rebuilding process" as HObbit and perfecto depart

Cloud9 CEO Jack Etienne has announced the rebuild of his organisation’s Counter-Strike 2 roster, killing rumours of a potential disbanding of the team. Abay "HObbit" Khassenov and Ilya "Perfecto" Zalutskiy have departed from the organisation.

Cloud9's rebuild

With the announcement of HObbit and Perfecto's departure, questions arose about whether the North American organisation would continue its roster-building strategy, which saw it primarily recruit players from the CIS region like it had done after the acquisition of the former Gambit Esports line-up in 2022.

Last week, Denis "electroNic" Sharipov was also confirmed to be leaving the team. Co-founder and CEO Jack Etienne ended the speculation on the future of his organisation's direction in Counter-Strike 2, stating that the team would move forward with the Russian duo of Sergey "Ax1Le" Rykhtorov and Kirill "Boombl4" Mikhaylov, suggesting a further interest to build teams around an Eastern European identity.

HObbit had been one of the longest-standing players on the line-up as one of the relics of said Gambit team. Perfecto, on the other hand, had been a more recent acquisition from Natus Vincere, only joining the organisation in June 2023.

A constant state of flux

Over the last five years, Cloud9's Counter-Strike division has been rebuilding from scratch on various occasions with limited success and only one meaningful trophy from IEM Dallas in 2022.

Chasing the high of the ELEAGUE Major Boston in 2018, in which the organisation was the first to do it with a North American team, Cloud9 has tried various different approaches, from trying to build the so-called Colossus line-up to a temporary break and the eventual acquisition of the Gambit Esports teams with its various augmentations.

Sourcing the market for promising talent, there don't seem to be obvious solutions for Cloud9 to build off Boombl4 and Ax1Le. While CS:GO legend Oleksandr "s1mple" Kostyljev is seemingly still shopping for a new team, the presumed price tag on his contract is still considerable.

Moreover, other CIS talent of the calibre that C9 might want to pursue is likely to be locked up behind large contract buyout clauses, too. With Boombl4 already nominated as one of the foundational members of the new roster, it is unlikely that C9 will opt to slot in a working core roster of another team for the Russian IGL to take over.

Even if said approach was taken, it once again incurs considerable risk for the North American organisation. It is currently unknown how long Cloud9 will take to assemble its new line-up, but with the Counter-Strike 2 season still in full swing and some obligations to fulfil, news is expected soon.