Cloud9 is set to part ways with its substitute VALORANT player Hasan “BlackHeart” Hammad and search for a new sixth player in time for the start of the VCT Americas League on April 1, according to a report by journalist George Geddes today.
Should this roster change come to fruition, C9 will have changed three players after their ninth to 16th place at VCT LOCK//IN São Paulo in February, the inaugural VCT event of the year. The North American organization parted ways with superstar yay only five months after poaching him from OpTic Gaming and in-game leader Anthony “vanity” Malaspina. C9 is set to reportedly replace them with former Soniqs player Dylan “runi” Cade, who is going to be the IGL, and collegiate player Jake Anderson.
At the moment, it’s unclear who is on C9’s list to fill the substitute role for VCT Americas League. The organization will likely get another inexperienced player at the top level like runi and Jake since it didn’t want to spend money on getting star players to replace yay and vanity.
Dot Esports reported in February that Jimmy “Marved” Nguyen, a top player in free agency back then, trialed with C9 but it’s likely that the organization couldn’t meet his salary requirements. Marved ended up signing with Sentinels this month, becoming their sixth player in place of Hunter “SicK” Mims, who was arrested for criminal trespassing and temporarily suspended by the organization.
The removal of yay and vanity and the reported signings of runi and Jake make C9 one of the worst teams attending VCT Americas League, as far as public opinion goes. A handful of fans think C9 will have a hard time qualifying for VCT Masters Tokyo in June as they need to secure a top-three placing at the Americas League.
