Cloud9 VALORANT practiced with their sixth player Mateja “qpert” Mijović in place of in-game leader Dylan “runi” Cade “in a lot of scrims” ahead of the VCT Americas LCQ, according to analyst and former coach Sean Gares.
Sean revealed this in his latest video, which was uploaded on July 22 before C9 got eliminated from the LCQ at the hands of Leviatán. The tentative lineup change was made after C9 were eliminated from VCT Americas playoffs in May. But after playing with qpert in a handful of scrims, Sean thinks C9 decided to keep runi in the lineup for the LCQ.
“But I think doing something like that affects the mental of a team and I don’t know the reasons why [C9 tried that],” Sean said in his video with esports reporter Rod “Slasher” Breslau.
Although Sean couldn’t offer more insight on why C9 tried to replace their IGL ahead of the LCQ, considering the removal of a captain before such an important event is massive. On top of that, qpert hasn’t play an official VALORANT match since January, before he was signed to be C9’s sixth player.
Runi has been C9’s IGL since he joined the team in March following the removals of yay and vanity. Many thought runi was one of the main reasons C9 did so well in the regular season of VCT Americas, finishing in second behind LOUD.
But the team fell short in the VCT Americas playoffs in May and missed qualifying for VCT Masters Tokyo in June, and was forced to attend the LCQ for VALORANT Champions.
The team’s mental aspect Sean mentioned could be partly why C9 lost to Leviatán on July 22 and were eliminated from the LCQ. The North Americans were leading the series 2-0, but then were completely shut down in the next three maps and suffered a historic reverse sweep.
Hopefully, we’ll hear more from C9 players and coach Matthew “mCe” Elmore after the sting from missing Champions passes. For now, it’s looking more than likely that the organization will make changes for VCT 2024.
