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Cloud9 has returned to the Dota 2 scene. The organization pieced a new team together that has representation from five different countries and includes two familiar faces.
The lineup features Rasmus “MISERY” Filipsen, Johan “pieliedie” Åström, Rolen “Skemberlu” Ong, Cheng “vtFαded” Jia Hao, and Francis “FrancisLee” Lee, the organization announced today.
Both MISERY and pieliedie are experienced captains who played at The International 2019, making them valuable veterans who have yet to actually play in a Dota Pro Circuit event this season. Each of them has also already played under the Cloud9 banner for at least one season, which likely made the decision to trust them with a rather inexperienced roster much easier.
“Ever since departing the Dota 2 space in 2017 we’ve been keeping an eye on finding the best time to re-enter and I’m glad to say it’s finally arrived,” C9’s CEO and owner Jack Etienne said. “These players have had success across the world and everyone here is looking forward to what they’ll do as a team.”
Skem last played for Neon Esports but has yet to play in any tournament bigger than a Minor over the last year, while FrancisLee was a part of a surprising Demon Slayers roster that took down Team Liquid, Ninjas in Pyjamas, and almost upset Alliance at DreamLeague Season 12.
The final player on the roster is vtFαded, who’s MISERY’s former teammate from his time with Chaos Esports Club and will be on loan from EHOME’s inactive roster for the rest of the season. He played well for the Chinese team, but the organization decided to move in a different direction after acquiring some other talented young players.
MISERY has been absent from the competitive scene since being released by Chaos in October. Pieliedie, on the other hand, played for T1 in the DreamLeague Season 13 Major qualifiers in Southeast Asia, but was never officially signed onto the roster.
In a rather unlikely move, this roster will be playing in SEA for the upcoming ESL One Los Angeles Major, likely due to the fact Skem, pieliedie, and vtFαded have already played in that region this season. The team will be moving back to North America for future events, however.
The qualifiers for the ESL One Los Angeles Major begin on Feb. 9, so C9’s newest team has a hefty bootcamp ahead of them to prepare for it.
