Floppy and Xeppaa move to Cloud9 Valorant
Things are finally looking up for Cloud9 Blue, as the team has been playing much better in VCT Stage 2 than they did in Stage 1. During the recent NA Challengers 1, Cloud 9 did achieve solid results that landed them directly into Challengers 2, but it still seemed a far cry from the team’s maximum potentital. Cloud 9 will finally have a chance to turn things around and potentially secure a spot at Masters in Reykjavík, and they’re going to let this opportunity slip by the looks of it.
Yesterday, the organisation announced that they’ll be moving Ricky “floppy” Kemery and Erick “Xeppaa” Bach over to their C9 Valorant roster. Both players will be retiring from CSGO and will now use the experience they acquired in CSGO to continue their careers in Valorant.
Cloud9 Blue is once again running with a 6-man roster, which will definitely allow them to be more flexible in the upcoming events. We’ll have to wait and see how they’ll do, but just based on pure talent alone, C9 is almost a definite shoo-in.
What do Floppy and Xeppaa bring to the team?
Both players are coming fresh from CSGO upper echelons, so they’ll definitely bring the necessary experience, tactics, and different perspectives into Cloud9’s Valorant. It’s no secret that organisations have been on the hunt for CSGO players for the past few months, as players who transitioned from games like Fortnite and Overwatch have largely underwhelmed compared to their CS counterparts.
Before joining Cloud9’s CSGO team, Xeppaa was a part of Chaos Esports Club. He started his CSGO career in 2017, and Chaos Esports Club was his big break.
Together with the team, he managed to win several events, including the DreamHack Masters Winter 2020: North America and Intel Extreme Masters XV – Beijing Online: North America. The success he achieved with them put him on the map, and after Chaos Esports Club disbanded, he was picked up by Cloud9 shortly after.
Floppy is a CSGO veteran who began his career all the way back in 2015. He played for a large number of teams, but the most notable one was Team Singularity. He spent almost 7 months with them before joining ATK, a South African esports organisation. Finally, he landed in Cloud9 where he is still here to this day.
The two new players will most likely synergize well with the rest of the squad, who are all ex-professional CSGO players.
The challenges that lie ahead
Cloud9 Blue is one of eight teams that qualified for the Valorant Champions Tour NA Stage 2 Challengers 2. While that’s an achievement in itself, they still have a long way to go.
The opening match is scheduled for April 22nd, and there they’ll have to face T1. While T1 haven’t really had that much success in Valorant Champions Tour so far, they shouldn’t be underestimated.
Even if Cloud9 beats T1, they’re still not out of the woods. The next opponent would most likely be Sentinels, if they beat Andbox. Seeing how Sentinels have been playing so far, Andbox stands little chance of winning. In this situation, Sentinels emerging victorious would be the most likely outcome.
If this ends up being the case, we might see Cloud9 vs. Sentinels in the Upper Bracket Semifinals. This would be an awkward situation for TenZ as he’d be playing against his own team, wherein the matchup he and Sentinels are more than likely the big favorites.
We will follow the North American Valorant action in the upcoming VCT Challengers events, so make sure to stay tuned for more news and Valorant betting predictions.
