Will Cloud9 lose their CS:GO Major spot? Valve respond
ESLCounter-Strike: Global Offensive fans have been questioning whether or not Cloud9 will retain their Major spot for the upcoming StarLadder Major in Berlin following a number of confirmed and proposed roster changes.
Cloud9’s CS:GO roster has gone through some serious line-up issues since their success at the ELEAGUE Boston Major, changing from an iconic all-American line-up to a majority European squad led by former Fnatic in-game leader Maikil ‘Golden’ Selim.
However, since switching to a European flavor, Golden has suffered a number of medical problems that has seen him ruled out of events. The Swede even missed the recent IEM Katowice Major – with Jordan ‘Zellsis’ Montemurro standing in. Since the end of the major, Zellsis and Robin ‘flusha’ Rönnquist have both left the team.
Zellsis stepped up to the C9 roster for the IEM Katowice Major and performed admirably.With Fabien ‘kioShiMa’ Fiey‘s future with Cloud9 also up in the air, the team could be left with only two players from the previous major – possibly voiding their currently held invite spot.
If kioShiMa departs the team, C9 would fall foul of the rule that states teams must keep the majority of their line-up – three of the five players – from the previous major to retain their spot for the following major.
Dexerto’s own Jarek ‘DeKay’ Lewis contacted Valve for a ruling, who confirmed that the invitation spot remains with the five players who played the event. That means that Zellsis, not Golden, plays a role in retaining the spot – even though Zellsis was listed as a ‘coach’ for the Major.
Got a response from Valve.
Zellsis has the slot and Golden doesn’t, as many people had assumed. People I spoke to behind the scenes were VERY confident Golden was eligible. My intent was to relay that sentiment.
I should not have said “clarified” in the original tweet. pic.twitter.com/k1sJ4Weulx
— DeKay (@dekay) March 18, 2019
Only having two active players from the previous Major, Timothy ‘autimatic’ Ta and Will ‘RUSH’ Wierzba on the roster, could plunge the proposed transfer move of adding OpTic Gaming’s Kristian ‘k0nfig’ Wienecke and Jakob ‘Jugi’ Hansen into trouble.
As Valve has been clear in their response, it remains to be seen if the North American organization continues with their reported roster changes due to this – or if they figure out a way around the potential problem.
If the move concludes and Cloud9 forfeits their Major invite spot, they would have to battle their way through an increasingly stacked European Minor event that should feature powerhouses like Fnatic, Mousesports, North and OpTic Gaming – just to name a few.