vanity reportedly returning to Cloud9 Valorant roster

Anthony ‘vanity’ Malaspina is reportedly returning to the Cloud9 Valorant roster months after being dropped unexpectedly.

Cloud9 is bringing back its old IGL, vanity, along with former G2 Esports prospect Francis ‘OXY’ Hoang for the 2024 VCT season, according to a report from Blix.gg. Cloud9 parted ways with vanity on March 10, 2023, days after the organization did the same with its star player Jaccob ‘yay’ Whiteaker.

After his initial departure from Cloud9, vanity joined the North American Challengers League squad Shopify Rebellion. He helped the squad to a 3-2 record during the second split and a playoff stage appearance. However, the team flamed out of the tournament in seventh-eighth place, ending their season early.

vanity and OXY are set to join a Cloud9 roster without a head coach, his departure was announced on September 10, 2023. The team has hit the ground running on the offseason already as it released both Jordan ‘Zellsis’ Montemurro and Dylan ‘runi’ Cade in the leadup to the free agency period start date.

vanity and Cloud9 reportedly reuniting for 2024 season

OXY and vanity will join Jake ‘jakee’ Anderson and Erick ‘Xeppaa’ Bach, who are expected to stay on the roster, according to the report. The report, however, did not mention Nathan ‘leaf’ Orf, who is still signed to the team.

OXY is a Duelist player who shined on G2 during the Challengers League regular season and who would either replace leaf, or pick up the entry role for the squad. leaf picked up Duelist duties for Cloud9 during the 2023 season following the departure of yay, but also played a fair amount of flex Agents for the team like Killjoy and Skye.

Cloud9 finished the 2023 VCT season with only one international win to its name, a 2-0 victory over Paper Rex at VCT LOCK//IN, and no other major VCT tournament appearances. The team did make noise domestically, however, going 8-1 in the VCT Americas regular season even with the late additions of jakee and runi.

Before being dropped by Cloud9, vanity was one of the longest-tenured players on the roster. He signed on with the organization on August 13, 2021, after a stint with Version1, and helped the team to a Valorant Champions 2021 appearance.

Keep track of all the changes in the Valorant scene with our off-season rostermania tracker.