Let's talk ab NA CS:GO masters from CLOUD9

What is Cloud9?

Cloud9 tactics were first shown on the Cache map in 2017 in the Cloud9 - Immortals match. In which Cloud9, three players of the American team used grenades on the plant b and did everything to make the opponents believe in a quick breakthrough of the point. Actually, there were only two Cloud 9 players on the plant B, one – «Skadoodle» creating a help position on the mid, and the «automatic» and «stew-iwnl-» waiting for their moment on the A-side. The Immortals believed in this breakthrough and flocked to point B, leaving the A plant empty.

The Cloud 9 players took advantage of this, and without any problems, they planted a bomb. On April 24, 2022, Cloud9 powerfully broke into CS:GO by signing Russian roster Gambit Esports, which included: «nafany», «sh1ro», «inters», «Ax1Le» and «Hobbit». The club returned to the majors, and with it came back fake Cloud9. True, while previously it was a round in which a trio of players went under B and full fake, the current version is purely from matchmaking.

Cloud9 tour results

On eco, 4 Cloud9 players went to A, and Hobbit went to the opposite plant with a bomb. This is how they do it, even on law ranks (and it often works there). But on the pro-scene prop, B stands to the last: «Booster» very long did not leave the point. And when he did move to the A side, «Hobbit» was already on the B side, but already from the short, he was spotted by «Ekindar».

Cloud9 got the round won by Shiro, who gave four kills with P250, two of them from a good distance (over Ekindar on the short side and over Jaime in the kitchen window). The end of the round could have turned the same Booster, but he ran out of ammo in his M4, so he had to shoot from the Deagle. Only one round was enough.

But the main meme of this tactic is - its use by the NAVI team. In 2018, «Zeus» was still playing NAVI and had an active YouTube channel. One day Daniel posted there a teamspeak from the failed match of the Ukrainian organization against Mouz at the ELEAGUE Major: Boston 2018. The recording was taken to memes: "I don't want to, Misha," was how «Zeus» responded to Kane's offer to take a break.

The main emphasis of that teamspeak can be put on - NAVI tactics. The impression was that there were only two of them: Cloud9 (i.e., a round that was taken from Cloud9) and a Cloud9 fake. «Zeus» and the team («electronic», «s1mple», «flamie», «Edward») each collided once with both strategies. As ironic as it sounds, it is the Cloud 9 team won that major in Boston. Now the team has problems with tactics and spreading.

Current roster

Cloud9 has great rifflers, an experienced coach, and all the infrastructure for productive training. Before their trip to Cologne, the team sat on a bootcamp in Serbia, but they were unable to fix their main problem - the inability to use grenades.  There's been rumors about Cloud9's grip problems for a long time as well. And during IEM Dallas, the interviewer asked about the problem with using flashbangs. But the captain took the topic in a different direction, talking about individual problems and the lack of problems in strategies.

Everyone except Cloud9 themselves sees the problem with grenades and, therefore, with tactics. In modern professional CS, players have roughly the same level of shooting. Everyone can kill everyone in a fraction of a second. To avoid this happening, players pick enemy positions only under the flashes. He either stays blind and gets killed or runs away from his position. This systematic occupation of the entire map allows you to win round after round. 

And if you open the flash stats on HLTV, you'll see players from almost every top team. Faze, NAVI, Ence, and G2 all have players constantly blinding their opponents. But no one from Cloud9 is there. Just think about it: not a single player on that team made it into the top 25 on flashes!