The Cloud9 banner will wave at Dota 2‘s The International again for the first time in seven years following the storied North American organization’s Entity roster acquisition after they wrapped up at the Esports World Cup this week.
C9 has signed its second major esports squad based in CIS following an announcement on July 21, with watson, No[o]ne, DM, Kataomi, and Fishman now set to pull on the blue-and-black at Dota 2‘s 2024 International in September. They’ll be joined by coach Astini and manager The3RealJP, also part of the Entity acquisition.
Under Entity, the Dota 2 squad has shown signs of promise in 2024 following their revamp after a ninth-place finish at TI 2023. Entity had been in the mix in several tier two events so far, including a win in March at the 1win Series. The biggest breakthrough then came following a tier one debut at Elite League, where Entity took out the FISSURE Universe Episode Two event against OG and then qualified for both Riyadh Masters and TI.
The squad cleared their way through the likes of PSG Quest, OG, and Tundra to lock in tickets to Copenhagen and while expectations have been tempered after a less-than-impressive ninth at the Esports World Cup, the No[o]ne-led C9 will be eager to hit the ground running at TI.
It’s a stark difference from C9’s last iteration, which featured EternaLEnVy, Ace, and Sneyking—the latter of which has enjoyed a brilliant three-year stretch at Tundra and Falcons including a TI title. That C9 squad lasted just three months in 2020, with the last remaining Dota veteran SingSing (who moved on to content) officially cutting ties with C9 in 2023.
C9’s new Dota 2 lineup won’t be attending Elite League this week though, meaning we likely won’t see them until The International kicks off on Sep. 4.
