Ilya “Perfecto” Zalutskiy’s Cloud9 debut might’ve been tainted by visa issues, however, the first hurdle hasn’t lowered his spirits. The 23-year-old CS:GO Major winner has teamed up with a selection of top-tier talent from the CIS region and has high hopes for the roster.
The Russian rifler believes the squad has enough firepower to become a dominant force in the Counter-Strike scene, with “era” defining potential. Perfecto also believes this new roster can outshine his prior talent-filled roster.
Perfecto claimed this revamped C9 lineup “can achieve the same as with s1mple and even more,” via a July 31 HLTV article.
He expects the roster hit the ground running with his new roster. The caliber of C9’s players means they easily could start off with a bang and it seems they just want to prove “the obstacles don’t matter.”
C9’s first event has been off to a rocky start, with stand-in Timur “buster” Tulepov taking Sergey “Ax1Le” Rykhtorov’s place due to visa complications. Despite their initial debut loss to Fnatic, the squad is on the brink of reaching the playoffs at their first event.
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Their upcoming lower-bracket match against GamerLegion has them walking on a tightrope. The winning team makes their way to the quarterfinals, while the other are eliminated from the tournament altogether.
While C9 hasn’t provided updates, Ax1Le is expected to return to the lineup as the playoffs begin. This means we might see the newly formed lineup take on guaranteed playoff attendees like Vitality, G2, ENCE, and Heroic.
With several stacked rosters left in IEM Cologne 2023, C9 might have their work cut out for them.
