In the decider match of Group A at DreamHack Austin, the inaugural event of the North American leg of esports' biggest festival, rookie entry-fragger Jake "Stewie2k" Yip secured Cloud9 a semifinal berth with a stellar performance against rival Counter Logic Gaming.
Four months ago, when the team added Stewie2k, he became the focal point of criticism for the North American stalwart team. Two weeks ago, the team picked up another rookie, this time Alec "Slemmy" White, an in-game leader that now controls most of the team's decisions tactically.
The community reaction for both of Cloud9's 2016 roster changes has been poor. But in the professional scene, many fellow pros have defended both Stewie2k and Slemmy. Stewie2k was best known for his amazing performances in the highest level of individual play online. Slemmy, however, filled a much needed niche on the team as an in-game leader.
"The scene has so many cliques, groups, and corps of people between Liquid and Counter Logic Gaming's players," team captain and longest-standing member Jordan "n0thing" Gilbert tells ESPN. "We looked at those players initially, because they had the most experience at the time."
Names in Cloud9's cross hairs included Counter Logic Gaming's star Tarik "tarik" Celik, European legend, Ninjas in Pyjamas' Christopher "GeT_RiGhT" Alesund, and Team Liquid's in-game leader Eric "adreN" Hoag. Each of those deals fell through, with tarik and GeT_RiGhT being within contract's reach of joining the team.
After those failed negotiations, Cloud9 moved on to young talent in the North American Counter-Strike scene. "Then once we realized that a lot of those players were staying with their core, [we switched to new talent.]"
The move for Stewie2k came out of a recommendation from Braxton "swag" Pierce, n0thing's former teammate and a streamer for Cloud9 who was permanently banned from partaking in a match-fixing scandal, according to the team:
"You always hear about [Stewie] making these big random plays in rank S, and other people saying he has promise, like our old teammate Swag, who said he's a solid player," n0thing says. "We decided to give him some blind faith and he's worked out so far."
Picking up Slemmy gave Cloud9 an experienced, albeit not at a professional level, leader that can make decisive calls. He joined the team on April 23, with DreamHack Austin being his first offline appearance with the team.
"The main reason for [picking up Slemmy] is that he's another American in-game leader," n0thing says. "So there's like Sean Gares and adreN -- and adreN doesn't like calling certain styles. We'd talked with some of these players to see if there was any interest, and we didn't even think of Slemmy, until Stewie said he was one of the best teammates he ever had and an in-game leader. So let's give him a shot. That's what we're doing now."
But taking the reins of one of North America's biggest professional Counter-Strike teams is a big task for a player who has only competed with semi-professional squads in the past.
"It's pretty daunting [being in charge of Cloud9 in-game,]" Slemmy told ESPN. "But these guys have been really helpful; they've been supportive. I've played with Stewie before so that helps a lot. As far as taking over for a top team, it's kind of a shock, because I was playing online with lower players. Good players, but not at the top [like Cloud9.]"
DreamHack is his first event with the team. He and the team already beat Counter Logic Gaming twice, and lost to Luminosity Gaming, the best team in the world once. Slemmy, like most in-game leaders, has been at the bottom of the scoreboard, but he led Cloud9 to two comebacks versus Counter Logic yesterday.
DreamHack in North America isn't the most important event of the month for Cloud9. In just over two weeks, it will compete in ELEAGUE, Turner Broadcasting and sports management agency WME|IMG's televised Counter-Strike: Global Offensive league, the very first of its kind.
For ELEAGUE, Cloud9 will meet Luminosity Gaming, its rival Team Liquid, and Australian team Renegades. Luminosity is the current world champion, Liquid is recovering from roster changes, and Renegades is in a slump. While it's highly unlikely Cloud9 can best Luminosity, the chance to beat Liquid is about even for both sides. Renegades will likely take fourth and not make it to the next round.
"I think we can perform well against Renegades and Liquid," Slemmy says. "I think Liquid is kind of in the same boat; they've got a newer team, so they're still ironing out the kinks. Renegades has been together for a while, but I think we match up well against them."
While Slemmy is modest about his expectations, his teammate Stewie2k, known previously for his grit in his own play, is more confident about their upcoming matches in ELEAGUE:
"We can beat Renegades without a doubt," Stewie says. "Luminosity is kind of like another beast, so it's hard to predict what they do. But I'd say we can be really competitive against these other teams."
In 2016, no North American team stuck out as a clear favorite because of roster changes and not being able to stay on top for consistently. The only teams in the western hemisphere who are consistent are Brazilian squads Luminosity and Tempo Storm, who have been competing for top eights at most international tournaments in the past few months, with Tempo taking CEVO just last week.
"I think we rank third in North American Counter-Strike," Slemmy answers when I ask about their performance. "I think we're behind both Brazilian teams, [Tempo Storm and Luminosity]."
Before I can move my recorder, n0thing begins to add to the answer: "We don't deserve to say we're ahead of the Brazilians, but I've beaten both of those teams before, so I don't think it's out of our reach again. I think we're just as good as any North American team, if not the best. We've just got to find our footing right now."
The team will have two weeks to prepare if it wants to make it past groups of ELEAGUE. With familiar foes Luminosity, Liquid, and Renegades, it will have plenty of matches to review.
"If we work hard enough, and put enough time and productive hours in," Stewie says. "I'd say we'll be a pretty good top team."