Cloud9 sign Golden after great stand-in performance

After standing in for Cloud9 during the ELEAGUE 2018 Premier event, Golden has officially been signed as a permanent member for the North American team.

This marks an important milestone in CS:GO roster history as we start to see even more of a shift towards international teams.

Cloud9 has, for the longest time, scouted North American player talent from right under their nose, but picking up Golden shows that even the one team at the heart of American Counterstrike is willing to move towards headhunting European players.

The details on Golden joining Cloud9

Recently, Cloud9 has been in a bit of a rocky situation after MIBR essentially pinched tarik and Stewie2K from their roster.

The roster change forced Cloud9 to use stand-ins for all of their recent events. The most recent of which saw Cloud9 pull in Golden from Fnatic and Styko from mousesports.

It was confirmed recently that Styko will be on loan with Cloud9 through September. Golden, however, was only a one-off stand-in until he pleasantly surprised both the audience and Cloud9’s manager’s during the ELEAGUE Premier 2018 tournament.

Despite Cloud9’s quick fall during ELEAGUE Premier 2018, Golden still put on a show. Jack Etienne, Cloud9’s owner, mentioned in a blog post that the entire management team “Were impressed with the professionalism and structure Golden brought” to Cloud9.

Since then, Golden has officially joined the Cloud9 roster as a full time salaried team member. Golden also gave a statement sharing his excitement to be a part of the Cloud9 organization.

“I can’t express how much I want to wear the Cloud9 jersey and give my all for the fans. After just one week with the team, I feel like I’m at home already. The atmosphere has been unreal and I’m looking forward to the success we’ll have in the near future, and maybe a few rib-eyes on the way.”

Despite Golden being a Swedish player, his fluency in English will mean that there won’t be any language barriers to deal with.

So far, no details have been shared on whether Styko will be moved into a full time position, but for now he will remain on loan.

Despite Golden being part of the Fnatic branding for the entirety of 2018, the majority of the year saw Golden sitting out on the bench. As expected, Golden snapped up the opportunity to join Cloud9’s roster after being out of the action for so long.

With the new roster in mind, Cloud9’s next chance to show the world what they have will be on the international stage in London for the FACEIT Major in early September. With very little time to prepare for the event with the new roster lineup, we’re not sure Cloud9 will be able to perform well.

Cloud9 are already in the Legends stage after winning the last major in Boston, but they have a long road ahead to ensure they make it into the next Major.

Understandably, Cloud9’s upper management will be trying their hardest to ensure Cloud9 stay in the top eight and proceed to the new champion’s stage for the FACEIT 2018 Major.

What are your thoughts on the current state of Cloud9’s roster? Do they have a chance to make it anywhere significant in the upcoming Major?

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