During a sitdown with HLTV Confirmed, new Cloud9 manager Henry "HenryG" Greer revealed his plans to have a six-man roster by the end of the organization's overhaul of its Counter-Strike: Global Offensive roster.
C9 CSGO's expanded bench won't function like Astralis', according to C9's new general manager. Whichever player winds up as C9's sixth won't just be there to warm the bench, but they also won't be actively playing, either.
"...he'll be actively traveling and working with us during practice. The idea is that I want someone there in case anything goes wrong," HenryG explained.
The sixth player on Cloud9's roster will also serve as the team's brand ambassador, continued HenryG. Cloud9's plans sound much different than those of Astralis, who were forced to sign three different players while Lukas "gla1ve" Rossander and Andreas "Xyp9x" Højsleth took leaves of absences over burnout concerns.
Cloud9's new look is a smart move if its new manager can pull it off. With more and more CSGO players taking extended breaks from competition due to burnout and over-scheduling, C9's sixth man could be an invaluable asset in case one of the team's new signings decides they need a vacation.
Who is on Cloud9's new CSGO team?
So far, Cloud9 has only signed formed Vitality in-game leader Alex "ALEX" McMeekin in an uncharacteristically transparent move. Cloud9 publically released the details of his ALEX's contract when it announced the signing, sending a message to players that C9 has the money to toss around.
There's been a lot of talk coming from the Cloud9 camp, similar to the win-now attitude embodied by Complexity's CSGO rebuild after the 2019 StarLadder Berlin Major. After issuing clear signs that it wouldn't stand for mediocre results anymore, Complexity overhauled its roster from top to bottom. The approach has turned Complexity into a team that currently sits comfortably in the top 10 rankings. HenryG and Cloud9 are clearly hoping to repeat Complexity's take-no-prisoners approach.
"[Organizations} don't want contracts to be public because they're embarrassing," HenryG said when explaining C9's decision to make the numbers public.
With ALEX's contract revealed to be a three-year deal that will pay the IGL $1.65M in total, C9 has taken the first shot as several other teams begin roster reworks at the same time as the game's talent pool becomes more and more concentrated. Many CSGO pros are moving to Valorant and it's clear that C9's public announcement of ALEX's deal was there to make them think twice about leaving the scene. There have been a few rumors surrounding Cloud9's eventual CSGO roster, but with ESL Pro League Season 12 in full swing, it might not be too much longer before fans get a look at a shiny new C9.
