Cloud9 appears to be in the process of dropping its entire Dota 2 roster. The organization has spent the past few days posting goodbye and thank you messages to the remainder of its players.
The most recent announcements began on Oct. 12 when Cloud9 said goodbye to Volodymyr “No[o]ne-” Minenko in a post on social media. In the post, C9 thanks the departing player by saying: “Today, we say goodbye to No[o]ne, who once said he was trying to “[hide] from the world in video games,” but instead, he showed the world his immense talent and dedication.”
Today, (Oct. 14) the trend continued with Cloud9 thanking and saying goodbye to Dmitry “DM” Dorokhin. “How do we say goodbye to a literal ray of sunshine? Thank you DM for being an incredible player and an even better person. We’re proud to have had you as a teammate and can’t wait to see what’s next!” stated C9’s social media.
These departures followed Vladislav “Kataomi`” Semenov’s departure to BetBoom at the end of last month and Alimzhan “watson” Islambekov’s move to Gaimin Gladiators in October.
It looks likely that the sole remaining player, Dzmitry “Fishman” Palishchuk, will depart the team later this week or form the foundation of a brand new organization.
It’s also unknown whether C9 will continue in Dota 2. Despite a top 6 finish at The International 2024, the organization has an unfortunate history with dipping its toes in and out of Dota 2 at a whim. This 2024 incarnation of C9 may be the next in a line of post-TI drops dating back almost a decade.
Image Credit: Valve
First joining the game in 2014, the organization cycled through a few rosters before departing in 2015. In 2017, the org rejoined Dota 2 for TI7, picking up an all-Dane squad the Danish Bears, before quickly dropping the team after the event. Returning to the game in 2020, the outbreak of Covid-19 seemingly scuppered plans and the squad was disbanded after just four months.
Whatever’s next for C9 Dota seems uncertain. But just in case, keep your eyes peeled on our post-TI roster shuffle tracker.
