I heard about Cloud9’s roster shift the night before their official debut. In that time, struggling with my fettered cynicism, I looked and looked for an obvious problem or misalignment in the new lineup and found none worth talking about. Between the formation of Dazed’s new team, Zeus’ homecoming, the possibility of Elige leaving Liquid, and all of the tier 2 turmoil, the Cloud9 changes were the only ones that felt considered and conclusive. And yet, with two solid replacements and no egregious holes, I felt uneasy about the announcement.
Rush and Tarik are now among three other players who could all fit the role of ‘star player’ on any North American team. Beyond their obvious mechanical skills, these two players can bring new advantages. Tarik has said in the last six months that he is comfortable and excited to grow as an in-game leader which could help alleviate pressure on Stewie. Rush, an incredibly proficient execution rifler and intelligent positional player will shine alongside Autimatic and Ska on set plays and gaining map control. The cognitive and more important advantage these two bring to the team is their utter determination to play with a set roster.
For almost a year, tumultuous changes to the starting line-up and roster of Optic has left them frayed and more ready than ever for a purgative split, Rush himself saying that “feeling you get when you taste being on top, only for it to come crashing down so quickly is something [he] can’t get past.” With this new opportunity, Tarik and Rush should be considered the most intimidating additions to any team in North America during the shuffle. The underlooked part of this new team and what I believe will be the crucial component of their long term success will be the range and capability of Cloud9 coach Valens.
In what is an elementary and oversimplified breakdown of a “coach”, Valens can fit into two roles as the head of this team. The first role is that of strategist. Control of the planning behind the approach to and execution of how the team functions mechanically. This is a part of his coaching that has been apparent in C9’s most recent performances. In Bucharest, Stewie credited Valens for his efforts in pushing them through the last stage of the PGL main qualifier. Help with developing player positioning, finding nades, countering opponent strategy, map picks -all things that fall into this ‘programming’ style of coaching.
The secondary role of a coach, and what will be most important to this new roster, is Valens ability to act as a leader to the team. As stated before all the members of this new roster could feasibly see themselves in the role of ‘star player’. The adage states that no team with five Lebrons or Jordans will succeed. If Valens and whoever steps up as IGL on the team cannot work together to dictate and direct the mindset of these five players, then the team could waver and crack from the outset. He must be able to facilitate the high level of in-game communication that Cloud9 has developed over the past year between two new players. He must keep the attitudes and mentality of these labored players in the right direction. There must also be cohesion between the positions of CT-roles over all maps and which players will guide the aggression of T-side. The entire team could need a reconstruction in a short period of time. A proper burden for one person.
For Cloud9 to succeed, I believe they will need to find an urgent chemistry in their upcoming matches. Influential decision making from Valens could help them find it as well as provide a momentous push into the next stage of playing together if they want to solidify their roster before the six months of leagues and events. There is a Major-winning team of talent among these five. Whether it’s Valens to expose it will be the definitive factor.
