Cloud9 quietly cuts final Dota 2 ties with release of former pro SingSing

Cloud9 has a very mixed history in the Dota 2 scene and hasn’t been active in competitions since dropping its most recent roster in April 2020. Now, the organization has quietly cut what appears to be its final ties to the game by releasing former pro SingSing.

SingSing is a veteran Dota player who spent time competing in the original game along with StarCraft II and Heroes of Newerth. He started his streaming career off early with the Dota 2 beta in 2011 and eventually went on to have a successful pro career over the next several years.

He competed across several rosters from late 2011 to 2016 before mostly retiring to focus on his streaming career. That included a stint with Cloud9 in 2014 where he helped the org record one of its best overall years in Dota and a fifth-place finish at The International 2014—the highest placement for the org to date.

At some point between the start of 2016 and Singsing’s decision to retire from competitive play in October 2016, Cloud9 signed him as a streaming partner.

During that time, Sing has continued to be one of Dota’s biggest streamers, averaging nearly 4,000 viewers and pulling in a total of 70.5 million hours watched and 101 million views since Nov. 2016, according to TwitchTracker.

That partnership quietly continued for around seven years (without counting his time as a player for the team), but it has now quietly ended—and shocked many Dota 2 fans who had totally forgotten Sing was still with C9.

With this move, C9 has officially exited the Dota 2 scene after three years of inactivity on the competitive front following its third time dropping EternaLEnVy from its roster. There is, however, one potential tie to the game left with the org.

According to Liquipedia and Twitter, former Dota and StarCraft II pro Jon “13abyKnight” Andersen is still signed with the North American gaming company. He has listed himself as “taking time off and managing stress” and hasn’t streamed on Twitch or anywhere else in over a year, but he still has the C9 branding on socials.

While it is unlikely C9 will re-enter Dota 2 and its competitive circuit at any point after its mixed results in the past, Sing should still continue to thrive as a streamer.