Cloud9 enters new era, signs Freakazoid, Skadoodle, Swag

One of North America’s best Counter-Strike teams has shaken up its roster. Just five days after dropping Shahzeb “ShahZam” Khan and Kory “Semphis” Friesen, Cloud9 has added Tyler “Skadoodle” Latham and Ryan “fREAKAZOiD” Abadir respectfully. Alongside them will be Braxton “swag” Pierce, who will join as an analyst.

This news isn’t entirely surprising. Late last week, Abadir was streaming pick-up-games alongside Cloud9’s Michael “shroud” Grzesiek when he opened his Gmail account. That unintentionally showed a DocuSign contract he’d signed with Cloud9 owner Jack Etienne.

Abadir’s pick up is peculiar. He’s been out of the competitive spotlight for quite a while. He was well known for his time in the game’s predecessor, Counter-Strike: Source. He’s played Global Offensive competitively as well, but not with much success. He is a former member of the Frost Gaming, Homeless, and Reliable teams. His signing wasn’t entirely a surprise, however, as he has a close, personal friendship with others on the squad.

Unlike his new teammate, however, Latham is considered one of the best in his region at his role. He’s best known for his time with iBUYPOWER. That team was gutted by a match-fixing scandal, however, that saw every player but Latham banned from the game. Latham escaped a ban by the game’s developer, Valve, however, as he didn’t reap rewards from this incident.

Throughout the off-season, Latham was said to be a “package deal” with former Cloud9 rifleman Spencer “Hiko” Martin. Martin, however, recently claimed on his stream that the so-called “dream team” he was attempting to assemble has fallen apart. That prompted Latham to try out for the position at the North American great on ESEA last night. Former Counter Logic Gaming player Peter “Ptr” Gurney trialled alongside Latham. But while Gurney’s performance wasn’t spectacular, Latham’s was.

The last addition to the new squad is Pierce—another former iBUYPOWER player who was banned match fixing—who will join as an analyst.

Photos via ESEA/Flickr and HLTV | Remix by Jacob Wolf