Six years have passed since we heard Daniel “ddk” Kapadia say “It’s happened, they made it work. Cloud9 are your ELEAGUE Major champions.” It was the only North American CS:GO Major victory in history and, in the eyes of many, the most memorable Valve-sponsored event of all time.
C9 was a heavy underdog back then. The lineup of Skadoodle, Stewie2K, autimatic, RUSH, and tarik was seen as one of the strongest NA teams in the scene, but nowhere close to being a Major contender, and their run through the prestigious tournament was living proof. While they charged through the New Challengers Stage with a clean sweep, they dropped their opening two matches at the beginning of the New Legends Stage and found themselves on the brink of elimination.
In stunning fashion and with sheer determination, C9 not only turned their fate around to make the playoffs, but they went on to defeat three favorites in the form of G2 Esports, SK Gaming, and FaZe Clan in front of the home crowd to seal the deal on Jan. 28, 2018.
The North American squad did what little teams achieved—wrote history on their home soil. However, their reign in the CS:GO scene didn’t last long. In fact, the players from this illustrious lineup are barely active today, pondering the question: Where are they now?
Stewie2K
Let’s begin with the one who single-handedly held the B bombsite on Inferno at a 15-14 scoreline, which led to overtime that C9 would eventually win—Jake “Stewie2K” Yip. Since winning the Major, Stewie2k has represented SK, MIBR, Evil Geniuses, and Liquid, winning numerous titles and even an Intel Grand Slam with the latter.
His latest stint was with Evil Geniuses. He played under the organization’s banner until July 2022 and then stayed as a content creator until March 2023. Since then, he has been doing just that—outside of the occasional surprise stand-in effort with Mythic in CS2 and competitions in VALORANT, he’s been happily enjoying streaming multiple games on Twitch. After leaving EG, he announced he’s ready to grind again, especially with the release of CS2, but so far, he has failed to find himself a permanent team. We would love to see him back in action for good.
Tarik
Thanks to his stellar performance throughout the tournament and especially in the final, Tarik “tarik” Celik was named the HLTV MVP of the Boston Major. Like Stewie2K, he also left C9 in 2018 and played with MIBR, NRG, and EG, claiming a few admirable trophies and reaching the semifinals of the 2019 StarLadder Berlin Major. But, since 2021, tarik has been devoting himself to content creation.
The Turkish-American player doesn’t focus merely on Counter-Strike, with the talented rifler a prominent figure in the VALORANT scene as well. He’s been one of the main streamers of the key events in the Riot Games’ title, boasting thousands of viewers regularly on his channel. But, more importantly, tarik seems to be enjoying himself in the new career path, so it’s unlikely that we’ll see him again in a pro-player career.
Skadoodle
After a history of drama with iBUYPOWER’s match-fixing scandal and the highest group stage exit streak in CS:GO Majors at the count of eight, it was impossible not to cheer for Tyler “Skadoodle” Latham during C9’s Boston run. Nevertheless, the American redeemed himself and delivered some star-studded performances in Massachusetts, recording the best K/D difference in the final with 79-55, according to HLTV. He also received the U.S. Air Force MVP of the tournament by ELEAGUE. “I’m not crying, you’re crying,” Ska said in the post-final interview, perfectly describing our emotions.
Skadoodle stopped competing in CS:GO shortly after hoisting the trophy. Afterward, like many others, he turned to VALORANT, playing with T1 until January 2022. Skadoodle followed the steps of his former teammates and started focusing on his streaming career; however, he’s been inactive for quite some time.
The last time he went live on Twitch was six months ago, and he hasn’t posted anything in particular on his Twitter or Instagram, either. Though, he did post a Turkey emote during 2023’s Thanksgiving, so he’s likely safe and sound.
RUSH
William “RUSH” Wierzba, like three other already mentioned players, is also inactive. After leaving C9 in 2019, the 29-year-old played for Complexity and EG. His last professional stint was with EG Black, which came to an end in July 2023. The team struggled to boast any meaningful results, leaving the CS scene last year.
In 2023, RUSH seemingly abandoned the pro career and joined Mind Body Esports in Oct. 2023 as a performance coach. The org focuses on maintaining the health of pro players in esports and gaming, cooperating with numerous other pro teams. So, while RUSH isn’t competing anymore, he’s working behind the curtains for the benefit of us all.
Autimatic
We finish our list with the only member who’s still active to this day—Timothy “autimatic” Ta. Like RUSH, he also was a part of EG for the past two years, with whom he didn’t achieve much. In the meantime, he was also competing in VALORANT for a bit. But, before returning to action, autimatic stated he would take a one-to-three-month break to reflect on the past years.
In the meantime, the American is streaming CS2 and VALORANT regularly and looking satisfied with his life. In one of his recent broadcasts, he even talked a bit about C9’s downfall, pointing out it began with tarik and Stewie2K leaving for SK.
