Cloud9 head coach mCe on expectations and roster decisions
Expectations were high for Cloud9’s VALORANT squad going into the VCT 2023 season. Heading into 2023, Cloud9 bolstered their VCT Champions 2021 lineup by acquiring Jordan “Zellsis” Montemurro from Version1 and star duelist Jaccob “yay” Whiteaker from OpTic Gaming. Initially, the deal to bring on yay was one that many assumed would only make Cloud9 better in the long run.
However, it was soon revealed that Cloud9 sought to make changes to their VALORANT team following their 9th-16th place finish at VCT 2023: LOCK//IN which saw the team part ways with yay and in-game leader Anthony “vanity” Malaspina.
For a few weeks, nobody knew what Cloud9’s intentions were for the 2023 season. Many questions about who would fill these vacant positions in the team started to grow until it was finally revealed that Cloud9 had picked up Dylan “runi” Cade and Jake “jakee” Anderson to solidify their lineup going into the VCT 2023: Americas League.
Now, Cloud9 will have an opportunity to showcase its new lineup and prove that it can still compete at the top level of VALORANT in 2023.
In this video interview, we spoke to Cloud9 head coach Matthew “mCe” Elmore to talk about the upcoming VCT 2023: Americas League, their decision behind the two players they brought into their lineup, and expectations for the team’s performance early on.
How to watch VCT 2023: Americas League?
You can keep up with the VCT 2023: Americas League by watching all the matches live through the VCT Americas YouTube and Twitch channels.
Sage got his start in esports as a volunteer writer in 2016 for esports organization, Dignitas. Since then, he has continued to work on his craft as a journalist and reporter for a number of established esports publications, such as esports.gg, Unikrn, Akshon Esports, Howla, The Player’s Lobby, Nerd Street Gamers, and most recently Dot Esports. Now, as a member of Esports Illustrated’s content team, Sage’s primary duties are centered around creating groundbreaking written and video content about the esports industry that impacts the community in a meaningful way. Sage graduated from Rutgers University with a Bachelor’s degree in Information Technology and Informatics. There, he was a member of the Rutgers Esports Executive Board, both as the head of the fighting game community and a videographer/photographer for the Content team.