Cloud9 Cloud9 North America Rank #4 Xeppaa Erick Bach v1c Victor Truong Zellsis Jordan Montemurro penny Erik Penny OXY Francis Hoang has signed Max "Demon1" Mazanov to sub in for OXY , who is spending time away from the team due to a family emergency.

Demon1 joins in his second "super sub" role, having stepped in for Dragon Ranger Gaming Dragon Ranger Gaming China Rank #4 Flex1n Lo Rui (罗瑞) vo0kashu Ilya Ushakov Akeman Zhang Haoran (张浩然) Nicc Shao Yi-qun (邵逸群) SpiritZ1 Lin Dingyu (林定宇) 's vo0kashu at Champions Paris last year. The former world champion had a chaotic 2025 season. He started the year as a core piece of LEVIATÁN LEVIATÁN North America Rank #12 spike Rodrigo Lombardi blowz Guilherme Oliviera Neon Bruno Rodríguez Sato Eduardo Kenzo Nagahama Sato kiNgg Francisco Aravena PxS Josh Brunelli 's rebuild, but departed after a disappointing Americas Stage 1. While Demon1 filled the Sentinel role for DRG at Champs, he played the Duelist and Controller roles for Lev last year before being dropped.

Once crowned not just the best rookie in the scene but the most dangerous player in the world, Demon1 rose to fame in 2023 when he worked his way onto Evil Geniuses Evil Geniuses North America Rank #20 supamen Phat Le bao Bao Nguyen Okeanos Anthony Nguyen dgzin Douglas Silva C0M Corbin Lee ' active roster and played a leading role in the team lifting Champions Los Angeles, where he was named MVP. He was poached away to NRG NRG North America Rank #1 keiko Georgio Sanassy brawk Brock Somerhalder mada Adam Pampuch skuba Logan Jenkins Ethan Ethan Arnold the following offseason, but was benched and later released by the superteam as it failed to produce results.

Having experience as a Duelist-first, Controller-second player, Demon1 could step in as a like-for-like substitute for OXY, but his flexibility could also see shifts elsewhere. Sophomore player v1c has seized the team's primary Controller role, while Xeppaa and in-game leader Zellsis appear to have the Initiator and non-Chamber Sentinel roles on lock. This leaves Demon1 or penny as the primary Duelist, while the other could flex into other roles.

With a timetable for OXY's return unknown due to the circumstances, Demon1's signing proves to be mutually beneficial for both parties. For Cloud9, the team picks up a proven Duelist player who, despite recent struggles, has still seen the top of the competitive game. For Demon1, Cloud9 provides the opportunity to prove himself — and likely in a role that he is comfortable playing.

Cloud9 will continue its VCT Americas Kickoff run in the middle bracket, set to take on South American foes LEVIATÁN LEVIATÁN North America Rank #12 spike Rodrigo Lombardi blowz Guilherme Oliviera Neon Bruno Rodríguez Sato Eduardo Kenzo Nagahama Sato kiNgg Francisco Aravena PxS Josh Brunelli .

Cloud9 Cloud9 North America Rank #4 Xeppaa Erick Bach v1c Victor Truong Zellsis Jordan Montemurro penny Erik Penny OXY Francis Hoang 's active roster is now: