Hate, Bazzi, Munchkin, Xeta, and BuZz.
At least one of these names will sound familiar to anyone who has an interest in professional Valorant.
It may be surprising to some that at one point, all of them were on the same team.
This is the story of Cloud9 Korea.
In June of 2020, Riot Games revealed its latest game: VALORANT, a hero-based tactical FPS intended to compete with the powerhouse that is CS:GO.
Cloud9, an org well known for winning the only Major title for North America, announced their first Korean Valorant roster on August 20, 2020.
This roster was set with
Kim "DoYa" Do-gyeong
Park "Bazzi" Jun-ki
Byeon "Munchkin" Sang-beom
Kang "Try" Tae-wook
and
Yoo "Moothie" Seung-woo
with Yoon "Autumn" Eu-teum as their Coach.
The roster would compete in the Huya PangHu Cup, where they would reach 4th place after losing to Chinese teams TYLOO and O2 Gaming, and then get knocked out in the RO32 of Korea's Clan Battle Act 2 #1, with a 5-13 loss versus Crazy Hamster.
After adding Yoo "BuZz" Byung-chul to their roster as a 6th man and substitute, Cloud9 Korea would finish 4th during Clan Battle Act 2 #2, with a close 10-13 loss to aNg DarkHorse.
They would participate in the Asian A.W Extreme Masters Invitational and top their group after comfortable 2-0 and 2-1 wins vs Singapore's TEAM SMG and Japan's DetonatioN Gaming White. However, C9K would be knocked out by T1 Korea for the chance at Grand Finals, and then lose 1-2 in a close 10-13 Bind game vs Japan's top team, ABSOLUTE Jupiter.
Four days later, Try, Moothie, and DoYa would leave the team.
On October 27th,
Yoo "BuZz" Byung-chul,
Son "Xeta" Seon-ho,
and
Lee "Hate" Ye-hun would officially (they had been playing with the team since the 20th) join as their replacements, with new Head Coach Pavane, well-known for his success in Overwatch.
This new Cloud9 roster would go on to be one of the best teams in Korea, never finishing below 4th at almost every tournament they attended.
In Clan Battle Act 2 #3, they would demolish the precursor to NUTURN, PROPARTY, 13-0. They would also beat project_kr, Lunatic-Hai, and Quantum Strikers, sister team of Korean powerhouses Vision Strikers (currently DRX).
Ultimately, the team would fall to VS in a close 1-2 series with a 12-14 loss on Bind to end the match.
Cloud9 Korea participated in the APE Valorant Battle, where, after a comfortable 2-0 vs PROPARTY, they would get their revenge against T1 Korea, finishing 1st place after a 2-1 win.
However, after finishing 3rd-4th at Clan Battle Act 2 #4, getting Top 8 at First Strike Korea Qualifiers, and 3rd-4th at First Strike Korea Playoffs, on the 11th of December 2020 Cloud9 would disband their Korean team in favour of their struggling NA roster, a decision that was questioned at the time by fans. This was likely influenced by the "VALORANT Esports Rules and Policies" rulebook update in November 2020 regarding concurrent teams and rosters.
The players would each leave for different teams internationally; Hate joined Damwon Gaming KIA-and later TNL Esports, Bazzi would end up on On Sla2ers after playing with Munchkin on Crazy Raccoon, Xeta was picked up by Cloud9 Blue as their initiator player, and BuZz would play for Rio Company, and currently DRX.
4 out of 5 players on this team would attend VCT Champions 2021; all four would be some of the highest performing players in their respective roles and on their team.
This is my first time writing an article on anything so it will likely be shoddy. Hope this ends up being an interesting read.
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