Following the conclusion of the Spring Showdown, we now know that CIS team Cloud9 will join the six teams that have already secured their places in the Spring Finals, as well as the victor of paiN vs Imperial in the Americas Showdown. The core of this roster are no strangers to the Spring Finals, emerging victorious from the 2021 edition while competing under the Gambit banner.

How Cloud9 qualified

Making it into the showdown through the RES Eastern European Masters Spring qualifier, Cloud9 was a clear favourite to make it out of the Showdown considering their recent form. Despite their dominant form at ESL Pro League where they made the final, and being clear favourites for the Showdown, it wasn’t quite a walk in the park for Vladislav "nafany" Gorshkov’s squad.

Coming up against Copenhagen Flames in the opening match, the Danish team was somewhat of a gift for Cloud9. The lowest-ranked team taking on the highest-ranked team, Cloud9’s superior firepower and sheer experience shun through as they dispatched the Danes 2-0 on Vertigo and Ancient.

The semifinals phase was when things began to become more difficult for the Russian team. Facing Ninjas in Pyjamas, Cloud9 breezed through Ancient with a flawless T-side but ran into difficulties on their own pick of Overpass where they were utterly dominated by NiP’s CT-side and subsequently dropped the map 16-10. Vertigo provided some deja vu from Ancient, as a close first half was followed by a flawless Cloud9 T-side to secure the series.

Squaring off against BIG in the final, Cloud9 had their backs against the wall following a Karim "Krimbo" Moussa masterclass on Inferno. A 29-13 stat line from the 20-year-old German gave BIG a 16-14 victory on their map pick and gave the BIG the advantage heading into Vertigo. Against NiP, it was a masterful T-side that won Vertigo for Cloud9, but against BIG it was dominance on defense that was key, winning the map 16-10 and sending the two squads to Mirage. The firepower advantage shun through for Cloud9 on Mirage, easily winning the map 16-3 and booking their ticket to Washington in the process.

Cloud9 will join G2, FaZe, Heroic, NAVI, Vitality, Astralis, and the winner of Imperial vs paiN in Washington D.C for Spring Finals come June 7th!