Cloud9 officially joined the Call of Duty League in 2024, seven years after last appearing in COD esports. While it was exciting to see an elite, universally-renowned organization enter the scene, just a year and a half later, fans have been left scratching their heads.
In August 2024, Cloud9 officially acquired the NYXL CDL slot, rebranding New York Subliners to Cloud9 New York.
The then-New York Subliners had become world champions in 2023 and runners-up in 2024, giving C9 a brilliant entry back into the scene – but it didn’t take long for things to start falling apart.
Rocky Starts
While there were initially conversations about building a very strong roster, retaining Paco “HyDra” Rusiewiez, and potentially bringing in Thomas “Scrap” Ernst, the situation quickly unfolded less positively.
HyDra was about to hit his extension year with an increased salary, and though there was a belief that Cloud9 would aim to keep him around, the decision was made to reduce their budgets, thereby making it impossible to keep any of the world champion roster they had inherited.
So, they went their separate ways and, since then, have been struggling to build competitive rosters on increasingly diminishing budgets. In 2025, their first season, they failed to qualify for the CDL Championship, marking a significant downturn from what New York COD fans were used to.
It’s Getting Even Worse
In 2026, with budget cuts once again, they strung together a ragtag international roster including Ben “Beans” McMellon, Marcus “Afro” Reid, Reece “Vivid” Drost, and Mackenzie “Mack” Kelley. Together, they were the lowest-paid team in the CDL.
Now, just three months later, they’ve decided to drop the entire roster, with internal sources citing “budget cuts” as the reason, with some questioning how much further the budgets could really even be cut.
If anything, it would’ve made more sense to tell the 12th-placed team that they were being removed for their performances.
They have until Monday, February 9, to submit a roster for the start of Major 2 qualifiers, and don’t have anything truly locked in yet. They’re looking exclusively for Challenger players who are willing to take a reduced wage compared to what the former roster was being paid, and some conversations are already looking solid.
What Next for Cloud9 New York?
They’ve been heavily linked to Saudi star Saud “QK4B” Alotaiby, while rumors also point to ongoing talks with Kris “Spart” Cervantez, who currently represents Barstool Sports’ Telluride Bush Gaming in Challengers, as well as Kips, a player on OpTic’s amateur team, Huntsmen.
The issue is, if this team fails to perform well, what comes next for Cloud9 New York? How much more could they “cut costs,” with some sources referring to the C9 salary as already “barely livable.”
The Esports World Cup has been a common reason cited for why Cloud9 were so keen to get into Call of Duty, but they’re not exactly making waves in other esports either – they failed to pick up any Club Championship points in 2025 with the few teams they do have, and it’s not looking likely that that will change too soon.
All of this just begs the question of why C9 invested in the first place. COD is not a cheap esport to be involved in, especially since the league entered a franchised model, and it’s hard to imagine they will be able to spin a profit even if their new team turns out to be solid.
We’re only one Major into the season, and while the season is short, they’re already falling behind the competition in Champs qualification. If they fail again in 2026, it’s very hard to see what they do in 2027.