Dota 2 pro Jacky “EternalEnvy” Mao returns once again to Cloud9 while his old team Fighting PandaS gets signed by CS:GO organization CR4ZY.
Previously, we saw Jacky "EternalEnvy" Mao and Jingjun "Sneyking" Wu leave their team for no apparent reason. That left Fighting PandaS with two players short a week before the StarLadder ImbaTV Dota 2 Minor Season 3. Luckily, the PandaS filled their roster up in a matter of days by recruiting Oliver "skiter" Lepko and Maurice "KheZu" Gutmann.
Envy returns to Cloud9
As we mentioned before, Envy and Sneyking leaving made little to no sense considering their team had qualified for the upcoming Minor event. So the offer must have been too good to miss out on, right? Cloud9 is one of the most well-known organizations in esports, with teams in various titles like CS:GO, League of Legends, Dota 2 and others. This won’t be the first time Envy plays for Cloud9, either, as he did so in the past twice – in 2015 and 2017, respectively.
The team announced its return to Dota 2 at the end of January and picked up a seemingly random squad of players that have barely played with each other before. Cloud9 participated in the SEA open qualifiers for ESL One Los Angeles and got eliminated by Trust Gaming. Almost a month later, two players were benched and one was released.
#C9DOTA Roster Change@skemdota2 & @vtFaded have been moved to the bench and @FLeeDOTA has been released.In their stead, please join us in welcoming @EternaLEnVy1991, @AceDota, & @Sneyking1995 to the #C9FAM! Read More: https://t.co/T4c4oSPAvW pic.twitter.com/n46PNrWk03
— Cloud9 (@Cloud9) March 3, 2020
Envy and Sneyking came to fill two of the available spots, with the third going to Marcus "Ace" Hoelgaard, who is most known for playing on Team Secret and Ninjas in Pyjamas. Since Cloud9 is a North American organization, it’s very much expected that they’ll soon change their active region from SEA to NA. So far, the team hasn’t qualified for any of the upcoming events and their first chance to do so will probably be at the end of March.
CR4ZY sign Fighting PandaS
As we already mentioned, Fighting PandaS quickly found two replacements to fill in for the StarLadder Dota 2 Minor. Whether skiter and KheZu will stick around with the rest of the squad remains to be seen and will likely depend on the results they show at the tournament.
Welcome to the CR4ZY family! Maurice Gutmann @KheZuDavid Tan @MoonMeanderatedKurtis Ling @Aui_2000Jonathan De Guia @bryledotaOliver Lepko @Skiter DuBu @DubuDota ( Coach ): https://t.co/B0KyqfOwJO#C4Dota2 #DontFakeIt pic.twitter.com/NqPQ0MCovx
— CR4ZY (@gocr4zy) March 3, 2020
In the meantime, the team was signed by CR4ZY. Well-known it the CS:GO scene as the Croatian organization has a competitive roster in the title since 2017. This will be CR4ZY’s first attempt at entering the Dota 2 scene and since the whole Dota 2 ecosystem is about to change in the next season, it might be the best time to join in. The team released a video with all the players and it seems their goal for the year would be reaching The International 2020.
Kim "DuBu" Doo-young was picked to coach the ex-Fighting PandaS. This will also mark the first time in CR4ZY’s history that the organization competes in the North American region, as the team they signed earned their spot there.
The StarLadder ImbaTV Dota 2 Minor Season 3 will give us a glimpse of CR4ZY’s freshly acquired squad. The event will last between March 5 and March 8, offering $300,000 in prize money and 660 Dota Pro Circuit points. Winners of the tournament will also secure tickets to the next big thing – ESL One Los Angeles which begins on March 15.
