Image

Cloud9 officially parts ways with Interz

fragster Shubh 21. March 2023

After four years with the Russian core, the 22-year-old rifler Timofey “interz” Yakushin has announced his departure from Cloud9.

Timofey “interz” Yakushin was let go by Cloud9 on Monday, allowing him to explore his options in the free market after spending nearly a year with the North American organization. The roster change is long coming as interz had been sitting on Cloud9’s bench since January as a result of the team’s subpar performance in the latter half of the 2022 season.

This signals the end of an almost four-year tenure with his teammates. Interz was a member of the original Gambit Esports lineup, along with his teammates Vladislav “nafany” Gorshkov, Dmitry “sh1ro” Sokolov, and Sergey “Ax1Le” Rykhtorov. Even prior to that, the players have known one another since they were teammates on the Gambit Youth roster in 2019.

However, since joining Cloud9, Interz has struggled, as evidenced by the fact that he could only able to amass a dismal 0.98 rating with C9. The team struggled to achieve consistent success outside of the asterisk-filled run at IEM Dallas in 2022 despite having a star-studded roster.

Timur “buster” Tulepov, the former Virtus.Pro player was substituted in his place by Cloud9, but fans blasted the administration for using Interz as a scapegoat for team’s inconsistent performance. After interz’s benching, the revamped Cloud9 struggled at IEM Katowice 2023, but they looked impressive at the ongoing ESL Pro League Season 17. Cloud9 has had remarkable success so far in the ongoing Pro League thanks to their unbeaten run in Group A.

Interz’s stint with Cloud9 come to an official end

Interz has a distinguished history in CS:GO, having won numerous championships including the IEM XV World Championship, IEM XVI Summer Championship, BLAST Premier: Spring Finals 2021, V4 Future Sports Festival – Budapest 2021, and Funspark ULTI 2021.

In addition, the Russian player assisted his side in finishing in the top three at the PGL Major Stockholm 2021, the BLAST Premier: Global Final 2021, and the 13th season of the ESL Pro League. The  22-year-old player assisted Cloud9 in a challenging scenario in the Intel Extreme Masters Rio Major 2022 as well, coming back from a 0-2 deficit at the Challengers stage to advance to the playoffs.

Many believed that Cloud9 would have a chance to win the championship when teams like Team Vitality and Natus Vincere were eliminated from the competition, but MOUZ upset the squad in the quarterfinals to end their run at the Brazillian event.

Header: João Ferreira/PGL Esports