Two dominant defensive halves were enough to get Cloud9 to the Rio Major.

Cloud9 traversed the Swiss System with a 3-1 record, beating B8, G2, and 1WIN on their way to Major qualification. In the deciding series, they dispatched of 1WIN in a two-map affair, winning Vertigo (16-12) and Overpass (16-13).

This is the first time the Cloud9 organization has qualified for a CS:GO Major since IEM Katowice 2019, where they were represented by the roster featuring the likes of Robin "⁠flusha⁠" Rönnquist, Fabien "⁠kioShiMa⁠" Fiey, and Timothy "⁠autimatic⁠" Ta, before leaving CS:GO.

1WIN struck first on the Terrorist side of Vertigo, but Cloud9 swiftly answered back with a second round forcebuy. A back-and-forth ensued, with both teams winning forcebuys in the opening exchanges. Cloud9 won the early skirmish, gathering momentum that propelled them to a 12-3 lead at the interval. Abay "⁠HObbit⁠" Khassenov had a particularly good half, ending on 23 kills as the favorites moved to the offense. Cloud9's second pistol round put them in an assertive 14-3 lead, with their win looking certain. They had to work for it, however, as 1WIN won nine rounds on the defense, before Sergey "⁠Ax1Le⁠" Rykhtorov's huge triple-kill secured the map.

Cloud9's struggles on the offense continued on the second map, going down early after losing the pistol round. An unlikely win with pistols got them back to a 2-6 deficit but they lost the next round straight away to enable 1WIN to run away with the half. Cloud9 inability to string rounds together made their job even harder, as they needed to fight back from a disadvantageous economic position time after time. 1WIN made the most of that, taking a 12-3 lead into the second half.

Once on the defense, Cloud9 looked like a completely different team. They started the half with a six-round streak, not allowing their opponents a single plant in the process. Aleksandr "⁠glowiing⁠" Matsievich delivered 1WIN's first round on the Terrorist side with a triple, with Cloud9 taking control straight back to win the map 16-13, losing just one round in the half to book their place in Rio.

Cloud9	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Sergey 'Ax1Le' RykhtorovAx1Le	50 - 32	+18	96.6	1.38
Dmitry 'sh1ro' Sokolovsh1ro	43 - 25	+18	71.3	1.35
Abay 'HObbit' KhassenovHObbit	48 - 44	+4	101.8	1.32
Timofey 'interz' Yakushininterz	33 - 29	+4	52.5	0.98
Vladislav 'nafany' Gorshkovnafany	35 - 38	-3	65.1	0.97

1WIN	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Aleksandr 'TRAVIS' TimkivTRAVIS	42 - 45	-3	81.7	1.05
Denis 'deko' Zhukovdeko	45 - 38	+7	73.0	1.02
Igor 'lollipop21k' Solodkovlollipop21k	38 - 40	-2	71.3	0.95
Aleksandr 'glowiing' Matsievichglowiing	28 - 46	-18	63.5	0.72
Egor 'flamie' Vasilyevflamie	15 - 41	-26	36.3	0.51

Below is a list of teams confirmed at the IEM Rio Major:

TBD
Liquid
Evil Geniuses
Spirit
Cloud9