Yet another last-minute win leads the proud Cloud9 to their third ESL One. After needing the last chance qualifier to get to the first Frankfurt tournament, this time they had to take the road through the lower bracket. A defeat against Alliance kept them from going through straight away, forcing them to take the way paved with elimination games. Despite this, EternaLEnVy and co. have made it to ESL One once more, and are looking to keep up the steady improvement in their placements. A first round loss in Frankfurt, a semifinals elimination in New York - can they fulfil their destiny and clinch a spot in the grand finals?

The roster

Just like almost every other professional team, Cloud9 was also affected by the big shuffle that took place around New Year. With bOne7, FATA- and EternaLEnVy, three members from the team’s previous two ESL One runs remain in the mix, while MiSeRy and BigDaddy have been added for their C9 Frankfurt debut.

Both players were at Frankfurt last year, however, but were wearing different jerseys. For MiSeRy it was the mousesports varsity jacket, with them getting eliminated in the very first round. BigDaddy - back then still known as n0tail - was on the pitch as a member of Fnatic, celebrating, cheering and yelling after the upset win over Vici Gaming.

Recent performances

Cloud9 hasn’t been at the top of Dota 2 tournaments recently. Their nimbus of always placing second has replaced by two consecutive third place finishes, with some mediocre quarterfinal losses sprinkled in between - the glorious times of the Summit 2, ASUS ROG DreamLeague Season 2 and WCA 2014 have vanished. They’ve been replaced by a solid team capable of causing upsets and making other teams work hard to get past them, but their inability to close out games has increasingly come back to haunt them lately.

Patch 6.84

Current record on patch: 11-10

Most picked		Most banned
6x		9x
5x		6x
4x		5x

Give EternaLEnVy farm is the name of the game for Cloud9. With heroes like Phantom Lancer and Gyrocopter in the Canadian’s hands, the team is usually comfortable protecting him in the early game before making plays as a unit come mid and late game. To make that happen, the team usually goes with a support lineup that is not meant to be the most dangerous gank team but rather be defensive and able to bail the carry out of sticky situations.

Cloud9 might very well be the wildcard in the entire tournament. Not only are the C9 boys capable of beating anyone but they are also a classic tournament team. Countless times analysts, fans and opponents have counted them out at the beginning of a tournament only to find themselves surprised by the results. The all-star team could alter the entire tournament with an upset win, a standout series or just some thrilling closely contested games. Last year they stole the show with their battle against Alliance - can they wow the crowd once more?

You can find our previous team previews below, and be sure to follow @ESLDota2 to get all the latest news regarding ESL One Frankfurt 2015!

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