Cloud9 secured a spot at IEM Katowice 2020 by beating MIBR 3-1 in the grand final of the North America Closed Qualifier.
It was the debut event for Cloud9’s new roster, which underwent significant offseason changes. They handily beat Riot Squad and INTZ before beating Complexity in three maps to reach the final of the eight-team event.
That gave Cloud9 a one-map advantage to start against MIBR, who had to go through the lower bracket after opening with a loss to fellow Brazilian team INTZ.
MIBR was able to win the first live map to even the final, but Cloud9 dominated Overpass 16-4 and closed out the match with a 16-12 win on Inferno.
Victory moment of #C9CSGO when they qualified to #IEM Katowice 2020! pic.twitter.com/ZOGb75aWTV
— Cloud9 (@Cloud9) January 10, 2020
Cloud9 recently signed the South African-based ATK roster after tying for last among 16 teams in the ESL Pro League Season 10 Americas.
Cloud9’s roster is now made up of Johnny “JT” Theodosiou, Ian “motm” Hardy, Josh “oSee” Ohm, Ricky “floppy” Kemery, Aran “Sonic” Groesbeek and coach Tiaan “T.c” Coertzen.
“WE ARE BACK, BABY!,” Cloud9 tweeted following the win over MIBR.
Only the European and Oceania qualifiers remain to round out the 16-team Katowice field.
Qualified teams
100 Thieves
Astralis
Cloud9
Evil Geniuses
FaZe
fnatic
G2
Liquid
mousesports
Natus Vincere
Ninjas in Pyjamas
ViCi
Virtus.pro
Vitality
–Field Level Media (@FieldLevelMedia)