Cloud9 become latest organisation to return to Apex Legends

Cloud9 are re-entering Apex Legends, signing the roster currently known as GKS. This is a significant re-entry for the organisation, with substantial investment in a strong coaching structure around their players.

While Cloud9 didn't make a big fuss when they exited Apex Legends like Team Liquid and Spacestation Gaming did, they were one of the teams that departed because of financial issues and a lack of support from EA.

Their return is part of a continued trend, with major organisations seeking re-entry into Apex Legends. If rumours are to be believed, they will not be the last familiar face to return.

In GKS Cloud9 will see the return of a familiar face. Paris "StayNaughty" Gouzoulis spent 18 months on the organisation between 2021 and 2022. He's accompanied by his teammates Nathan "ChaoticMuch" Gajkiewicz and Jason "Sauceror" Li.

Additionally, Cloud9 are adding a very strong coaching team to their roster. Former NRG and OpTic coach Bryan "iShiny" McCarthy is joined by Alex "coldjyn" Nicholls who most recently worked with Sentinels.

Together the pair will form one of the most experienced and innovative coaching teams in the entire ALGS. iShiny showed on NRG his ability to help teams refine macro, manage players and develop a teams chemistry.

coldjyn is one of the leading analysts in the Apex scene. They're renowned for their statistical knowledge and ability to help a team find every ounce of advantage within a game. Having a separate coach and analyst to share workload has been very successful for teams like DarkZero.

StayNaughty is one of the most well known Apex Legends controller players. His unique personality, unmatched workrate and impressive mechanical talent have made him a 'household' name in the ALGS scene.

The 25-year old will be delighted to be back on Cloud9. This organisation is where he has found the best success of his career by far. With Cloud9, teaming with Zachmazer, Knoqd and later Albralelie, Naughty placed second at the 2021 ALGS NA Championship.

Subsequently he had good success at the two ALGS Year 2 LAN events, making finals on both occasions. However, the roster ran into trouble after the arrival of Rocker. This led to the team going their separate ways.

It is fair to say Naughty struggled to settle down for a while. A spell with LANimals found mixed success, and his stint on Meat Lovers was also very short lived. But, with Sauceror and ChaoticMuch StayNaughty is back to his best. Cloud9 Apex fans can expect to see the same sharp shooting controller fragger they remember.

Sauceror is a name less familiar to Apex Legends fans. Cloud9 will be by far the biggest signing of Sauceror's Apex career and is a fantastic opportunity. Despite being just 20, Sauceror has immense ALGS and Apex experience that stretches all the way back to the earliest competitions in the game.

He took a third place in the 2020 ALGS Summer Circuit Playoffs, and fourth in the 2021 ALGS Championship. He dipped into the Challenger Circuit/Pre Season circuit during 2022. In late 2022 he returned to the Pro League level with 'First Attempt', but finished 28th.

This was followed up with a 20th place finish in the second split of the Year 3 Pro League. Alongside Drug Free he finished 20th, and then with team FLAT almost snagged a spot at the ALGS Year 3 Championship. FLAT finished 6th, pulling up just short of a top two spot.

Despite past success, Sauceror is absolutely playing the best Apex of his career as he joins up with Cloud9. He has found a new role and voice on this roster and has helped navigate one of the hardest splits in ALGS Pro League history.

With two fantastic coaches on this Cloud9 Apex roster, Sauceror is set up perfectly to keep developing his in game leadership.

Brit' ChaoticMuch has established himself as both a top streamer and fearsome competitor since switching from Console in 2021. He made the rare achievement of debuting in ALGS at a LAN event. Before he played a single ALGS qualifier, he competed with K1CK at the 2022 Sweden Playoffs.

While K1CK finished 22nd at that event, this was a huge breakthrough for Chaotic. He was able to earn a move across to North America, joining G2. While this G2 roster never found insane success, missing out on Year 3 LAN events, Chaotic further established himself in the lucrative North American region.

This led to an opportunity with E8 in May 2023. While his spot on that roster ended in less than ideal circumstances, any doubts about Chaotic's workrate have been totally erased by his performances in ALGS Year 4 so far.

The new Cloud9 Apex roster has been one of the surprise packages in the most recent ALGS Pro League split. GKS have averaged a really nice balance between placement and kills, which sets the roster up nicely for Regional Finals.

Todays announcement seems to imply Cloud9 certainly think so. GKS got a little unlucky on the final day of the Pro League. While they didn't compete, teams they needed to do poorly instead had brilliant results.

The outcome of this is a very tight and tense LAN race that culminates during this weekends Regional Finals. Cloud9 don't have to win the event to qualify (although that would of course be ideal). Projection models show that a top nine finish for GKS on Sunday gives them a strong chance to qualify for the Split 1 Playoffs.

Should they fail to place in the top half, their chances do slim significantly but crucially are still sizeable. Only a disastrous bottom five finish would see Cloud9 sweating about their spot in the regions top 12.

While Cloud9 still have work to do, their fate is in their hands. A good performance this weekend would be a great way to welcome the organisation back to Apex Legends and the ALGS.

Stay tuned to esports.gg for full coverage of the ALGS and all things Apex Legends.