Cloud9 part ways with sh1ro

16-12-2023 21:13

The Russian sniper departs the team ahead of an expected move to Spirit.

sh1ro is no longer with Cloud9

Cloud9 have announced the departure of Dmitry "⁠sh1ro⁠" Sokolov, bringing the Russian player's 20-month tenure in the organization to a formal end.

The 22-year-old made a surprise decision to step down from Cloud9's active roster in late October, and has been sitting on the sidelines ever since.

HLTV reported on Thursday that Spirit have struck a deal to sign him as a replacement for Artem "⁠ArtFr0st⁠" Kharitonov, with the move expected to be announced shortly.

Sources: sh1ro set on Spirit move

sh1ro broke out with Gambit Youngsters during the online era, with the roster later promoted to the organization's main lineup before being acquired by Cloud9 in April 2022.

He won IEM Dallas 2022 while playing for the American organization, his second notable LAN victory since Gambit won V4 Future Sports Festival 2021 where he was named the MVP, and also made the quarter-finals of the IEM Rio Major after starting the Challengers Stage with an 0-2 record.

His exceptional floor, multitude of clutches, and near-unkillable nature with the AWP twice propelled him to spots in our Top 20 players ranking, debuting at No. 4 in 2021 and being named the third-best player of 2022.

Cloud9 have since signed Kirill "⁠Boombl4⁠" Mikhailov to replace him, with the team's head coach, Konstantin "⁠groove⁠" Pikiner, stating that the team will play without a primary sniper.

groove: "We'll continue [to play without a sniper]"

In his goodbye video, sh1ro reminisced about the Rio Major run, stating it was his favorite memory in Cloud9. He also individually thanked the staff he worked closely with and each of his teammates, and showed appreciation for their analyst, Ivan "⁠F_1N⁠" Kochugov, for teaching him how to play the game and how to behave.

The Russian sniper also said sorry to Denis "⁠electroNic⁠" Sharipov and Ilya "⁠Perfecto⁠" Zalutskiy for his sudden exit. "I apologize for leaving so soon. You believed in this lineup and I hope you will come up with [the] correct decisions to develop this team, this tag, and find success."

Cloud9 are:

Abay "⁠HObbit⁠" Khassenov
Denis "⁠electroNic⁠" Sharipov
Ilya "⁠Perfecto⁠" Zalutskiy
Sergey "⁠Ax1Le⁠" Rykhtorov
Kirill "⁠Boombl4⁠" Mikhailov

Konstantin "⁠groove⁠" Pikiner (coach)

Timur "⁠buster⁠" Tulepov (benched)

wtf

2023-12-16 21:13

5 replies

expected

2023-12-16 21:14

1 reply

imagine kicking someone after winning a LAN event

2023-12-17 02:47

wym wtf it was expected lol

2023-12-16 23:24

When they remove Hobbit and Ax1le. Can we plz remake Gambit, Easy Shanghai Major

2023-12-17 00:28

ruined his career with 1 decision

2023-12-17 12:12

Nice

who

s1mple

well

whoah!!!! crazyyyyy news

whoah lmao lmfao rofl kek ahah kkkkkk que ota axaxaxaxaxaa lol

2023-12-16 21:16

4 replies

cringe af

2023-12-16 23:30

3 replies

sry

2023-12-16 23:56

I just have no one to talk to

Real

2023-12-17 04:38

nobody saw it coming

GL to the guy, didnt want to take part in this shitshow

He's just bad, angle holder exposed by CS2

he played 3 official matches in cs2, work on your bait next time

2023-12-16 21:15

2 replies

Wonder why he played 3 matches, imagine retiring for 3 months because you can't hit anything

Simple didnt play any for this exact reason. But, on the other hand, simple won everything you can win in CS

2023-12-16 23:19

artfrost to c9

skadaddy to envyUs then

2023-12-16 21:18

oSee to tsm.

2023-12-16 22:19

Deko or zorte>

2023-12-17 01:30

unexpected to be sure

NOOOO

rip

Welcome to Spirit!

Well

Rip, c9 curse continues

welcome to ence!

i was dont know this details

donk + sh1ro on the same team. just imagine.

6 replies

top3 world

2023-12-16 21:17

dont ruin donks career with this bot having to be carried by him

Will shiro bully the kid into dropping him AWP?

That’s chopper and magixx’s job.

2023-12-16 21:52

It's their job to bully the kid?

2023-12-16 21:55

No bro to drop the awp

2023-12-16 22:03

Well, It's over sh1ro will shine in Team Spirit.

2023-12-17 12:10

idk nafany said sh1ro is very vocal and used to overrule nafanys ingame calling. spirit doesnt seem like a roster where sh1ro could continue to do it, chopper is the boss there. i hope though it will work out well for donk's sake. note: i also think sh1ro stepped down from C9 because electronic wouldnt grant him as much calling power as nafany did

2023-12-17 14:30

feelsterrible to be artfrost who just won ANOTHER title and gets fucking hotswapped for shiro. unreal.

true.

2023-12-16 21:20

Poor art frost undeserved

2023-12-16 21:32

He was looking so friendly with donk on Betboom Dacha event, guess it's a hit for donk too

2023-12-16 22:27

navi awaits you

hltv.org/news/37769/sources-sh1ro-set-on..

2023-12-16 21:27

why

I think bad move on his part to not give C9 a chance with actual IGL but I am at least happy that he C9 didn't sabotage his contract and he is most probably in a team already . Too much of a talent to go to waste .

2023-12-16 21:19

leveldown

hopefully spirit gets more invites on tournaments now that they are actually winning something + donk pulls a lot of viewers and interest into their matches so it would be pretty good business-wise aswell. sh1ro joining them will most likely make them even stronger team so would be cool to see them on real tournaments in 2024

2023-12-16 21:21

Sad, but Good luck to Sh1ro

C9 is dead

2023-12-16 21:25

lul

2023-12-16 21:26

for free? or the other org paid buyout for him

2023-12-16 21:28

Spirit bought sh1ro for $1.75m according to harumi. which makes it the biggest buyout ever for a single player. C9 bought Gambit roster for less than $1.5m before that

Wasn’t NiKo like 2 million

2023-12-16 22:40

he was 800k

2023-12-16 22:49

i doubt it there is no point paying 1.75 mil to change artfrost for sh1ro

2023-12-16 22:50

yes but stranger things happened

then its a very worth sell from C9. With that sell they make the cost of elec+perf back and in CIS theres plenty of awpers at sh1ros or close to sh1ros level

2023-12-17 02:48

Sh1ro and Donk is such a crazy duo... god I can't wait for this

rip artfrost tho

Disband knocking on the door

2023-12-16 21:33

that's a huge mistake c9 made it's just disgusting to keep h0bbit and let shiro go.. still can't believe this

2023-12-16 21:35

c9 could not avoid it. sh1ro doesn't want to play in c9

2023-12-16 22:56

Of course they could avoid it. Not when sh1ro said that he had enough but before that. There was one dumb roster decision after another.

2023-12-17 13:54

Big mistake

2023-12-16 21:36

Meh, sh1ro is too passive and a crybaby.

2023-12-16 21:37

Don't cry don't watch him and get rid of your trouble

2023-12-16 21:49

i thought watching kennys crying after matches would be the most vulnerable thing ever but this dude crying during the match

2023-12-16 22:05

Imagine having passion for what you do

2023-12-17 09:41

I just want to mention that hobbit is still in the team somehow

2023-12-16 21:41

Now you got the big money now buy s1mple

s1mple to spirit next month to change sh1ro

2023-12-16 22:52

S1mple aint going to spirit

2023-12-16 23:02

sh1ro > C9

2023-12-16 21:50

shiro and donk can make a team which will be destroying C9 on a daily

2023-12-16 21:57

well there are a lot of teams that r capable of it

sh1ro to ence?

spirit

2023-12-17 07:14

chopper not for t1 scene waste of time

2023-12-16 21:58

Who could they get? I don’t think nafany and sh1r0 go well together

2023-12-16 23:27

Learn english and go to T1 team please dont waste your talent

2023-12-16 22:04

Sh1ro destroying carrier by self benching…

2023-12-16 22:21

Spirit bough sh1ro for $1.75m according to harumi. which makes it the biggest buyout ever for a single player. C9 bought Gambit roster for less than $1.5m

As far as I remember, they bought Gambit for 1mln. But, 1.75m is not true, I am sure.

2023-12-16 22:44

Wasnt Coldzera bigger than Niko?

2023-12-17 07:21

expected sh1ro spirit

2023-12-16 22:59

Finally toxic kid is out, rip artfrost through

2023-12-16 23:04

Degster yo C9

2023-12-16 23:21

Actually good suggestion if i were following russian players

2023-12-17 01:34

C9 s jerseys used to be so much better, that teal, the black, and the dark blue clears these current ones from 2016

2023-12-17 13:57

spirit sh1ro

2023-12-16 23:33

Wonder what the buyout was

2023-12-16 23:36

Probably not as high as we think. Thorin said on an interview that c9 apparently bought them for around $1million. Plus his stock kinda dropped because c9 had too many early exits for their skill level

2023-12-17 02:17

sh0ro

unexpected

2023-12-17 00:00

I hope they don’t disband while waiting for s1mple.

2023-12-17 04:02

so many awp options now for c9 hope they will make a right choice

2023-12-17 07:30

It's Clown9 so they likely won't

2023-12-17 13:59

wont be missed

2023-12-17 09:07

rip c9

2023-12-17 11:45

best of luck, goblin

2023-12-17 12:06

Hope to see his Rio Major form again. He clearly deserves better!

2023-12-17 14:00

sh1ro didn't anything when ax1le was putting up insane numbers, I wonder if the new spirit will also have the same problem of sh1ro and donk having inflated stats but no trophy wins,

2023-12-17 14:53