After departing the Tier 2 league in 2023,
Cloud9 is back in the NACL. They’re back in the form of a coaching partnership with Conviction, an amateur roster that recently placed fourth in the previous NACL split’s regular season. Cloud9 will be offering assistance for the 2025 season via two of their coaches, assistant coach
Nicholas “Inero” Smith and strategic coach
Marius “Veigar v2” Aune.When the Tier 2 North American league was still NA Academy, the C9 Academy roster had a record of excellence, winning five championships, and promoting key players like Ibrahim “
Fudge” Allami onto the LCS squad. After Academy League was turned into NACL ahead of the 2023 spring split, C9, along with most LCS teams, announced their departure from the league.
Now, C9 will be partnering with a current NACL amateur team, Conviction, a team that acquired Tempest Gaming’s roster after their qualification to the NACL in the Split 1 Open Qualifiers. Their roster consists of familiar Tier 2 faces like Isaac “DARKWINGS” Chou and a recently role-swapped Daniel “Minui” Zhang. Cloud9’s statement indicates that Inero and Veigar v2 will work to develop the roster as part of an effort to support NA talent's next generation.
Cloud9’s partnership comes after Conviction got knocked to the lower bracket by DarkZero Dragonsteel, a favorite in the league. The team’s next lower-bracket match is set to be played on the 30th against the winner of Near airport vs. Winthrop University.
