The story of Cloud9’s conquest of North American VALORANT after such a dramatic offseason has been the most-talked-about storyline of the 2023 VCT Americas season. C9 are 5-1, they’ve secured a spot in the playoffs, and they’ve beaten every other NA team and only lost a series to reigning world champions and LOCK//IN finalists LOUD.
The incredible level of play of both rookies Jake “jakee” Anderson and Dylan “runi” Cade has been a welcome surprise, but so too has Nathan “leaf” Orf’s return to the top of the player rankings. Arguably his best performance of the season came in C9’s blowout win over Sentinels on April 30—and he did it without playing the Jett he’s so well known for.