San Mateo, Calif. — September 1, 2016 — Vainglory, the world’s leading touchscreen esport, welcomes one of North America’s top esports organizations, Cloud9, to the Halcyon Fold. Cloud9 jumps into Vainglory with the acquisition of Nemesis Hydra, one of the longest-running competitive organizations in Vainglory history and the only North American team to make Semifinals/Grand Finals Day of every seasonal championship to date. The team will compete as Cloud9 in this weekend’s 2016 North America Summer Live Championships, “The Battle in Seattle.”
Cloud9 Esports has been a household name among esports fans ever since exploding into the League of Legends competitive circuit in 2013; breaking LCS records, winning the Summer 2013 NA LCS Championships in their inaugural season and again in Spring 2014. Since, Cloud9 has made multiple appearances in premier regional and international championships, placing second in the most recent NA LCS Summer split.
“Nemesis Hydra is Cloud9’s first team dedicated to a touchscreen esport, and the team’s talent playing Vainglory throughout the last couple of seasons has been undeniable,” said Danan Flander, General Manager of Cloud9. “It’s incredible to see how far Vainglory esports have grown in just a year, and we knew we wanted to be part of this exciting evolution in esports. We can’t wait for the “Battle in Seattle” this weekend!”
The acquisition of Nemesis Hydra by Cloud9 is the latest team acquisition in the competitive Vainglory scene that already includes Team SoloMid, Team Secret, mousesports, G2 Esports and SK Gaming, in addition to homegrown professional teams including fan-favorites such as GankStars, Hammers Esports and Phoenix eSports.
“We couldn’t be more proud to see one of the longest-running Vainglory teams continue doing what they love under an established esports organization like Cloud9,” said Kristian Segerstrale, COO and Executive Director, Super Evil Megacorp. “It’s inspiring to see how many professional esports organizations share our vision that touchscreen devices are worthy of competitive play. We’re happy to be a part of the evolution of esports and offer Vainglory to those on the billions of touch screens worldwide.”
Led by Team Captain Rommel “Hardek” Soriano, along with Joseph “iLoveJoseph” Samano and Christopher “LostBoyToph” Basco, Nemesis Hydra has been synonymous with competitive Vainglory from the start and will continue its storied run as Cloud9 Esports at the “The Battle in Seattle.” The team will face-off against North America’s elite in hopes of being crowned Summer Season Champions and a slot in the first-ever Vainglory World Championship tournament taking place in December. Viewers can tune in to the action on twitch.tv/vainglory starting at 4PM PDT on Friday, September 2. For the full schedule please visit the Vainglory blog here.
“It’s such a privilege to be able to compete for the first time under the Cloud9 Esports banner this weekend at the Summer Championships,” said Rommel “Hardek” Soriano, Team Captain of the newly-acquired Cloud9 Vainglory team. “We’ve been so fortunate to be a part of the wonderful Vainglory family doing what we love this past year, and to be acquired by a franchise as successful as Cloud9 is nothing short of an honor. We’re going to make our new team proud this weekend!”
Last year, Vainglory players took home more than $350,000 in prize money globally and since then hundreds of new teams have formed for a shot at this year’s prize pool. Sponsored by the Amazon Appstore, and in partnership with Twitch, the Vainglory 2016 Summer Live Championships will take place at Amazon’s all-new Meeting Center in Downtown Seattle during the PAX West Expo from September 2-4. The event is free for PAX badge holders, with complimentary bus service from the Washington State Convention Center to Amazon’s event center. Non-PAX attendees can purchase tickets for $5 here.
To download Vainglory for free, please visit the Apple App Store, Google Play or the Amazon Appstore.
The official Cloud9 Vainglory team page can be found here.
