The IEM Katowice Major for CS:GO has only just concluded a few weeks ago, but questions have already been raised about Cloud9's involvement with a future Major. This is because, as pointed out by Dbltap, teams that make it to the New Legends stage will automatically qualify for the next one, but they need to retain at least three players to do so.
As you might have noticed though, Cloud9 has had a lot of changes, with another rumoured one happening as Fabien 'KioShiMa' Fiey is reportedly leaving too, meaning that might be put into question. What about Maikil 'Golden' Selim though? Well, it turns out that might be an issue.
Jarek 'DeKay' Lewis reached out to Valve and shared the response on Twitter, which says that "Zellsis has the slot and Golden doesn't, as many people had assumed. People I spoke to behind the scenes were VERY confident Golden was eligible."
This means then that the three players who are leaving Cloud9 - KioShiMa, Robin 'Flusha' Rönnquist, and Jordan 'Zellsis' Montemurro - would actually be eligible for automatic qualification if they stuck together in a squad, while the current Cloud9 roster would need to qualify again.
Is this a blow for Cloud9?