In two years, they've lost a Game Changers match just once.
Time and time again, Cloud9 White Cloud9 White Inactive Bob Bob Tran alexis Alexis Guarrasi Jazzyk1ns Jasmine Manankil katsumi Katja Pfahnl meL Melanie Capone has proven they are the very best Game Changers NA has to offer, not allowing their opponents to even come close to defeating them. Across all Game Changers events in 2022, they've only lost three maps.
Melanie "meL" Capone, Alexis "alexis" Guarrasi, Jasmine "Jazzyk1ns" Manankil, Katja "katsumi" Pfahnl, and Annie "AnnieDro" Roberts formed MAJKL in 2021. They participated in a number of smaller tier-two events and ended up playing in the Ignition Series FTW Summer Showdown, a competition featuring only women. There, they won the title without dropping a single map. This stunning performance caught the attention of Cloud9, which signed them under the name Cloud9 White. They were the first all-women's roster to be signed to an organization specifically for Valorant.
We are excited to announce alongside @ATT our newest @PlayVALORANT roster who's ready to take over. Please welcome #C9WHITE to the C9 family! #C9WIN
🔸 @alexismarieNY
🔸 @Annie_Dro
🔸 @Jazzyk1ns
🔸 @katsumiFPS
🔸 @mel_anji
Watch: youtu.be/udYWafjeWaU
In 2021's main VCT circuit, C9 White found consistent top 64 finishes in all three Challengers qualifiers, but they looked like a whole different beast in the Game Changers scene. In GC Series 1 2021, they didn't drop a single map on their way to winning the event. In Series 2, they dropped one map to Shopify Rebellion GC Shopify Rebellion GC Inactive , but still won the tournament without losing a match. Series 3 was more of the same, as they again dropped just one map to Shopify before winning the event.
Things weren't any different in 2022. In GC Series I, they beat teams like TSM X TSM X Inactive athxna Mirna Noureldin mle Emily Peters dodonut Karnthida Chaisrakeo bungee April Haight Ellie Elena Garland , VersionX VersionX Inactive , and their old rivals, Shopify Rebellion GC Shopify Rebellion GC Inactive , handily to lock in first place without losing a single map.
But then, before their next GC tournament and after placing top 32 for the first time in VCT Challengers twice, the team faced a major roster change. AnnieDro stepped down from the team to pursue content creation. In her place, former Soniqs Soniqs Inactive player Bob "Bob" Tran joined the team to round out the roster.
Bob was a part of EXO Clan EXO Clan Inactive Crunchy Ethan Laker dizzyLife Kyran Crombie iyen Iyengaran Raju pl1xx Christopher Li Bob Bob Tran which proved to be Oceania's top team when Valorant came out. The team sought to move abroad in search of a higher tier of competition and got their chance when Soniqs signed them. After competing with Soniqs for almost a year, she announced she was looking for a new team in March 2022 and was picked up by C9.
With Bob replacing AnnieDro, the entire Game Changers scene was waiting to see if Cloud 9 White were still the same undefeatable team they'd been for almost two years. In Series II, after a flawless Swiss stage, the team was sent to the lower bracket for the first time because of a match they'd forfeited to Immortals because of tech issues. They took it in stride though and made it through the closed qualifier to the upper bracket semifinals of the main event. There, they faced off against their old foes, Shopify Rebellion GC, who finally defeated them, 2-1.
i played some of the worst valorant i’ve ever played- kudos to them for punishing our mistakes. you will not see this version of us again in finals
lower bracket run starts tomorrow
Despite these setbacks, morale remained high in the C9 camp (and their social media.) They made a successful lower bracket run to face off against SR again, this time beating them 3-1.
Like EMEA, NA had two spots for the international Game Changers event. One would be for the winner of Series III, while the team with the most circuit points would get the other. C9 was well enroute to achieving the latter, but why lose their perfect Game Changers record? Heading into Series III, the squad was not messing around.
They made it through open and closed qualifiers alike with clean 2-0 victories. By making it to the playoffs, they punched their tickets to Berlin and were NA's first team to qualify. They went on to defeat Immortals Immortals Inactive , XSET XSET Inactive Bob Bob Tran katsumi Katja Pfahnl , and Shopify Rebellion GC Shopify Rebellion GC Inactive (the last one twice) — again without dropping a single map — to cement their status as the number one ranked Game Changers team globally.
Cloud9 White have punched their tickets to the #VCTGameChangers Championship! #C9WIN #LETSGOC9
“I'm feeling even more confident going into the international tournament than the regionals,” Melanie "meL" Capone, the in-game leader of C9 White, said in an interview on the VCT NA YouTube channel. “Honestly, not just us, but our entire region has a lot of talent, upcoming talent, that we saw this last Game Changers. The fact that we still came out on top even though there was so much hype around other players and teams, I don't know, it's kinda over. We're gonna go in there and go crazy.”
“I've sneak-peeked a little bit of the other regions to see how the top teams in their regions play, and it's like they don't compete with us,” Jasmine "Jazzyk1ns" Manankil, the team's duelist, added immediately after.
After two years of proving themselves nearly untouchable in North America, C9 White will finally get the opportunity to prove that there isn't a Game Changers team in the entire world that can compare to them. Anything less than a title in Berlin would be a disappointment.
Cloud9 White Cloud9 White Inactive Bob Bob Tran alexis Alexis Guarrasi Jazzyk1ns Jasmine Manankil katsumi Katja Pfahnl meL Melanie Capone will face off against LATAM Champions KRÜ BLAZE KRÜ BLAZE Latin America South Rank #3 dods conir Constanza Reyes romily Romina Alvarez micaela Micaela Ferreyra biazik Beatriz Begnossi on Nov. 15.