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Cloud9 departs Rocket League esports, Squishy headed to NRG

After three years in the Rocket League Championship Series (RLCS), Cloud9 is backing out of the competitive scene with champion player Squishy headed to NRG.

TJ Denzer

June 11, 2020 8:11 AM

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Cloud9’s Rocket League squad has been a fixture of the Rocket League Championship Series (RLCS) for over three years. In that three years, the high-octane squad of Jesus "gimmick" Parra, Kyle “Torment” Storer, and Mariano “SquishyMuffinz” Arruda put up quite a run of solid competitive play. Unfortunately, it would seem the team is parting ways as Cloud9 announced it will be backing out of competitive Rocket League and the RLCS. Squishy is headed for NRG Esports in the wake.

Cloud9 announced the decision to disband their Rocket League branch on the Cloud9 Twitter and website on June 11, 2020, and NRG confirmed Arruda was heading to its roster soon after.

“I’m so proud of everything C9 Rocket League achieved during their time with us,” said Cloud9 CEO Jack Etienne. “They’ve proven themselves on the biggest stage by bringing home the RLCS trophy and I have no doubt that they’ll be pulling off more highlight-reel moves soon. Everyone here will miss them and we thank them for being such an incredible part of Cloud9.”

na won't be the same without you, you left your mark on the rlcs and we will take great care of @squishymuffinz

— NRG (@NRGgg) June 10, 2020

The “Muffin Men” squad came up to the Cloud9 organization in 2017 and have been a fixture of the esports organization’s Rocket League efforts ever since. Cloud9 captured a number of wins with gimmick, Torment, and Squishy on deck, including a third place finish in the RLCS Season 4 Finals and a stellar win against Dignitas to score the championship in Season 6. The team has been off and on, but still captured a third/fourth place finish in the RLCS Season 7 Finals. Even so, the team had failed to find the right rhythm in recent seasons, coming up short in both Season 8 and 9.

With Squishy headed over to NRG Esports to join the likes of Garrett “GarrettG” Gordon and Justin “jstn.” Morales, it will remain to be seen if he can sync up and find success in his new organization. Here’s hoping this isn’t the last we see of strong plays among any of the former Cloud9 team.

TJ Denzer

Senior News Editor

TJ Denzer is a player and writer with a passion for games that has dominated a lifetime. He found his way to the Shacknews roster in late 2019 and has worked his way to Senior News Editor since. Between news coverage, he also aides notably in livestream projects like the indie game-focused Indie-licious, the Shacknews Stimulus Games, and the Shacknews Dump. You can reach him at tj.denzer@shacknews.com and also find him on Twitter @JohnnyChugs.