CS:GO side Cloud 9 are reportedly hatching a plan to replace Timofey Yakushin as they set to rejig their roster.

While there has been no official news confirming Yakushin’s departure or who his potential replacement might be, it seems that C9 are preparing for life after Yakushin.

With eSports on a postseason break and winding down for Christmas, the rumor mill has gone into overdrive, but there have already been a few deals struck.

Among the current list of possible candidates that could replace Yakushin are Sanjar “SANJI” Kuliev and Igor “Forester” Bezotecheskiy, and with the latter, he has been on Entropiq’s team transfer list since October, even though he is under contract with them.

For C9, they appear to be in limbo, and while they reached the semi-finals of the ESL Pro League Season 16, they were knocked out in the quarter-finals of the Rio Major, and they struggled in the second half of 2022.

However, they did clinch the IEM Dallas title, and they will be hoping for bigger and better things in 2023. The fortunes of C9 have fluctuated over the past 12 months, nevertheless, they are one of many high-profile eSports teams that will be closely followed by several of the most reputable betting sites in Australia, including Unibet Australia. CS:Go, for example, sits proudly in its list of titles in the eSports lobby, and bettors will be able to locate plenty of pre-game lines for the biggest tournaments and well as in-play markets to keep them entertained. 

As far as Yakushin is concerned, he could well be the fall guy, as C9 looks to shake things up a little.

More intriguingly, the turnover of players at C9 has been quite low, with the last change occurring in July 2020 when Abay “Hobbit” joined the roster.

One caster, Mohan “launders” Govindasamy hasn’t held back in accusing C9 of laying the fault at Yakushin’s door.

He said: “They’re trying to scapegoat interz. The person responsible for this roster move is the person that couldn’t get them through that quarterfinal versus MOUZ. Ax1 Le, Hobbit, and sh1ro are the strongest core in the game right now.

“Then there’s nafany who can frag, but nafany could frag well but still lose games as an IGL.

“I don’t think anyone is easy to replace in this team — in fact, I don’t think they should move at all. I think they should just try to get better. What happened to that?”

Filling the void left behind by Yakushin’s prospective departure will be a challenge, so it will be fascinating to see who C9 signs.