Esports illustrated

Cloud9 Teases a Rainbow 6 Siege Team Ahead of SI 2025 Finals

Cloud9 is officially expanding into Rainbow Six Seige with a teaser announcement, but who are its mysterious players?

Gabby DeSena

Cloud 9 is expanding into Rainbow 6 Siege in 2025.
Cloud 9 is expanding into Rainbow 6 Siege in 2025. / Cloud 9 via X.com

Esports organization Cloud 9 has been a key player in the industry since its founding in 2013. The group has a significant presence in League of Legends, VALORANT and more titles, and may join another game in 2025: according to an official teaser post on X.com, a Cloud 9 Rainbow 6 Siege team is in the works. Let's explore everything we know about the announcement.

Cloud 9: Rainbow 6 Siege Team Incoming?

At 1:32 PM EST on February 15 2025, Cloud9 made a mysterious post from its official X.com account, stating "Cloud9 x @R6Esports ... See you soon." The post seemed to tease an incoming Cloud9 Rainbow 6 Siege esports roster and has since received over 1,500 likes.

The announcement comes as the Six Invitational 2025, the game's most prestigious tournament, is underway. On X.com, @R6Esports has also just revealed significant changes to the game's competitive circuit structure this year, including "further enhancements to R6 Share", an "Exciting new path to the Six Invitational" and a "revamped global league structure." Notably, the account also replied to this announcement with a list of its 2025 R6 Share partner teams. Cloud 9's logo is clearly visible in both the follow-up list and the original video, so it seems the organization is already partnered with Rainbow 6's official esports scene.

In addition, the Esports World Cup (EWC) has announced Rainbow 6 Siege as one of its 2025 competitive titles. The EWC, held in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, is projected to have massive viewership in 2025 and reported over 500 million online viewers at its 2024 event. It has one of the largest prize pools in esports sitting at over 60 million USD, which the Saudi Arabian government invests in through its Esports World Cup Foundation nonprofit. In 2025, the tournament also recently revealed a collaboration with Riot Games, introducing VALORANT and League of Legends to its lineup.

Cloud9 already has teams in both games, so it makes sense the org would expand into Rainbow 6 Siege too to bring as much firepower as possible to the event. Plus, Cloud9 was a partnered team through the Esports World Cup's Club Program in 2025. The team could very likely plan to apply for their Club Program member status to extend into 2025 and to participate in the 2025 Esports World Cup main event.

Who's On the Cloud9 Rainbow 6 Siege Roster?

As of February 15 2025, we don't know which players are on the Cloud 9 Rainbow 6 Siege roster. However, fans are eagerly awaiting information and some speculation has already emerged.

On the same day that Cloud9 teased their incoming Rainbow 6 expansion, up-and-coming independent team Unwanted faced elimination from the Six Invitational 2025, the most prestigious Rainbow 6 Siege tournament worldwide. The team, including members Atom, Dream, Gaveni, Hotancold, Nyx and SpiriTz, was formed independently and was not sponsored by any organizations or companies. They trained for just a few months together before entering the Six Invitational, and the team wore no uniforms, instead opting for uniform trousers and black T-shirts. With few resources, Unwanted swept the scene and made it to the top 4 at the Six Invitational, only being defeated by FaZe Clan. This was an absolutely unprecedented performance from an unsigned Rainbow 6 team.

After the roster's elimination, the team officially announced it had disbanded on X.com. In its statement, Unwanted emphasized how hard the players had worked and how much they had accomplished. Despite the team's success, the roster members have gone "months without a source of income" since the team was not receiving monetary compensation from any companies.

Unwanted thanked fans for their support, remarked that it understood the "hesitancy" of teams entering the Rainbow 6 esports world and continued its announcement by asking organizations to consider picking up the players:

"These men deserve to be signed immediately by an organization that believes not only in them but in Seige as a whole."

Ex-Unwanted player SpiriTz also posted immediately after the loss, saying "hopfully [sic] the UNWANTED team will stay together and improve. SOMEONE PICK US UP!!!"

Cloud9's Rainbow 6 acquisition announcement arrived just thirty minutes after Unwanted's final X.com post. The internet is speculating that Cloud9 could be Unwanted's next home. One user @hrukiii even replied to Cloud9's X.com announcement by saying, "ok so we're signing unwanted." In the short time they have participated in Rainbow 6 as a team, Unwanted has already built a sizable fanbase, so it could be a strong opportunity.

It's also worth noting that Cloud9 is a North American team headquartered in California. All of Unwanted's players are from the United States or Canada, so they are already extremely familiar with the North American Rainbow Six ecosystem.

That being said, organizations can often take a while to solidify contracts with players and undergo the legal technicalities that come with making a team, so it's very possible the roster won't include Unwanted players. It's also possible another unrelated organization may pick the group up instead.

Cloud9 has not released any further statements. Additional information about the org's Rainbow 6 team will likely arise shortly.

Published |Modified
Gabby DeSena
GABBY DESENA

Home/News