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Aidan “rocker” Grodin has joined the Cloud9 ranks as the third and final member of the organization’s Apex Legends team.
The American outfit announced on August 9 that the player would be the last addition to the squad for the upcoming season of the Apex Legends Global Series (ALGS). Rocker will play alongside Zach “Zach” Mazer and Paris “StayNaughty” Gouzoulis on the roster.
The announcement was made via the franchise’s official Twitter page: ”We’ve found our third Welcome to Cloud9 Apex Legends, @rockerapex!”
The former NRG player was initially spotted with Cloud9 in the SteelSeries Prime Invitational, after which the team confirmed the news. Rocker played with NRG for two years and was one-half of the team’s famous fragging duo with Nathan “nafen” Nguyen.
NRG earned several wins in the first year of the ALGS tournaments and were among the most consistent groups during the second year’s Pro League. Despite this, the results of their international LANs and playoffs were not up to par with the team’s requirements.
Following a ninth-place finish in the ALGS Year 2 Championship, rocker parted ways with NRG by mutual agreement. However, in a Twitlonger post, he revealed that he had planned on leaving the team regardless of that outcome.
While talking about his time in NRG, rocker explained, “I always felt like we were a team that performs based on the ‘vibes’. Whenever things didn’t go our way in tournaments, it kinda just felt like we gave up.”
Rocker now takes the place of Mac Kenzie “Albralelie” Beckwith, a stand-in player who left Cloud9 after the ALGS Year 2 Championship. Both players are known for their frequent use of the Gibraltar legend. The play rate of the legend is relatively high, so rocker’s skill with the character would be a great help to the roster.
Albralelie joined Cloud9 on June 25, 2021, as a replacement for Logan “Knoqd” Layou, who had transitioned to streaming. While Zach, StayNaughty, and Albralelie functioned like a well-oiled machine at the beginning, their team chemistry was always in question. Albralelie’s play with Gibraltar also represented a problem, as it seemed to restrict the player’s best qualities.
This issue seemingly will be solved with the signing of rocker, as the player is one of the best users of Gibraltar in North America. He is also vastly experienced in playing several other characters, so he is a flexible fit for whatever the team requires.
Last year, Cloud9 had a reoccurring issue of players constantly trying to lead games and call the shots. Introducing rocker into the squad will hopefully resolve these issues and shut down intra-group quarrels. He is adept at playing as an IGL and is a devoted support player.
Zach and StayNaughty ranked second in last year’s NA ALGS Championship. With rocker on board, Cloud9 will be hoping to go one better this year.
