Gaming
esports
Zellsis is ready to show to the world what he can bring to Cloud9
Jordan 'Zellsis' Montemurro gives us the skinny on how he almost became a League of Legends pro, why he switched to CS:GO, and what he hopes to accomplish with Cloud9.
Cloud9's Counter-Strike: Global Offensive squad saw some dazzling highs in 2018, peaking with their historic victory at The Boston Major in the first half of the year. Since then, a number of players took offers to join new teams, and an injection of new blood has been coursing into the team.
Most recently they reached out to Jordan 'Zellsis' Montemurro, a rifler formerly of Swole Patrol, hoping to rebuild the team even stronger than before. We got the chance to quiz Zellsis on joining the team, and how he ended up playing CS:GO professionally.
At just 20-years-old, Zellsis is a young up-and-comer, but his talent is undeniable. He spent almost the entirety of 2018 with Swole Patrol, where they racked up medals at minors and weekly tournaments, and gained experience under the heated spotlights of huge stages at premier tournaments like Epicenter, which they qualified for through brutal Wild Card Playoffs. Now, with two on-stage tournaments under his belt with Cloud9, he's coming into his own.
"I'm not really nervous. I'm definitely excited and anxious," Zellsis tells us. "I've been working towards a team like this – playing CS all day, every day, grinding to get to where I am now. This is the opportunity. I've finally gotten a chance to prove myself as a player, show what I can do and that I can compete at the top level."
What many might not know about Cloud9's newest upstart is that his esports career almost took him down a dramatically different path.
"Not a lot of people know this, but I was actually going to become a League of Legends pro, and then my League time died," he says. "My friends were always bugging me to try Counter-Strike, just playing with them casually, you know? I just didn't want to do it, but once I quit League, I was like 'Alright, maybe I'll just take a break and play CS casually'. That's how it all started."
His casual dabbling in CS:GO led to Zellsis first joining Tyrant Gaming in late 2016, before moving on to The Gosu Crew. By the end of 2017, he'd found the first team with whom he found both chemistry and success: The Swole Patrol. His ambitions were loftier however, and he eagerly took Cloud9 up on their offer when they reached out to him. The split from Swole Patrol appears to have been amicable.
"I definitely think it's a big leap. If I want to get to where I want to be personally in my career, this is the right choice," he says.
Zellsis is hopeful about the future of both his new team, and the North American CS:GO landscape. "I think NA actually has the most raw skill out of all the scenes. I just think our mentality is a lot worse," he says. "Everyone wants to be the star. No one wants to do the stuff the team actually needs. I think slowly but surely NA is getting more players who are doing stuff for the team."
He's referring to roles like in-game leaders and shot-callers, who don't necessarily make the flashy plays or light up the scoreboards with a bevy of frags, but perform essential roles in composing the team's strategies during matches, and in critiquing demos. "I think NA lacks in that aspect, but it's slowly getting better," he adds.
For now, Zellsis is with Cloud9 on a trial basis, and only joined the team on December 29. He's already played a number of scrimmages and a couple of tournaments with the team, though, and feels immediately positive about the team chemistry.
"Scrims are actually really good," he reports. "I'm improving a lot at my new spots, and rapidly. The guys are super nice, and help me with anything I ask or need. I love this atmosphere. I feel like I still have stuff to work on, but with basically 10 scrims played in total, I think I'm fitting in well, and the chemistry in the team is good. We're making proper plays, playing off each other well – we just have to keep grinding."
Zellsis has already put in some impressive performances, such as at the ELEAGUE Invitational at the end of January, where he made even FaZe Clan and BIG sweat, and the team have the Katowice Major coming up, where we can expect Zellsis to play a major role. When asked where he sees the team in six months to a year, he tells us, "I hope to see Cloud9 back at the top of North America, and even internationally." We hope we'll see him there.
