swag steps in for Cloud9 in ESL One NY qualifier

The Cloud9 organization said Braxton "swag" Pierce will play for the team in the North American closed qualifier ESL One New York.

The 20-year-old will replace Timothy "autimatic" The one who, according to a Twitter post from Jake "Stewie2K" Ip, left town during the qualifying tournament.

Widely regarded as one of the most talented players in North America, Braxton "swag" Pierce was banned by Valve in January 2015 after he was involved in a betting scandal with three of his teammates iBUYPOWER.

Several tournament organizers decided to support the bans Valve, but last month the ESL announced that all sanctions for participation in the matches until February 2015 will be canceled. Now the door for former members of iBUYPOWER will be open and they will be able to participate in the tournaments.

Swag, which recently won Fragadelphia 11, played for Cloud9 as a stand-in on cs_summit back in April. He helped the team take the fourth place, having an average rating of 1.17 - the second-highest rating of his team.

Recall, eight teams will compete in closed qualification for ESL One New York, which will take place on weekends and the prize pool will be 250 000 dollars. Seven teams have already received invites, the last team will be known after determining the winner of the open qualification.

The composition of Cloud9 on the ESL One New York qualification is as follows:

Jordan "n0thing" Gilbert
Mike "shroud" Grzesiek
Jake "Stewie2K" Yip
Tyler "Skadoodle" Latham
Braxton "swag" Pierce