Nearly 12 months after playing his last official match for Cloud9, Ilya “Perfecto” Zalutskiy has announced that he’s finally free from his contract and is officially a free agent.

Once considered one of the most dominant anchors in Counter-Strike, Perfecto has spent the last year on the sidelines, only occasionally appearing in mix lineups.

Now, with his contractual obligations behind him, the 24-year-old Russian is once again available, and much easier to sign.

Big buyout slowed things down

In an interview with HLTV earlier this year, Perfecto explained that a high buyout clause had complicated his chances of finding a new team, as well as potential role clashes.

– I think it’s a high buyout because I had many good invites, but sometimes it’s about buyouts, sometimes it’s about roles, he said to HLTV in January.

Perfecto originally joined Cloud9 in July 2023 alongside Denis “electroNic” Sharipov, following their departure from NAVI. Despite fielding a super-dominant roster on paper, the CIS squad failed to deliver any notable success.

With Perfecto’s exit, Cloud9 is now left without any players contracted to its CS division.