William "⁠RUSH⁠" Wierzba has leapt to the defence of Jordan "⁠Zellsis⁠" Montemurro following the youngster's first event with Cloud9.

The 20-year-old debuted for the ELEAGUE Major Boston champions at iBUYPOWER Masters, where he averaged a team-low 0.74 rating in the three matches that the squad played, against fnatic and Astralis.

The former Swole Patrol member joined the team on a trial basis at the end of 2018 due to Maikil "⁠Golden⁠" Selim's medical issues and has been listed as a coach for IEM Katowice, which will allow him to play for the team should the Swedish tactician miss the event.

With the ELEAGUE CS:GO Invitational coming up, RUSH played down the significance of Zellsis' lacklustre performances in Los Angeles, insisting that the player will need time to get used to his new surroundings.

"I think it comes down to a lack of practice with him," RUSH told members of the media during a conference call. "We only had like three or four days, maybe less than that, to play with him.

"It was his first time playing at an event with big teams, besides with Swole Patrol, which was more like tier two teams, so it was not as good.

"He needs more time, I think, and he is going to get that coming up."

Cloud9 will potentially attend IEM Katowice with just two of the players who were at the previous Major, where the team were sent packing in the New Legends Stage with just one victory in three games.

When asked to compare the line-up that competed in London with the current one, RUSH highlighted the effect that the arrivals of Robin "⁠flusha⁠" Rönnquist and Fabien "⁠kioShiMa⁠" Fiey, two former Major champions, have had on the team.

"I think that we have more experience in the team now," RUSH said. "I think before we kind of had a lot of hesitation in the team.

"With kio and flusha, everyone knows what we have to do. They have won a lot of Majors, flusha has won three, kio has won two, so they know what they have to do to win.

"It is a matter of moulding Zellsis into the player we want him to be. If he can do that, and I think he can if he is confident enough, we just have to wait and see what we can do, and give him more roles that he is comfortable in."

With Golden currently inactive, flusha has taken over as in-game leader, and RUSH praised the 25-year-old's style, admitting that it suits him better than the more aggressive approach that the team used to take.

"We use some of the same setups and strategies that we had with Golden, but flusha's calling style is a lot different," RUSH explained.

"With Golden it was a lot more reactive, like a fnatic style. With flusha it is a lot slower and more methodical, he wants to take his time in the rounds, wants to think about what he wants to do, it is not about instantly reacting to teammate plays or to what the opponent is doing. It is a mix of both.

"To put it in smaller terms, Golden's style is way more aggressive and fast-paced, and flusha's is more slow paced and methodical.

"The best style for the team remains to be seen because we have a new player, so we do not know. Personally, I like it with flusha."