CYPHER rejoins former Into The Breach teammate on loan

Darragh Harbinson, Senior Editor

Last Updated: 17/11/2025

Cai ‘CYPHER⁠’ Watson has joined 500 on loan, reuniting him with former Into The Breach teammate, Sebastian ‘volt⁠’ Maloș.

The pair were part of the Into The Breach roster, who made the quarter-finals of the BLAST Paris 2023 Major.

The move sees the Brit also reunite with former Bleed teammates, AWPer, Tsvetelin ‘CeRq’ Dimitrov and IGL Hampus ‘hampus’ Poser.

Fnatic miracle ends on a sour note

The British entry joins 500 after being benched on Fnatic after qualifying for the Budapest Major with the roster.

Despite a heroic run which saw Fnatic win Fragadelphia Blocktober to guarantee their place at the major, Cypher was soon dropped to the bench in favour of Mykyta ‘jackasmo’ Skyba.

The Ukrainian had previously been a teammate of his Ukrainian compatriots, Dmytro ‘jambo’ Semera and Fnatic IGL, Rodion ‘fEAR’ Smyk.

The move sparked significant backlash from fans, and a response from Fnatic regarding their decision-making, ultimately deciding to bench CYPHER instead of Swedish veteran Freddy ‘Krimz’ Johansson.

The Brit will still see the benefit of his sticker featuring in the game, but will not play with the British-HQ’d organisation at the StarLadder Budapest 2025 Major.

The loan parts CYPHER from Fnatic at least until the end of the season, keeping the Brit game fit coming up to the 2026 rostermania period.

What to expect from 500

500 have traditionally been a fully Bulgarian roster, transitioning to an international team earlier in the year.

For now, only CeRq and one-time Liquid player, Aleks ‘Rainwaker’ Petrov, remain as the Bulgarian contingent, losing the Bulgarian core with the benching of Hristiyan ‘REDSTAR’ Pironkov

In signing hampus and volt, 500 made the most ambitious signings of its organisational history, attempting to climb up the Tier 3 ladder.

Despite the signings, the roster has remained in a similar position to three months ago, when the signings were made, sitting at #80 in the VRS.

With CYPHER, the roster will have the benefit of a selfless entry that the majority of the team is familiar with.

That familiarity should lessen the bedding-in period, potentially allowing 500 to earn valuable VRS points before the year-end player break.

Yet the roster will require results quickly to justify the team’s existence.

For CYPHER, there is no indication that the move has the potential to be permanent, and the priority may be to put on a good show and stay in form for when roster moves become available.

Darragh Harbinson, Senior Editor

Darragh Harbinson is an esports writer specialising in Counter-Strike. He has written for Esports News UK, Esports Insider, UKCSGO, Dexerto, and Rush B Media.

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