If you've spent any time in Marvel Rivals ranked matches, you've probably seen someone type "C9" in chat — usually right after your team loses a round in embarrassing fashion. The term is a taunt, and it has a very specific meaning rooted in competitive Overwatch history.
Quick answer: C9 means your team abandoned or failed to stand on the objective when it was completely available to contest, causing you to lose a round or match you otherwise could have won.
C9 in Marvel Rivals — The Definition
C9 is shorthand for a situation where an entire team leaves the control point or objective uncontested, even though they had every opportunity to stay on it. The key distinction is that the team wasn't wiped out or pushed off by the enemy — they simply walked away, got distracted chasing kills, or lost track of the objective timer. The round or match is then lost purely because nobody was standing where they needed to be.
It's important to understand that C9 only applies when the team could have touched the point but didn't. If your squad got eliminated, booped off the objective, or was stuck respawning and physically couldn't reach the point in time, that's not a C9. A true C9 is an unforced error — the gaming equivalent of scoring on your own goal because you forgot which direction you were playing.
In Marvel Rivals, you'll most commonly see C9 messages from opponents at the end of a round, especially in Domination or other objective-based modes. It's a way of rubbing salt in the wound, pointing out that the loss was entirely self-inflicted.
Origin of the C9 Meme — Cloud9 in Overwatch
C9 stands for Cloud9, a well-known esports organization that fields teams across multiple competitive games. The term was born during a professional Overwatch match in 2017, when Cloud9 faced off against the Afreeca Freecs Blue. During overtime, the Cloud9 roster abandoned the objective to chase down enemy players who were already retreating. With no one contesting the point, the clock ran out, and Cloud9 lost the round.
What made this moment legendary wasn't just a single mistake — Cloud9 did it multiple times in the same match. The entire team got so focused on winning fights and securing eliminations that they collectively forgot the objective existed. After the match, the Overwatch community latched onto the blunder, and "C9" became permanent shorthand for any team that throws a winnable round by ignoring the point.
Lucas "Mendo" Håkansson, one of the Cloud9 players on the roster at the time, has had a complicated relationship with the meme ever since. When Marvel Rivals exploded in popularity in early 2025, Mendo posted on X (formerly Twitter) that the game's massive new player base was discovering the C9 concept — and his role in creating it — all over again. "LET ME MOVE ON," he wrote. Cloud9's official account replied with "forever in the history," and Mendo conceded that "this is our legacy."
Why C9 Carried Over to Marvel Rivals
Marvel Rivals and Overwatch share a lot of DNA as team-based hero shooters with objective-focused game modes. Both games reward eliminations, but winning ultimately depends on controlling or capturing points. That structural similarity means the same bad habits transfer directly — players get tunnel vision chasing kills and forget to stand on the thing that actually wins the round.
The term has also spread well beyond Overwatch over the years. It shows up in other competitive games whenever a team loses an objective through pure negligence. But the Marvel Rivals community adopted it especially quickly, given how many players came from Overwatch or were already familiar with the meme through streaming and content creation.
When C9 Applies (and When It Doesn't)
A genuine C9 requires a few specific conditions. Your team needs to have been alive and in range of the objective. The enemy team shouldn't have forced you off through kills or displacement abilities. And the loss needs to come from the objective timer expiring while nobody from your side is contesting.
Players frequently misuse the term, though. Getting team-wiped and losing the point isn't a C9 — that's just losing a fight. Getting knocked off the objective by an enemy ultimate isn't a C9 either. The whole point of the meme is that the mistake is entirely voluntary and avoidable. If your team was physically incapable of reaching the point, the C9 label doesn't fit.
One Marvel Rivals-specific scenario worth noting involves Cloak & Dagger. Their invisibility ability can sometimes cause teammates to step off the point without realizing they're no longer contesting it, leading to accidental C9 situations that feel especially painful.
How to Avoid Getting C9'd
The fix is straightforward but requires discipline. At least one player on your team should always be on or near the objective during overtime or when a capture is in progress. If the fight is already won and enemies are retreating, resist the urge to chase. Let them go. Stand on the point. Win the round.
Communication helps enormously. A quick callout reminding your team to touch the point during overtime can prevent the kind of collective lapse that leads to a C9. In ranked matches especially, keeping an eye on the objective timer is just as important as tracking enemy positions.
If you do get hit with a C9 message in chat, the best response is no response at all. Trash-talking back can lead to reports and potential bans. Instead, use the replay system to review what went wrong. Watching the moment back from an overhead perspective makes it painfully clear where the breakdown happened — and that awareness tends to stick with you for future matches.
The C9 meme has survived nearly a decade of competitive gaming and shows no signs of fading. As long as objective-based shooters exist and players would rather chase one more kill than stand on a glowing circle, someone will be typing "C9" in chat. It's a simple reminder that in Marvel Rivals, as in Overwatch before it, the point wins games — not the killfeed.