After major esports tournaments comes a time for roster changes in competitive teams. This could be due to many reasons but generally poor results. These transitions bring with them rumours of player swaps, pro gamers that leave and join new teams. Below are a few of the latest roster changes in CS: GO and League of Legends.
LemonNation and zig leave the OpTic League of Legends Lineup
According to ESPN, OpTic Gaming have released Daerek ‘LemonNation’ Hart and Derek ‘zig’ Shao from the active League of Legends roster. This change was due to the fact that in the North American LCS Spring Split 2018, Optic finished in 9th place with an overall record of 5-13, which led to their early elimination.
Moving forward, Optic have three League of Legends players at the moment, Matthew ‘Akaadian’ Higginbotham, Tristan ‘PowerOfEvil’ Schrage and Noh ‘Arrow’ Dong-Hyeon. As of 22nd March, Optic is in search of two pro gamers, which will be formed around the current lineup.
Optic’s Manager, Romain Bigeard has made a statement saying that in recent months, ‘We haven’t been able to build the right environment for them to be successful with us, so we are going to try with other players.’
The North American squad, Optic Gaming has been around since the summer of 2006. The association is widely famous for the first person shooter games like Call of Duty and Counter-Strike Global Offensive, Overwatch as well as Halo, Gears of War, PUBG and Dota 2. Thanks to the success Optic Gaming have had so far, the unit expanded to support a League of Legends team, after they acquired a spot in the NA LCS.
Taco left SK Gaming CS: GO roster
Epitacio ‘Taco’ De Melo took to Twitter to announce that he will be leaving the top squad, SK Gaming CS: GO roster.
Taco explained about the increasing pressure that took a toll on his happiness that affected his performance in-game. He explains: “A few days ago, I decided to look for that same happiness I used to feel before playing, and I wasn’t feeling that anymore, even though it’d cost me the decision of leaving the team I helped succeed and turn into one of the best teams to play this game. During all this time, every second in the team I felt the outside pressure on me was always HEAVY and maybe this is one of the reasons why I came to this closure.”
Over the past two years, De Melo has made quite a name for himself, becoming one of the most successful support players in CS: GO. Taco has won a total of 13 esports titles under Luminosity and SK Gaming. Two of the greatest wins were ESL One Cologne 2016 and MLG Colombus 2016 taking home a prize of $500K each.
In a Reddit Ask Me Anything session, Taco revealed a few things about his future in esports. He will be moving to another house in North America until he decides the best team he will join. When Taco was asked about the future of SK Gaming, he wrote that the Brazilian team of FalleN, coldzera, fer, and Boltz are still his friends. In the meantime, Epitacio will be updating his Counter-Strike fans on his future pro career plans while also brushing up on his English.
Among the rumours going around is that SK Gaming was in talks with s1mple and flamie from NaVi. On Reddit, Taco has revealed that the Brazilian Counter-Strike squad already have a pro player to replace him. SK Gaming CS: GO team have been in talks with Stewie2k from Cloud 9, in fact, it was reported that he was practising with the Brazilian team according to dbltap.com
fox has announced his departure from Kinguin on Social Media
Ricardo ‘fox’ Pacheco, a professional awper took to Twitter, saying he will leave Team Kinguin CS: GO roster as from 31st March. At the moment, he is unsure of what his future holds but in the meantime he gets to care for his son while contemplating on his next professional move. One thing is sure, that Pacheco will not stop playing Counter-Strike: Global Offensive.
Ricardo had been a part of Team Kinguin CS: GO roster since January 2018. He has made a name for himself playing Counter-Strike: Global Offensive with his accurate aim and reflexes of an awper, crushing his opponents. Over the years he has played for top esports squads such as G2 Esports, Faze Clan, a stand-in for SK Gaming and Team Dignitas. Ricardo’s gaming experience has shown that he is able to turn a losing round into a winning game and many a time he would the last man standing.
Team Kinguin have recently acquired former Virtus.Pro player, Taz after a few poor Counter-Strike results at recent tournaments. The Kinguin new roster consists of mouz, rallen, Taz as well as newly signed former Pride Gaming players, reatz and Minise to improve as a Polish team in the CS: GO scene.
