There’s a lot going on in the world of esports so we’re switching from a bi-weekly to a weekly format. Read all about transfers every Wednesday on EarlyGame.
A CS:GO team completely disbanded, an organization withdrew again from Dota 2 and one of the best Overwatch professionals changed the game. Here you can read about the last days on the esports player market.
CS:GO
Orgless
Out of nowhere came the announcement that Orgless will withdraw from the ongoing ESL One: Road to Rio and disband completely.
Team "Orgless" have decided to not compete in the rest of the #ESLOne Road to Rio and have disbanded.As #ESLOne Road to Rio is already in competition we are unable to replace them. All teams who have played against Orgless will have their results nullified.
— ESL Counter-Strike (@ESLCS) April 28, 2020
The reasons for the sudden disband are unclear. The team was formed earlier this year to participate in ESL One: Road to Rio and even qualified for Flashpoint Season 1, where they delivered a solid performance and secured $35,000 by finishing 5-6th. Especially in view of this success, the resolution comes as a surprise. The roster had already played two games against Evil Geniuses and Cloud9 in ESL One: Road to Rio. Since they can no longer be replaced, NA Group A will be played between only five teams. Pujan "FNS" Mehta, Yassine "Subroza" Taofik, Matthew "WARDELL" Yu, Jaccob "yay" Whiteaker and Gage "Infinite" Green have also not yet commented on how they will play. The future will show whether they will be taken over by other teams or maybe even change the game with Valorant being popular in recent months.
Heroic
After Heroic recently completed their roster with Nikolaj "niko" Kristensen, they have now found a replacement for coach Frederik "LOMME" Nielsen.
We are happy to announce that Nicolai "Hunden" Petersen will lead our newly formed roster in their quest for success as the new head coach!Welcome @hundencsgo! Read More: https://t.co/hP2GdceyyN pic.twitter.com/BUZ5iWGmVM
— HEROIC (@heroicgg) April 29, 2020
Nicolai "HUNDEN" Petersen will take over the role of coach with immediate effect. HUNDEN played as an in-game leader for MAD Lions until recently but was put on the bench at the beginning of March. The 28-year-old confirmed that he was no longer motivated to play himself, especially in view of the hostility of the community towards the MAD Roster. The change to Heroic represents the end of his playing career for him but he now wants to face the new challenge and prove himself as a coach. We wish him and the new Heroic roster all the best.
Sprout
The German-Polish roster of Sprout will be supported in the future by Michał "snatchie" Rudzki as AWPer, who will replace Tomáš "oskar" Šťastný.
Ready to come and meet the brand-new member of the Sprout family? It's time to officially welcome the highly talented @snatchiecsgo joining the active roster and filling in the position as AWP. Everyone, let's make the second Polish powerhouse feel home. #GrowSprout pic.twitter.com/N2onF5U7fK
— Sprout (@sproutGG) April 30, 2020
Snatchie played in the past mainly for the Polish rosters of AGO and Virtus.pro but was left teamless in 2020. With the German organization Sprout he joins an international roster for the first time, but with Paweł "dycha" Dycha there's still a fellow countryman in the team. How he performs in his new team will be made clear soon in the LOOT.BET Season 6 playoffs.
Tricked
Dennis "sycrone" Nielsen will replace Nicolai "torben" Amorim as in-game leader of the Tricked roster.
We are pleased to announce the signing of @sycronecs to our CSGO roster. Dennis will be stepping in as IGL in our upcoming games. Please give our new raccoon a warm welcome! #GETTRICKED #CSGO pic.twitter.com/DWsr5dWibl
— TRICKED ESPORT (@TRICKED_esport) May 1, 2020
Torben will be put on the bench for the time being, more detailed information is not available at this time.
Sycrone already played for North Academy, Sprout, and Copenhagen Flames as an in-game leader and will now lead the all-Danish roster. We'll soon see how they'll perform at the BLAST Rising Event.
Dota 2
Cloud9
The North American organization has once again announced its withdrawal from the Dota 2 Esports scene.
Today Cloud9 steps back from Dota 2.We thank all members of the team for their efforts as part of #C9DOTA and wish them the best of luck! Read More: https://t.co/T4c4oSxZ7m pic.twitter.com/8pbMDM0MvI
— Cloud9 (@Cloud9) April 28, 2020
Cloud9 only returned to Dota 2 at the beginning of March with a new roster. The team had an extremely difficult time. They reached the 3rd - 4th place at the WeSave! Charity Play North America, but only four teams in the region participated. They also missed out on qualifying for ESL One: Los Angeles Online, finishing last in DOTA Summit 12 and 5-6th in the BTS Pro Series. Overall, they won just one game against Evil Geniuses and that was their achievement for the past two months. With their complete withdrawal from the Dota 2 scene, Cloud9 beat the hopes of the fans for roster changes. Jacky "EternaLEnVy" Mao, Marcus "Ace" Hoelgaard, Jingjun "Sneyking" Wu, Rasmus "MISERY" Filipsen and Johan "pieliedie" Åström are now free agents again and we wish them more success in their future teams.
- READ MORE: Cloud9 leave the Dota 2 scene
League of Legends
RNG
Bot lane legend Jian "Uzi" Zi-Hao is now a Free Agent. His contract with RNG expired on April 30th. Uzi played more than 400 games for the organization, which he joined in 2012 and has since left for only three splits. Since the Worlds 2019, Uzi hasn't played a single professional game, and even before that he took short breaks to get his wrist problems under control and thus prolong his career. 2020 is the first year in which he has not played a complete split. Since neither of the parties has made a public statement yet, it is quite possible that Uzi and RNG will negotiate a new contract. His replacement is Lu "Betty" Yu-Hung, who could now be taking his position. We will definitely keep an eye out for Uzi.Team Liquid
The organization has already announced that they will change coaches before the next split. It is now known that the popular LCS Caster Joshua "Jatt" Leesman will be the new head coach of Team Liquid.
It's happening! Very, very excited for this. https://t.co/oWFZtE7VEq
— Josh Leesman (@TL_Jatt) May 4, 2020
Jatt began his LoL career as a professional player, but soon changed roles and became a QA analyst for Riot Games. He later became one of the most famous casters in North America and is one of the most experienced and respected figures in the LoL community. Team Liquid hired Jatt to bring their roster back to its former greatness after a horrible performance in spring. The four-time LCS champion did not even make it into the playoffs recently. We wish Jatt all the best and success in his new position.
Valorant
Sentinels
The organization is currently putting together a roster for Riot Games' upcoming shooter Valorant. With their newest addition, Jay "Sinatraa" Won, they have landed one of the best Overwatch players in the world.
Time to write the next chapter. We are excited to announce details about our Valorant team consisting of @sinatraa, @ShahZaMk, @zombs and @SicK_cs. : https://t.co/sQ6hDFtvtZ pic.twitter.com/wsxlXCOqF7
— Sentinels (@Sentinels) April 29, 2020
Until recently, Sinatraa played for San Francisco Shock in the Overwatch League, which won the OWL last year. He secured the MVP title here, won the Overwatch World Cup, and also won the MVP title there. The reason for the change of game he gives is that he simply lost interest in Overwatch. He will now lead the Sentinels' Valorant roster, which currently consists of Apex Legends pro Jared "Zombs" Gitlin and CS:GO pros Shazeb "ShaZaM" Khan and Hunter "SicK" Mims. The fifth player has yet to be found, and we'll be sure to give you an update when it's made clear.
Fortnite
Excel Esports
Jaden "Wolfiez" Ashman will be working for the English organization Excel Esports.
He placed 2nd at the Fortnite World Cup, he won over a million dollars, he's from the UK and he's only 16 years old.Welcome onboard, @wolfiezgg #ThriveTogether pic.twitter.com/I7BOsKtOIG
— EXCEL (@EXCEL) May 1, 2020
The barely 16-year-old Fortnite professional from England finished second at the Fortnite World Cup 2019, securing over one million dollars. We are curious about how his career will develop as the young talent has his best years ahead of him.
That's it for this week, you can also check out the previous player transfers on EarlyGame and don't forget to come back next Tuesday for more esports transfers.
