Every Tuesday evening we bring you the latest player transfers from the world of esports. After the Valorant Ignition Series was announced, more and more teams jump on the bandwagon.
In CS:GO Snappi and meyern find new teams, NaVi have a new Dota 2 roster, with FaZe, G2 and 100 Thieves three more organizations join Valorant and also in the Overwatch League something is happening.
CS:GO: Snappi and meyern have new teams
c0ntact: Snappi has a permanent team again
Marco "Snappi" Pfeiffer last played as a stand-in for Xyp9x at Astralis. Now he has found a new organization with c0ntact.
Please join us in wishing a warm welcome to Marco '@SnappiCSGO' Pfeiffer as the new leader of the c0ntact team!We're thrilled that you're joining us!#c0ntactFTW pic.twitter.com/4sMBBaNXFJ
— c0ntact (@c0ntactCS) June 22, 2020
The 30-year-old in-game leader has had a rather unstable year so far. In March he was supposed to switch to FunPlus Phoenix, who had made a deal with Heroic. But this deal fell through after es3tag was signed by Astralis. Snappi and his other teammates were now sitting on the bench looking for a new team. Shortly after that, TIGER wanted to take over him and smooya, but also stopped the change at the last minute. As we already reported, two players, Xyp9x and gla1ve, dropped out of Astralis in a short time due to health problems. This gave Snappi the chance to join Astralis as a stand-in. His time with Astralis is now over and he will start for c0ntact in the future, who hope to breathe new life into their European roster with the experienced in-game leader.
- READ MORE: Snappi's Astralis venture comes to an end
9z: meyern wants to fire his career anew
Ignacio "meyern" Meyer has finished his change from mibr to 9z and will replace Alexandre "xand" Zizi from now on.
https://t.co/6mZdofEF7M#TodoVioleta @ClaroArgentina @redbullARG @NimoTV_ES @AORUS_LATAM @AORUS_Brasil pic.twitter.com/oF1DqMJgsn
— 9z Team (@9zTeam) June 29, 2020
Meyern could not reach his former form at mibr and ended up on the bench of the Brazilian superstars after less than six months. He was replaced by trk, who joined mibr at the end of May. The young Argentinean seems to be looking forward to his new team and wants to start a new chapter of his career there. We wish him good luck.
- READ MORE: Made in Brazil confirm rumors by signing trk
x6tence: Entire Copenhagen Flames Roster changes the org
x6tence, owned by Giants, will compete with the former roster of the Copenhagen Flames.
Estamos listos para volver a sonar. ?Lo estais vosotros? Ya escucho desde aqui como tiemblan nuestros rivales @HECTOzCS@HooXiCSGO@refrezhCS@NodiosCSGO@QueenixCS@zEVEScs https://t.co/i9olPhIuRH#X6esCSGO pic.twitter.com/fkjxdskn3n
— x6tence (@x6tence) June 23, 2020
After the former Argentine roster, led by NikoM and JonY BoY, was dismissed, a purely Danish roster is now being sent into the race. Unfortunately they have already lost their first two games at cs_summit 6 EU against NiP and ENCE. We will see how the roster will do in the future.
Dota 2: A new roster enters the scene
Natus Vincere: New roster announced
Two players are changed in NaVi's new Dota 2 roster. Nikita "young G" Bochko and Aleksandr "Immersion" Khmelevskoy replace Vitalii "so bad" Oshmankevich and Idan "MagicaL" Vardanyan.
We are ready to announce our updated Dota 2 roster! : https://t.co/Z7CtyDLXmD#Dota2 #navination pic.twitter.com/uMjjb6eYLb
— NAVI (@natusvincere) June 26, 2020
Both new players are active in the Dota 2 professional scene since 2018 and especially Immersion who already collected some trophies with Gambit Esports before he joined Team Spirit. He will take the role of captain and try to build a strong team. Young G has not yet made it past fourth place in Parimatch League Season 2, but seems to be a very ambitious player, ready to prove himself at NaVi. We wish the new roster the success they couldn't find with the old one.
Valorant: Three big organizations get in
100 Thieves: A full roster
Only recently 100 Thieves signed Spencer "Hiko" Martin as their first Valorant professional and now they have completed their roster.
Announcing the full roster for our first 100 Thieves competitive VALORANT team:@Hiko@Valliate@VeneratedZR@YaBoiDre@PridexdLet's get those Ws. #100T pic.twitter.com/kIX4r8jh8X
— 100 Thieves (@100Thieves) June 25, 2020
Hiko has already been confirmed as the captain of the new Valorant roster and will now lead Keane "Valliate" Alonso, Zachary "Venerated" Roach, Diondre "YaBoiDre" Bond and Alfred "Pride" Choi. All of these players were part of Highground, a team that had already participated in several Valorant tournaments in April and May and was founded by Tanner "7Teen" Curtis, the former PUBG coach of Team Liquid. All four players competed in PUBG tournaments before joining Valorant. Only two members remain in Highground and it is very likely that they will hire new players or join another organization. We are curious how the roster will perform in future Valorant tournaments.
FaZe: Two is already a good start
FaZe is also starting to set up a Valorant Roster. With Jason "jasonR" Ruchelski and Corey "Corey" Nigra the organization has already announced the first two players.
Hey @PlayVALORANT. We're here.INTRODUCING FAZE CLAN'S FIRST VALORANT RECRUIT:Welcome, FaZe JasonR!@JasonRuchelski | https://t.co/Qa5rKivlYU | #FaZeUp pic.twitter.com/gvXGSSdgyD
— FaZe Clan (@FaZeClan) June 25, 2020
Did you really think that was our only @PlayVALORANT announcement of the day?INTRODUCING FAZE CLAN'S NEWEST VALORANT PRO:FaZe Corey - @Corey_OWPresented by @NissanUSA | #FaZeUp pic.twitter.com/4IPhjdpGMx
— FaZe Clan (@FaZeClan) June 25, 2020
FaZe is actually a bit late, as many organizations started building their rosters during the closed beta of Valorant. With jasonR they engaged a former CS:GO player, who started a career as a streamer after his time as a pro and has completely focused on Valorant since its release. He will take over the role of the in-game leader at FaZe. The second player is probably best known to Overwatch fans. Corey played last for Washington Justice and even won the Overwatch World Cup 2019, but he retired from Overwatch a month ago to concentrate on Valorant. It remains exciting to see who will complete the team, but of course, we will keep you informed.
G2 Esports: mixwell is still alone for now
G2 joins the Valorant-Hype and starts to create a roster. Their first player and captain of the future roster is Oscar "mixwell" Cañellas.
He's back and ready for action! Join us in welcoming @Mixwell as the first member of our @PlayValorant roster!: https://t.co/Ltd5IcMLyq pic.twitter.com/1HqFFnpZbd
— G2 Esports (@G2esports) June 16, 2020
Mixwell is one of the first CS:GO players not from the NA region to switch to Valorant, although the Spaniard has celebrated his greatest successes there. This of course does not cast a good light on the CS:GO scene in NA. His last team was Cloud9, which he left several months ago. In the future, he will lead the Valorant roster of G2, which has already announced its first official partner in Red Bull.
- READ MORE: G2 sign mixwell for their Valorant team
Overwatch: Three teams, three new players
Washington Justice: Chilhwa becomes Assistant Coach
Mil-hyung "Chilhwa" Park, the former coach of O2 Blast changes to the Overwatch League and is now assistant coach of Washington Justice.
We are happy to announce that @OW_CHILHWA will be joining the Justice as an Assistant Coach!After a spectacular victory in Contenders, we're excited to advance under his guidance.#JusticeIsServed pic.twitter.com/xwtTe6CVK7
— Washington Justice (@washjustice) June 20, 2020
Chilhwa started his coaching career at WGS Armament and then moved to O2 Blast. Together with his team he achieved several podium finishes in the Overwatch Contenders 2019 and 2020, including three first places. With his move to Washington Justice, the team is now a fully South Korean roster.
Dallas Fuel: Onigod enters the OWL
The Norwegian Stefan "Onigod" Fiskerstrand joins Dallas Fuel and gets his debut in the Overwatch League.
From @Envy, to @TeamDogeOW, and now to the Fuel.Please give @Onigod a warm welcome to the team! He'll be joining us for the #OWL2020 season. Let's get to work. pic.twitter.com/Jizh8RfVFf
— Dallas Fuel (@DallasFuel) June 19, 2020
Onigod has been active in the Overwatch scene since 2016 and has played for various teams. His last team was Team Doge, with which he won first place in the Fran's Overwatch Community Cup, the Contenders 2020 NA Season 1 Week 3, and the Overwatch Contenders 2020 Season 1 North America. Now he will back Dallas Fuel in the Overwatch League 2020.
Hangzhou Spark: QoQ the third tank for Spark
Sung-jun "QoQ" Yu also gets his first chance in the Overwatch League and joins as off-tank for the Hangzhou Spark.
Never stop improving.Please welcome the newest Spark, "QoQ" Yu Sung-jun, who joins us as an off-tank. This veteran player brings his experience from a string of championships to become a great component of the team. Let's make some noise!(Pending league approval)#sparkbang pic.twitter.com/byW4Yr6KEx
— Hangzhou Spark (@Hangzhou_Spark) June 19, 2020
Between 2018 and 2020, he already won several trophies in the Korean Contenders with RunAway and T1 and can now prove himself in the Overwatch League with Hangzhou Spark. Let's see if the newcomers can bring some fresh wind into the OWL.
- READ MORE: Is Overwatch killing the Overwatch League?
FIFA: Leipzig restructures
RB Leipzig: Cihan and Alex leave the team
Leipzig wants to restructure for the new season, which starts in November, so the contracts of Cihan Yasarlar and Alex Czaplok will not be extended.
Danke, @CYasarlar!Danke, @ACzapi! Wir danken euch fur die tolle Zusammenarbeit und die gemeinsamen Schritte, die wir im Bereich #Gaming gehen konnten. https://t.co/148wZYjX76 pic.twitter.com/w8BGwB8E4g
— Die Roten Bullen (@DieRotenBullen) June 29, 2020
In the future, they want to put an even stronger focus on esports and start into the next season with a completely new team. Before the FIFA 21 launch, they will announce further information. RB Leipzig would like to thank both players and especially Cihan, who was the club's first esports player and has contributed significantly to the establishment of esports in the club over the past three years.
That's it for this week. The first tournaments of the Valorant Ignition Series have already been played, but there will definitely be some new changes in some of the rosters. Until then you can catch up on the previous week's transfers here.
For more esports and gaming news and updates, keep it here, at EarlyGame. Don't miss our videos and subscribe to our YouTube channel.