ESL One Cologne roster deadline extended
Teams participating in ESL One Cologne 2018 have been given the option to take a roster deadline extension for a price, Dust2.us has learned. Should a team be granted a deadline extension, ESL will fine the team an undisclosed amount. However, the team will then be allowed to submit a roster for Cologne until June 28th, over a full week after the original deadline of June 19th stated in section 2.12.1.3 of the ESL One rulebook.
Presumably the reason for this extension is due to the current roster instability at the top level currently, with teams such as FaZe and Cloud9 left without an active fifth in their roster. Of the teams attending Cologne, reports of Cloud9 and mousesports desiring to use stand-ins for Cologne have surfaced.
Cloud9 are currently seeking to use Óscar "mixwell" Cañellas at the event as a stand-in, according to a report from Rush B Media. Dust2.us has also learned that while mixwell is set to play for Cloud9 at the event, the team plan to continue evaluating options up to the new deadline. If mixwell stands in for Cloud9, he will briefly reunite with Tarik "tarik" Celik and Will "RUSH" Wierzba, who are both former teammates from their time with OpTic.
If Cloud9 accepts the deadline extension, it will be the second penalty the team will endure at Cologne, after being previously penalized for pulling out of ESL One New York in favor of BLAST Pro Series Istanbul earlier in May.
Additionally, according to a report from DBLTAP, mousesports may also be looking to take the extension as well. The report claims mousesports will be using Jordan "n0thing" Gilbert as a stand-in once again due to the team benching Martin "STYKO" Styk. A further report from the outlet named Janusz "Snax" Pogorzelski as a target for the European team.
The retired American player was last seen standing in for mousesports at ESL One Belo Horizonte, where they placed second after losing to FaZe 3-2 in the grand finals.
ESL One Cologne is set to begin on July 3rd, a week after the extended roster deadline, with the opening matches beginning at 6AM EDT.
