leo_drk's benching leaves v$m as the sole remaining member of the original O PLANO squad

00 Nation bench leo_drk after dismal start to year

The promising lineup has been largely irrelevant on the world stage despite a complete overhaul.

As first reported by our colleagues at Dust2.com.br, 00 Nation have moved Leonardo "leo_drk" Oliveira to the bench by the mutual decision of the team. leo_drk's benching comes after 00 Nation failed to qualify to the PGL Antwerp Major after finishing the Americas RMR with a poor 1-3 record.

Per Dust2.com.br, 00 Nation are in the early days of looking for a replacement, with paiN's Rodrigo "biguzera" Bittencourt and Sharks' Lucas "Lucaozy" Neves being floated as names the Norwegian organization are looking at signing.

leo_drk's exit from 00 Nation marks the latest change for a project that has failed to find success despite a complete overhaul at the start of 2022 which saw Marcelo "coldzera" David signed as IGL while Latin American rising stars Mario "malbsMd" Samayoa and Santino "try" Rigal were brought in to beef up the lineup. Despite the significant signings and extended bootcamp in Europe, 00 Nation have not had appreciable improvement, with the team dropping series against tier three and tier four squads in Europe in a number of online cups.

Likewise, despite an early win against Liquid at the Americas RMR, 00 Nation went on to drop out of qualification for the Major following losses to Complexity, Evil Geniuses, and 9z. With this, 00 Nation have been unable to crack the top 30 on HLTV, peaking at 59th in the world

In the announcement of his benching, leo_drk mentioned that he changed a number of his roles on this new lineup which likely contributed to his underwhelming individual performances this year. So far this year, he has a 0.98 rating over 52 maps.

00 Nation are now:

  • Brazil Vinicius "v$m" Moreira

  • Brazil Marcelo "coldzera" David

  • Guatemala Mario "malbsMd" Samayoa

  • Santino "try" Rigal

  • Brazil João "righi" Righi (Coach)

  • Brazil Leonardo "leo_drk" Oliveira (Inactive)

  • Brazil Vito "kNgV-" Giuseppe (Inactive)

  • Brazil Raphael "cogu" Camargo (Inactive Coach)

00 Nation currently have an open calendar, which should give them time to pursue negotiations with Brazilian organizations as they look for a new fifth to try and get their squad back on track.

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