Hot Ass, Black make changes after exiting Advanced playoffs; Lowkey disband
With the ESEA Advanced Season 30 playoffs underway, three of the teams that suffered elimination in the first round have made changes to their roster.
First up is Hot Ass, who lost 2-0 to Oceanic in the playoffs. On the way out are Stephen "Huston" Huston and Chris "CMX" Moe. Huston had been on the team since last September, and was the longest serving member of the squad, having been with them when the team won season 29 Main. CMX on the other hand joined just before the start of this season, and played in all of the team's matches this season.
When reached out to by Dust2.us, Alex "vek" Voynov told us that the two stepped back because "They decided to take time off CS." While the team are on the look out for a new fifth, Dust2.us has learned that they have nailed down a fourth. Notorious memer Damian "droid" Boulware has joined from fellow Advanced team UNITY, after the latter team missed out on playoff qualification.
Hot Ass' current roster is as follows:
Paytyn "Junior" Johnson
Alex "vek" Voynov- Alex "Obs1dian" Conrad
- Damian "droid" Boulware
The next roster to have made changes is Black, after the team fell 2-1 to Variance. On the way out is Jakub "kuba" Matyskiewicz, who only joined the team towards the latter half of the season. Dust2.us has learned that kuba has stood down due to family reasons and the fact he is due to be starting college in the near future. Black is currently on the look out for a new fifth player, with a preference on acquiring an IGL.
This means Black's roster is as follows:
- Tony "w0w" Zachary
- Anthony "agony" Masterton
- Nolan "bite" Hunstad
- Jacob "L0NER" Webster
Finally, we have the first team disband of the playoffs. After a 2-0 defeat to Thunder Logic, Lowkey have split apart. The team had undergone a number of roster changes throughout the season, including Bradley "mickey" Waddington leaving, then re-joining before leaving again to join Holo alongside a number of players being poached by other teams in the division.
According to the team's ESEA roster page, only Chris "riku" Piasecki remains as a starting player on the team. Alongside the team disbanding, Robert "robby" Brown announced on Twitter that he had played "probably [his] last official," and when reached out to by Dust2.us he gave the following statement:
I don't really have a planned timeline but I've got a lot of personal matters that are pretty complicated which I need to try and take care of. I enjoy counter-strike, but it feels wrong for me to continue to play at an MDL level if I can't put forth 100% mentally into improving myself and my teammates. It sucks but competitive CS puts a lot of strain on my mental health and the amount of time I can play before mentally 'burning out' has been getting shorter and shorter.
Lowkey's roster was as follows:
- Lucas "Fiziq" Blow
- Robert "robby" Brown
- Chris "riku" Piasecki
- Dennison "fdeN" Fong
- Eric "xeboda" Lee
The ESEA Advanced Season 30 playoffs are set to resume at 9 PM EDT tonight. The winning teams from this round will guarantee themselves a spot in the upcoming ESEA MDL Relegation tournament.
