Septet of changes mark beginning of Advanced season
With Advanced just getting started, numerous teams have overhauled their rosters as they prepare for their first match or react to early losses in the season.
Starting off with Dogs of War, the team have replaced Danny "cxzi" Strzelczyk with Michael "miLLe" St-Pierre. miLLe previously played for LiviD before being recently replaced by Abdo "c4lypso" Agha. With miLLe in tow, Dogs of War will be making their season debut against Power Up next week.
As such, Dogs of War's new roster is:
- Jet "jet-" Gao
- Anhduy "nguyen" Nguyen
- Bron "bron" Mills
- Tommy "XPL" Richer
- Michael "miLLe" St-Pierre
Another early season change sees Brazen replace "mada" with Brady "thief" Dever. With thief in tow, Brazen won their first match 16-9 against Fusion Uprising.
Brazen are now:
- Troy "ara" Pollock
- Oliver "figment" Thompson
- Marcos "tacitus" Castilho
- "grape"
- Brady "thief" Dever
Our next change sees Whatever It Takes sort out their expanded roster from last season and settle on a core five. The team has been completely overhauled with Josh "ironmaN" Monroe being the only member retained from Season 30. With their new roster, Whatever It Takes have gotten off to strong start and currently sit 2-0 at the top of the Advanced leaderboards.
As such, Whatever It Takes is now:
- Josh "ironmaN" Monroe
- Troy "tanaKa" Billsen
- Ric "iNERTiA" Bundy
- Malachi "Romsecrets" Fry
- Wolfgang "Wolf" Personeus
- Matt "Currie" Currie (Coach)
Another change sees Old Guys Club continue continue to collect casters and analysts, with Christine "potter" Chi joining the expanded roster. Additionally, Matt "Pollo" Wilson has left the team, ending his four month tenure with squad. Old Guys Club will be playing their opening match sometime next week against Top 0.
With this change, Old Guys Club expanded roster is now:
- Samuel "SileNt" Portillo
- Yazan "clowN" Ammari
- Sean "seang@res" Gares
- Jordan "n0thing" Gilbert
- Kory "SEMPHIS" Friesen
- Robin "Fifflaren" Johansson
- Christine "potter" Chi
- Mohamad "mOE" Assad (Coach)
The fifth team is a reformed Vikings lineup. Vikings is most known for their Season 28 MDL campaign which saw them fall in Relegation after a 5-11 regular season. After a Season 30 run which nearly saw the team relegated to Main, Vikings return with the addition of two the original MDL lineup in the form of Julian "Hybr1d" Rivera and Harim "terrorize" Ismaeil.
The complete Vikings roster is:
- Bruno "WiGGY" Rabani
- Harim "terrorize" Ismaeil
- Julian "Hybr1d" Rivera
- Scott "Scottiyio" Baker
- Blake "Blakers" Reynolds
Next up is Holo, who have brought in three new players as they look to build on 8-8 finish last season. Additionally, for the time being they are using Bradley "mickey" Waddington as a stand-in in order to retain their ESEA league slot.
Holo's roster is:
- Jazzy "Ematics" Kruczynski
- Dominick "JazzPump" Dimpfel
- Gene "ayjin" Krivachek
- Sam "Noxio" Goodwin
- Bradley "mickey" Waddington (Stand-in)
The final lineup is Just Swing. Their spot in Advanced is inherited from ex-Lowkey, although the roster boasts an entirely lineup different from the one seen in playoffs.
Just Swing's lineup is as follows:
- Tommy "Axed" Ryan
- Joel "jcrueL" Cruel
- Joel "Winsum" Cruel
- Shawn "Magowi" O'Malley
- Jakub "kuba" Matyskiewicz
Update: An earlier version of this article claimed that Holo and Just Swing's spot did not contain enough players from last season to retain their Advanced spots. However, this was incorrect as it only considered the lineups used in playoffs. We apologize for any confusion.