00 Nation and 9z finalize sniper shuffle

Organizations 00 Nation and 9z have announced their acquisitions of Lucas "nqz" Soares and Santino "try" Rigal, respectively, confirming a report from just days ago by Dust2 Brasil that suggested that the move would be coming to fruition heading into 2023. These joint moves see try depart 00 Nation after a year-long tenure, while nqz moves on from 9z after only six months with the South American side.

This move marks the beginning of try's second stint with 9z, as the Argentine had previously spent nearly two years on the squad from February 2020 to January 2022, posting a phenomenal 1.24 rating throughout. try's time with 00 Nation proved not to be quite as fruitful, but the young gun still impressed with a 1.13 average rating during his time on Marcelo "coldzera" David and Epitacio "TACO" de Melo's project, the second highest rating on the team behind Eduardo "dumau" Wolkmer's 1.14 average rating.

Despite the strong showings from try, 00 Nation struggled to produce impressive results throughout the year. The squad managed to qualify for the main stage of IEM Cologne as well as the Challengers Stage of IEM Rio, but both times 00 Nation were unable to make a deep run, exiting in last place in both events.

In very similar fashion to the breakout of try, nqz makes his way to 00 Nation after a stellar showing with 9z, as the 17-year-old AWPer put up a 1.19 average rating during his six-month tenure with the squad. Although this was primarily against domestic South American competition, nqz and the rest of 9z impressed with a third-place finish at the IEM Rio Americas RMR. 9z continued to impress in the IEM Rio Challengers Stage, acquiring victories over Imperial and Evil Geniuses before narrowly missing out on qualifying for the Legends Stage with a 2-3 record.

With these moves finalized, 9z and 00 Nation's rosters are now:

While 00 Nation's roster is fully fleshed out, 9z will be on the prowl for a coach to fill the space left behind by the departure of Rafael "zakk" Fernandes before returning to competition.