Imperial confirm fer's replacement

After his departure from MIBR was announced earlier today, Imperial have confirmed the addition of Jhonatan "JOTA" Willian as a replacement for Fernando "fer" Alvarenga. The departure of fer leaves Gabriel "FalleN" Toledo as the last man standing from the LG/SK core that rhetorically underpinned the formation of this lineup in early 2022.

JOTA is the second player Imperial have directly acquired from MIBR in recent months, with Marcelo "chelo" Cespedes being brought into the team's ranks as a replacement for Lincoln "fnx" Lau, with the latter player occupying the coaching position within the team. This move also sees JOTA reunite with Ricardo "boltz" Prass, who is also an MIBR alumni, having originally left the team's starting lineup to help form the Last Dance lineup.

These moves can be seen as an effort to modernize and reinvigorate the squad after the FalleN-fer-fnx core began to show diminishing results internationally and within the Brazilian scene. With JOTA's previous experience as an IGL, his addition could be seen as potentially setting the scene for FalleN's replacement, as the Brazilian sniper has alluded to 2023 being his final year as a professional player.

The addition of JOTA is unlikely to be Imperial's final move of the off season as Rafael "zakk" Fernandes has been heavily linked with a move to replace fnx as coach on Imperial.

For the moment, Imperial are:

• Gabriel "FalleN" Toledo

• Vinicius "VINI" Figueiredo

• Ricardo "boltz" Prass

• Marcelo "chelo" Cespedes

• Jhonatan "JOTA" Willian

• Lincoln "fnx" Lau (Coach)

This new Imperial lineup will make their debut in the ESL Pro League Season 17 South American Conference on January 18th.