Elevate set to field German rifler for BLAST Premier Spring Showdown

The start of 2024 has been fantastic for Elevate, seeing the squad qualify to the PGL Major Copenhagen Americas RMR and the BLAST Premier Spring Showdown after excellent performances online. However, these victories have been tempered by the fact that the team's star AWPer, Deni "dea" Ediev, will be unable to travel abroad with the team after having his passport stolen.

This is especially troublesome for the Americas RMR as the team will have to field Adam "nbgee12" Zanzoul, a timbermen groupie who isn't known for his performances on the server. However, with the far more lenient roster requirements for the BLAST Premier Spring Showdown, Elevate have confirmed to Dust2.us that they intend on enlisting German rifler Marc "MRC9" Philipp Jarke for the event.

The 27-year-old rifler comes to stand-in for Elevate after previously playing for BIG Academy and Sissi State Punks in the domestic German scene. While he is a lesser known name, MRC9 comes with some bonafides after helping BIG Academy win the European division of ESEA Advanced Season 47 — a far more competitive league than its North American counterpart.

While MRC9 has been out of action since the start of the year, he came to Elevate with a recommendation from dea, so hopefully he will have a good debut this year in the notoriously cutthroat single-elimination BLAST Premier Spring Showdown.

Elevate will compete in the BLAST Premier Spring Showdown with:

• Wyatt "snav" Phillippi

• Derek "dare" Brown

• Shane "shane" Dressler

• Jaxon "Peeping" Cornwell

• Marc "MRC9" Philipp Jarke (Stand-in)

The BLAST Premier Spring Showdown is set to start on March 6th.