New oNe roster to bootcamp in Europe with eyes on Katowice
Last week, oNe announced the addition of three new members - Felipe "skullz" Medeiros, Cássio "cass1n" Santos, and coach João "righi" Righi. Dust2.us has learned that the new lineup travel to Europe this weekend for a bootcamp, practice experience that will be incredibly valuable as a majority of the team have yet to play in tournaments against international competition.
The stint in Europe also offers oNe the opportunity to compete in the Play-In stage of IEM Katowice should the chance arise, given that ex-Chaos (now playing under the Bad News Bears tag) will likely forfeit their spot. Dust2.us knows that ESL had asked the team for confirmation on whether they would compete "a couple weeks back", at a time when the current roster had not taken form.
As such, oNe would be next in line to claim a spot in the Play-In stage as they sit just below the cut-off threshold for qualification in fifth place on the Road to Katowice standings, below FURIA and Evil Geniuses, who are in the main event, and Liquid and ex-Chaos, who booked tickets to the Play-In stage.
The practice in Europe will be even more crucial for the Brazilian roster should the opportunity to compete in IEM Katowice come to fruition, given that they have recently transitioned to a six-man lineup while adding a new coach. Additionally, the team are slated to compete in ESL Pro League Season 13 from March 10 - April 18, with the tournament likely taking place online in Europe with its current field of teams.
With the new additions, oNe's roster looks as follows:
Pedro "Maluk3" Campos- Matheus "prt" Scuvero
- Matheus "pesadelo" Panisset
Mario "malbsMd" Samayoa- Felipe "skullz" Medeiros
- Cássio "cass1n" Santos
- João "righi" Righi (Coach)
The opportunity is not without drawbacks, however, as the team will not participate in DreamHack Open January, where they were invited to the main event. Additionally, if they were to move past the IEM Katowice Play-In, they would need to forfeit their spot in WESG 2021 Brazil, which is slated to play out online in South America across the same dates as the Polish event.
The IEM Katowice Play-In stage is set to run from February 16-17 with eight spots in the main event on offer, where teams will compete for the lion's share of a $1,000,000 prize pool. Both stages will be held as in-person competitions, provided that the coronavirus pandemic does not represent "a major barrier to the safety of our talent, players and staff", according to ESL.
As of the publication of this article, ESL has not responded to a request for comment from Dust2.us.
