Update: High Coast release team; former lineup set to undergo changes
High Coast have released their CS:GO lineup following recent financial setbacks that have left the Swedish organization unable to "keep supporting [the team]".
The end of High Coast's support for their North American lineup marks the second time in recent months that Ben "ben1337" Smith's lineup has lost an organization due to their finances drying up — being released by New England Whalers in November under similar circumstances.
The timing is unfortunate for the team as despite an early exit from ESEA Premier Season 36, the team have enjoyed strong domestic results, winning a number of ESEA and Mythic cups over the past four months.
Along with losing their organization, the team's coach, Joseph "Muenster" Lima, has alluded on Twitter that a number of changes will be coming to ex-High Coast, as "some of the guys have decided to go off on their own in search of new opportunities". The first domino to fall was the departure of Ian "motm" Hardy, who left the team on April 24th.
Muenster told Dust2.us that the lineup is still taking shape, but it is worth noting that Jonathan "djay" Dallal and Gage "Infinite" Green have joined the team's ESEA roster over the last few days.
djay was previously a member of High Coast before being replaced by Ian "motm" Hardy in March. Infinite meanwhile has been slowly returning to CS:GO after a number of stand-in appearances in recent months. Dust2.us has confirmed with NRG's general manager Jaime Cohenca that Infinite is a free agent and is no longer tied to NRG VALORANT.
Another wrinkle in this story is the fate of Brandon "bew" Roberts and Rodrigo "RCF" Figueiredo as Dust2.us knows that the duo were originally under contract with Yeah until the end of 2021. Dust2.us has confirmed that RCF has returned to Yeah's bench while bew's status is currently unknown. Dust2.us reached out to bew and Yeah to determine his status but did not receive a reply at the time of publication.
High Coast was:
Josh "PwnAlone" Pigue- Ben "ben1337" Smith
- Brandon "bew" Roberts (Loan)
Rodrigo "RCF" Figueiredo (Loan)- Joseph "Muenster" Lima (Coach)
ex-High Coast will need to take shape in short order if they want to participate in the first cs_summit 8 RMR qualifier on May 1st.
Update: Dust2.us has confirmed with Yeah that bew remains under contract with Yeah alongside RCF.
