Take Flyte swap one in starting lineup
Take Flyte have announced that Grant "serv0" Medina has been benched from the team's starting lineup while former coach, Frankie "Champ" Miranda, will be taking the player's position in the starting lineup. The change in Take Flyte's ranks is significant as the roster has been one of the most stable lineups in the North American semi-professional scene despite its recent mixed fortunes in ESL Challenger League.
The five-man lineup first started playing together during ESEA Advanced Season 47 in October 2023, going on to win the division over Datejust to earn a spot in ESL Challenger League Season 47. The team's first season saw the lineup signed by Moroccan organization One More before facing potential Relegation after a 6-22 season. The team would survive the Relegation bracket via E-Xolos LAZER and OMiT to return to ECL for Season 48.
Despite their brush with demotion the team elected to keep the same roster as they transitioned to Take Flyte; with this gambit failing to pay off as the team stumbled to their current 1-13 record.
The prospect of playing Relegation for a second season in a row along with other lackluster results was seemingly the impetus for this change, as Take Flyte's owner, Saben Neale, told Dust2.us:
I'd say [the change] comes down to all of us on the team believing some sort of change needed to be made to try and avoid Relegation. They wanna give Champ the chance since we've played good in every qualifier that he substituted in, and the players believe he fills Serv0's role best. Not entirely sure if that is the perfect move, but we're giving it a shot with our current situation.
While Champ hasn't played in some time he has experience playing with many of his teammates as a stand-in and with teams like Vireo.pro. With this change, the onus will now be on the team to make rapid improvement as they look to survive and claim a spot in ECL S49 next year.
Take Flyte are now:
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Kevin "Grave" Le
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Caleb "jchancE" Davis
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Noah "z0mb1e" Velez
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Sebastian "cbass" Bentancor
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Frankie "Champ" Miranda
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Grant "serv0" Medina (Inactive)
Champ will be in action when Take Flyte takes on NRG in ESL Challenger League Season 48 tonight at 09:00PM.