Skadoodle and swag smash ESEA Open Season 50
While Season 50 of ESEA Advanced, Main, and Intermediate all wrapped up on September 21st, the oft-forgotten Open division played on for another day, with those tuning into the lowest rung on the pro ladder having a unique opportunity to see Tyler "Skadoodle" Latham and Braxton "Swag" Pierce roll back the clock to win the division with their Vibe mixteam.
ESEA Open has always been prone to seeing strange teams and long-retired names pop up from time to time, as the low commitment nature and open nature of the division lets players dip in, play a few matches, and dip out without worrying about the fate of their team or any long-term considerations.
That is likely why Vibe elected to sign up for this season, as we have previously seen the squad look for opportunities to wet their appetite to play CS2 with the mix previously popping up in various qualifiers and CCT NA events.
During playoffs Vibe maintained a consistent roster consisting of Skadoodle, Swag, Nick "nitr0" Cannella's younger brother, Andrew "blend" Cannella, Brennan "grape" Greer, and Marco "Pol0" Hernandez. With this stacked squad the massively overqualified squad tore through the bracket, not dropping a single map in the eight series they played on their way to the $1,000 top prize.
Outside of their starting five for playoffs, the Vibe mix also saw Jordan "n0thing" Gilbert and Joshua "steel" Nissan show up for a couple of matches throughout the regular season. So does this mean we'll see these players back competing soon? No, probably not.
However, it is always great to see players from the games past stay involved in the NA scene in 2024, and hopefully it may inspire them to make more significant contributions that leverage their years of experience as players and pros to help the next generation of competitors.
