Jonji steps down from RONIN, to take break from CS
Canadian player Jonathan "Jonji" Carey announced via TwitLonger that he has stepped down from RONIN, and spoke about his experiences from the end of Rise Nation until now. Stephen "reltuC" Cutler has appeared on RONIN's ESEA roster recently, and played in RONIN's matches in the ECS qualifier yesterday.
On his removal from Rise Nation, Jonji says that he was "ghosted," meaning that the other players just stopped talking to him, the implication being he was no longer on the team. He also cited a lack of and poor practice leading into the MDL Global Challenge, with some players being late, high, or speaking few words. He also says that before that tournament, two teammates had combined for 60 hours of playing CS in the two weeks prior.
At the Global Challenge LAN, Jonji claims that the in-game leading duties were relegated to himself and Will "dazzLe" Loafman, with help from Jared "osorandom" Hartman on Mirage vs SoaR. Jonji says that he suspects his kick was from his poor game on Inferno against Rogue, but questions the fairness of the criticism due to spontaneously needing to in-game lead.
He went on to thank Brandon "Ace" Winn and coach osorandom for being helpful and supportive. For his part, Jonji's former IGL in Rise Nation, Andy "vSa" Xu, has posted a TwitLonger of his own in response.
As for his time in RONIN, Jonji says that playing in the team just didn't feel right to him. After losing in the third ECS Open Qualifier, he decided to step down from the team to focus on his education.
Here is the predicted lineup of RONIN moving forward:
- David "Xp3" Garrido
- Dylan "RIKO" Sabin-Arnce
- Jeff "REZU" Ngo
- Collin "wrath" McSweegan
- Stephen "reltuC" Cutler
- Kyle "flowsicK" Mendez (Coach)
RONIN's next match will be against the new Freedom 35 in two days for MDL, where David "Xp3" Garrido's men will look for their sixth win.