Denial loses Counter-Strike team, takes on Lunatik’s team

The team most often affected by the recent turmoil amidst American Counter-Strike teams has broken away from its former home.

Denial Esports’ Counter-Strike: Global Offensive team have left the organization. And the team’s exit has set off another series of roster moves in the U.S. scene.

The first hint of the news came when Eric “Adren” Hoag, who joined Denial in December, announced on Twitter that he would be leaving his current job to focus full-time on playing Counter-Strike.

The reaction to Hoag’s tweet from teammate Jacob “Fugly” Medina only furthered speculation.

Medina later took to a thread about Hoag’s announcement on Reddit to confirm what was being hinted at: he and his teammates had left Denial, presumably for greener pastures. This was despite a matching offer from Denial, according to CEO Robby Ringnalda.

With Medina letting the proverbial cat out of the bag, Denial moved quickly to make their own official announcement: They were welcoming a new Counter-Strike team to the organization, the former Lunatik Counter-Strike squad, headlined by such players as Soham “Valens” Chowdhury and Skyer “Relyks” Williams.

The move is a case of history repeating itself. In September, the team jumped from Luntik to Denial as they continued to climb the ranks of American Counter-Strike. The new Denial team can only hope to have the same sort of success Medina and his teammates had after making that move.

That success appears to be paying off for the team now. The team already has a new organizational home lined up, a source close to the players told the Daily Dot. That move has yet to be made official, however.

With Lunatik losing a Counter-Strike team to Denial for the second time in fewer than four months, they too have been forced to look elsewhere. Lunatik’s reaction was to merge with Team Adaptation, a move which will most notably bring Adaptation’s Counter-Strike roster under the Lunatik umbrella.

In an official statement on the merge, Team Adaptation owner Marlen Nelson revealed that the two organizations had already begun working together before the move.

“It works because we all have the same goal, and that’s to build one of the best esports organizations in North America,” Nelson said.

Lunatik management will just have to hope that the future they’re building doesn’t include losing yet another Counter-Strike team to Denial within the next few months.

Correction 1/8/15 1pm CT: An earlier version of this article did not reflect that Denial had made a matching offer to the players. We regret the error.

Screengrab via ESEA Best Movies & Matches/YouTube