Shakeups abound for one of North America’s best Counter-Strike teams

One of the North America’s best Counter-Strike teams has had a busy week that featured both organizational and roster turnover.

It was announced today on Twitter that the Counter-Strike: Global Offensive team for Mythic had moved on to a new esports organization, Luminosity Gaming. The move comes on the heels of the team having announced a sponsorship deal with Twitch following a recent uptick in results.

At the same time, the new Luminosity team has announced the acquisition of Carey “Frozt” Kertenian, formerly of Torqued. Kertenian’s former team at Torque was among the most promising in the North American Counter-Strike scene, but questions immediately arose regarding the squad’s future following the banning of Joshua “Steel” Nissan by Valve for his role in a match-fixing scandal.

While Luminosity doesn’t have quite the standing that Torqued at one point had, it has staked a claim near the top of the domestic scene. The team is participating in each of the big three North American leagues: CEVO Professional, ESEA Invite, and the local Faceit league.

To make room for Kertenian, the team has parted ways with Derek “Desi” Branchen.

Branchen’s release is likely to surprise many fans. He has for some time been considered among the top players in North America outside of the region’s top teams, going back to his exit from Manajuma. Former teammate Michael “Shroud” Grzesiak was able to find his way to Cloud9 after Manajuma’s demise, but Branchen hasn’t quite been able to stick the same way. His release from Luminosity continues that theme.

With such players as Todd “Anger” Williams and Erik Flom on the roster, Luminosity seems poised to try and break through to the top of the domestic scene. The team is in line to qualify for the ESEA global final, which would allow it to test its mettle against the best teams from both North American and from Europe. But qualification is by no means assured.

Photo via Orange Box Group/Deviantart