Now a week removed from CWL Paris and two weeks gone from CWL Atlanta, RosterMania has returned, as teams all around the world try to make one last push toward qualifying for the global LAN league in April by performing well in the weekly 2K tournaments and at the CWL Dallas Open next month. This article will serve as a compilation of all the confirmed roster changes as news breaks.
*Disclaimer: This article was last updated at 10:35 p.m. EDT on March 2, 2017. None of the roster changes announced by individual players have been confirmed by their organizations (unless otherwise noted).
Renegades releases team
Renegades, a team with so much promise and potential, struggled at both CWL Atlanta and Paris, finishing outside of the top-20 in both tournaments. This prompted the Detroit-based organization to announce the team’s release, saying goodbye to the foursome of Steven “Diabolic” Rivero, Andrew “Ivy” Ivers, Ryan “Lawless” Lawless, and Troy “Sender” Michaels on Saturday.
ShAnE and company dropped from The Imperial
Just days after Sam “SamB” Baker left the team, The Imperial announced that they released the remaining members: Brian “Braaain” Fairlamb, Brad “endurAAA” Hughes, and Shane “ShAnE” McKerral. Oli Adams, CEO of the organization, said that they were released due to the team being eliminated from competing in the looming global league due to a lack of pro points.
Rated replaces Seany on Elevate
As expected, the Europeans continued to make moves with Elevate being the next team to change players, replacing Sean “Seany” O’Connor with Rhys “Rated” Price of Red Reserve. Rated, known for his confidence and Search and Destroy skills, had been with Red Reserve for just a few weeks after his team was acquired from Orbit Esports. The team won the CWL London Invitational last month, beating heavy favorites Splyce twice in the process. Elevate experienced poor performances in Atlanta and Paris, and decided that the change in players and extra pro points would be good for them.
Splyce swaps Joshh out for Zer0
Splyce kicked off Monday with the first roster change, announcing that Joshua-Lee “Joshh” Shephard had been replaced by Trei “Zer0” Morris of Red Reserve on their roster. Joshh is currently second in Europe when it comes to pro points, only trailing Ben “Bance” Bance, his former Splyce teammate. This means that Joshh will be sought after by almost every team in the region, as his points could boost nearly any team into a top-10 spot. Zer0 has about 4,000 less points than Joshh, but Splyce will still retain the top spot in Europe – unless Joshh goes against the rumors that he is heading for Epsilon Esports – and joins a more highly-ranked team, such as Infused.
Red Reserve adds Niall and Seany
After losing two players within a day of each other, despite being one of the top teams in the continent, Red Reserve was forced to respond and make a move to fill half of their roster. This prompted the organization to add the recently released Seany and Niall “Niall” Sunderland, who defected from Team 3G with the move. Currently, Red Reserve still maintains their third place spot in Europe even after losing Rated and Zer0. There has been no comment from 3G’s remaining players, a team that will almost be guaranteed to stay in the top-10 due to the core players’ pro points.
Neslo takes a break from competing
After finishing poorly in yet another tournament, Jeremy “Neslo” Olsen has decided to take an indefinite break from competing, leaving Echo Fox with a roster spot to fill. The team is in no contention to compete for a global league spot this year, but the name and power behind the Echo Fox brand may swing a young and upcoming star into leaving a possibly better team for the Rick Fox-owned organization.
SetToDestroyX changes up its roster
SetToDestroyX, one of the top amateur teams in North America, has decided to replace Jesus “HumanJesus” Hernandez and Brett “KlinK” Kovach with Lethal Gaming’s Mehran “Mayhem” Anjomshoa and Tristan “Spoof” Green. STDx finished top-24 at CWL Atlanta and top-16 at CWL Paris, but the team felt that they needed to make a change as they played with Mayhem and Spoof in this past weekend’s MLG 2K tournament.
eRa Eternity creates CWL Dallas roster
eRa Eternity has welcomed in a new roster including Zack “GodLike” Goldstein, Lyric “Lyric” Quinonez, Jorge “Nuglect” Aguilar, and Caton “Riviction” Dell. GodLike is likely the most well-known player on the team, being a member of Below Zero’s team that finished top-16 at the 2015 Call of Duty Championship. GodLike and Lyric also most recently played for The Gosu Crew.
