North Tries International Lineup for DreamHack Open Valencia, Adds Mixwell
North announced today that it is trying out a new team composition for the first time in its history.
The Danish organization is testing the idea of an international team with the trial of Spanish rifler Oscar “mixwell” Canellas. Mixwell will replace Daniel Mertz as the main AWPer at North’s next event, DreamHack Open Valencia from July 12 to 14.
Mixwell’s addition means that North will have to switch to speaking English since it’s the only language the team and Mixwell can communicate in. This move comes after North signed the former Danish Team Dignitas roster of 2017 and experienced unstable teams under the command of Mathias “MSL” Lauridsen. Now, the organization is open to the prospect of housing international lineups, as recommended by coach Alexander “ave” Holdt.
“I have been looking to change things up, inside and outside the game, for some time and with the player break coming up after Valencia, I thought that now would be a good time to do a test-run with an International lineup,” ave said in the team’s announcement. “Our CT side has been a pain point for months, and I felt that we needed to try something different in order to fix that.”
North will be Mixwell’s first roster since he left French powerhouse G2 Esports in May. At the time, G2 wanted to see how they’d do with Mixwell in place of Richard “shox” Papillon and Nathan “NBK” Schmitt as IGL. However, shox returned from his wrist surgery, which led to him forming a new team with Kevin “Ex6TenZ” Droolans and former G2 coach Edouard “SmithZz” Dubourdeaux. These changes left Mixwell, NBK, and Dan “apEX” Madesclaire without a team last month.
“The trend in rosters is moving towards a more International outlook, and in our current situation, [ave] and I felt that the last event before the player break would be a good time to change up the dynamics and see how the players react to a new structure,” North’s director of esports Jonas Svendsen also said in the announcement. “We have an important Autumn coming up, with a lot of big tournaments, including the FACEIT London Major in September, and with the lack of consistency that we have been showing, we can’t leave any stones unturned. I want to see how the team fares in a different setting and to break up the current dynamics.”
As July progresses, the team and organization will consider whether to remain an all-Danish team or transition into an international team.