Talent Shuffles in North American Esports Teams
Talent consolidation among the top North American esports teams is not going as expected. Following the conclusion of ESL One Cologne 2016, many teams have made changes to their rosters in preparation for ESL Pro League Season 4. Unfortunately, these changes have not resulted in improved lineups. In fact, four out of the top five teams from my post-Cologne rankings have made apparent downgrades. The only exception is OpTic Gaming, who made a seemingly advantageous move by trading Peter “stanislaw” Jarguz for Tarik “tarik” Celik from Counter Logic Gaming.
The inability for these top teams to improve can be attributed to two key factors. First, Valve’s new ruling has limited the role of coaches as in-game leaders, which will negatively affect all teams, especially Liquid and Cloud9. Second, the changes made by these teams have not been successful in bolstering their rosters.
Team Liquid
-S1mple, + Pimp
During ESL One Cologne, Liquid performed exceptionally well with standout player Aleksandr “s1mple” Kostylievi. However, s1mple chose to leave North America despite the team’s record-breaking second-place finish. Liquid brought in Jacob “Pimp” Winneche as a replacement, but he has not been able to match s1mple’s skill level. Pimp’s numbers are inflated due to weaker opponents in group stages. While Pimp can fill s1mple’s role as a hybrid rifle/AWP player, his AWP skills do not match his rifle abilities. Moreover, the new coaching rules by Valve will reduce the impact of Liquid’s coach, peacemaker, which could significantly hinder their performance.
Team SoloMid
-Autimatic, + Just9n (stand-in)
Team SoloMid relies heavily on Timothy “Autimatic” Ta’s lurk role, which sets them apart from other North American teams. While Autimatic has not matched the performance of Hunter “SicK” Mims and Russell “Twistzz” Van Dulken, he has consistently played well on LAN. However, Autimatic has been temporarily replaced by Justin “Just9n” Ortiz, who lacks experience and has only had a few standout performances. TSM will need to reconfigure their gameplay on the CT side and adjust to Just9n’s playstyle.
Cloud9
-Slemmy, + Autimatic
Cloud9 has struggled since the departure of in-game leader Sean “Sgares” Gares. However, with the addition of Autimatic and the solid play-calling of Slemmy, Cloud9 showed promise in ELEAGUE. Unfortunately, Valve’s new coaching ruling has complicated Cloud9’s strategy, as Slemmy may not stay as coach due to the limited role of coaches. This leaves Cloud9 in a similar predicament as before, with no experienced in-game leader. The team plans to share in-game leading responsibilities among multiple players, but this system has previously been unsuccessful for them.
Counter Logic Gaming
-Pita & Tarik, + nahtE & Subroza
Counter Logic Gaming went from being the best North American team in the first half of the year to struggling due to multiple roster changes. The addition of Kenneth “koosta” Suen did not have the desired impact, and the recent losses of Tarik and coach Faruk “Pita” Pita have further weakened the team. Their replacements, Ethan “nahtE” Arnold and Yassine “Subroza” Taoufik, lack experience and are relatively unknown. With a mix of new and old players in unfamiliar roles, CLG is unlikely to regain their previous dominance and will likely struggle in the middle of the pack.
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