The Esports Championship Series Season 6 for North America is filled with teams looking to take that next step forward.
Many have made changes in a bid to achieve that aim and certainly the early part of the season has the potential for upsets as the squads try to find out what works best.
Cloud9 have, in recent times, added two Swedish players to their line-up in the shape of Golden and flusha, both formerly of Fnatic. This experiment could take some time for C9 to see the results they are looking for, with the need to resurrect a former star’s career (flusha) in order to find success.
The constant in this squad is autimatic, but he is now oddly surrounded by players whose best days appear to be behind them. However, Cloud9 have an entire regular season to sort out any possible issues as they look to return to the form that saw them take home the ELEAGUE Boston Major earlier in the year.
MIBR need to step up
The team to have taken away two of Cloud9’s members this year are MIBR, who have nestled into a comfortable position within the upper echelon of Counter Strike.
The issue for MIBR is an inability to defeat teams generally viewed as better than them. That said, they are solid and in most cases take care of teams below them.
MIBR are in search of a higher ceiling and are trying to find it with continued adjustments to their map pool – with the likes of Dust 2 and Inferno added – being something to look out for.
The team are still waiting for the American players in Stewie2K and tarik to fully find their footing within the squad, as they look to assist the likes of coldzera, who continues to be their top performer.
Renegades spring surprise
Renegades have made multiple roster moves, losing Nifty and USTILO and adding liazz and Gratisfaction. This quietly ended up being one of the more surprising roster changes of the bunch, with jkaem keeping his spot and USTILO being removed despite the team’s commitment to have players from Australia and New Zealand.
This is a massive shake up for Renegades, as they look to move away from the likes of Nifty, a player who began to be the face of the squad due to both his in-game leader status and highlight plays with the AWP (sniper). AZR is the player stepping into the in-game leader shoes, with hopes he can revitalise the play from the likes of jks.
With plenty having changed, Renegades are a bit of an unknown quantity entering this season, with much to prove in the coming weeks.
Rogue may struggle
After enjoying success in recent times, Rogue are now under new leadership after the loss of cadiaN to North. While clearly the move was made to further his career, cadiaN left Rogue in a bit of a perplexing spot as they must quickly find a new in-game leader.
cadiaN received a heap of praise for the performances of Rogue, given the roster is decent but far from extraordinary. In comes kRYSTAL, a player who most recently was a stand-in for Ghost Gaming, with Rogue keeping the remainder of their roster.
The hope for this season is that SicK and Rickeh can perform well in the new environment and be the catalyst for further improvement.
Online may suit Luminosity
Luminosity Gaming are a team to look out for as they have generally performed better in this type of online environment compared to a LAN showing.
With three former members of Immortals with the likes of steel and twins HEN1 and LUCAS1, Luminosity actually appear to have decent firepower.
Being a team free of a roster move in recent months, Luminosity have a chance to catch some teams in transition periods and find some early success.
