by BreadHead
Rooster are playing with Sliimey? Vantage sign Alecc who reunites with Jynx? Are Viridian’s The Art of War actually good? Join me as we navigate the ESL Challenger League's start-of-season roster shuffle and see how the teams ramp up for Major qualification.
This season’s transfer window seemingly opened once rumours broke about Talon looking to build a majority Oceanic squad with a European AWPer, which they’ve done by harvesting Bad News Kangaroos’ ADDICT and HaZR as well as last ECL season MVP contender nettik from Rooster. With AZR at the helm, Polish AWPer mhL joining up, and plans to partake in events mainly in EU, Talon is set up for success after they get to grips—but where does this leave BNK (now Housebets)? Who do they get to replace ADDICT and HaZR? Can they replace ADDICT and HaZR?
I will run through the roster moves that I believe are most interesting to our local scene as we continue season 48 of ECL Oceania.
KZG removes JiNxZiE, addd dpr
Since the departure of Kristian “pain” Isaac moving to Mindfreak, KZG has been in search of an AWP replacement. It was Jayden “Hassie” Hasse to pick up the big green in the meantime for KZG, but he clearly couldn't cut it as the primary sniper at the top level of Oceanic CS. JiNxZiE is a very cerebral player sporting a lurk role on T side and is a valuable anchor player on the CT side.
In saying this, dpr is a huge upgrade for the squad. A dominant full-time AWPer who has been making waves in the scene after reaching the top spot on FACEIT for the OCE leaderboards. Dpr is a menacing presence every time he enters the server and at just 19 years old, KZG is a good stepping stone for his professional Counter-Strike career. Personally, JiNxZiE is not the player I would kick from this team—he is too valuable in maintaining consistency as he plays his role very well.
JiNxZiE is rumored to be joining Above The Rest, a top team in the OCE open division. His addition will elevate their performance, bringing both experience and class that could see him potentially pave his way back into ECL.
Mindfreak remove supar, Sliimey, add Rickeh, Texta
This is a move I really didn't see coming. IGL tucks and Mindfreak have decided to change up the roster removing up-and-coming Australian prospects supar and Sliimey. This roster change tells me that tucks really wants to win now. Mindfreak finished a respectable third place last season at ECL, but with the ongoing rostermania, that might be the best result this five-man lineup can achieve. Supar and Sliimey have already found new homes at Arcade and Rooster respectively, both slotting into ECL teams. Now to who they brought in as replacements: we’re going back in time.
Aussie CS legend Ricardo “Rickeh” Mulholland returns to the competitive scene after announcing his retirement on Twitter/X in early 2023. Rickeh has had long stints playing overseas in the US for teams like Rogue, CLG, and Complexity both as a rifler and an AWPer. Mindfreak already has a solid AWP prospect in Pain, but adding Rickeh as the secondary AWPer has made an immediate impact with 17 AWP frags in just 9 maps this season.
Rickeh is a fragger and adds much-needed experience for MF. Texta also returns to the scene after playing VALORANT for ORDER from late 2020 to August 2022. His return is a welcome one; very quickly he established himself as one of the sharpest players in our region putting up a 1.32 rating over 6 maps this season and has only lost once being upset by Roflko’s DXA. This roster move has had immediate success as MF looks to maintain the number one position on the ECL season 48 ladder.
Vantage bounces back with a revamped roster
Vantage finished middle of the pack last season, securing 5th place and just clinching a playoff spot. However, their postseason run was cut short when they were defeated by Mindfreak in the first round, losing 2-1 and ending their season. Losing two of their top young players over the off-season in Jack “Omichella” Mcloughlin and Ethan “vision” Holst made it challenging to find replacements that would improve the squad for Season 48.
The timeline for Vantage’s transfer history is a little confusing so let me run you through it to the best of my knowledge. Vantage was playing with Jordan “SkulL” Newland as their IGL for the majority of last season but was removed going into their first playoff game. Vantage brought in Ryley “Jynx” Linde as a temporary replacement for their match. Later it was announced that Omichella would be leaving the team and Cody “Nauh” Huang would be the new IGL for Vantage, as well as permanently signing Jynx. To replace vision, who left to Europe to join Semper Fi, Alex “alecc” Mackechnie will be the final piece for ECL season 48.
Alecc previously played with Jynx on RKON but the team disbanded mid-way through last season. Both players have a background in competitive Fortnite and have transferred their keyboard and mouse skills to Counter-Strike. Alecc played as the star AWPer for RKON but has not taken up the role for Vantage which is occupied by Aron “Nightraid” Dang.
Overall, the team is undergoing a bit of a messy rebuild, but they have some solid replacements to look forward to as they work on improving and sorting out roles throughout this season.
Rooster add Hatz then remove Hatz to bring in Sliimey
Rooster has long been the consensus number two ranked team in OCE but they recently faced a setback with the departure of their superstar rifler Corey “nettik” Browne who left to join the ambitious Talon roster.
A chasm was left to fill for Rooster who looked to former Renegades, Encore, and BNK rifler Jordan “Hatz” Bajic for their first six maps of the season. Unfortunately, Hatz’s inclusion didn’t pan out, leading Rooster to replace him with former Mindfreak youngster Kalon “Sliimey” Lorenzo, who had been on the hunt for a team over the offseason.
Sliimey certainly brings additional firepower, but it remains uncertain whether they can maintain their position as the second-best team in OCE. Rooster had previously competed closely with top dogs FlyQuest, even managing to secure wins against them when Nettik was on the roster. So far Rooster has a 5-5 record in maps this season and is 2-2 since Sliimey joined the roster.
Supar to Arcade
Up-and-coming prospect Joshua “supar” Bundle has been LFT after a mutual agreement to depart Mindfreak following finishing in third place last season losing 2-0 to FlyQuest in the semi-finals. The addition of supar comes at the cost of benching 25-year-old Kobe “Kobe” Doswell.
I really like this move; supar has a unique aim style and very often goes for one-taps with the AK. Supar is a very consistent fragger putting up a 1.15 rating over 23 maps last season. Adding super to Arcade is a great start in improving the trajectory of the squad but I think the team is still one or even two good roster moves away from contending with the top three teams in OCE.
The BNK rebuild
Bad News Kangaroos, now known as Housebets, lost two of their legacy players in Christian “ADDICT” Pendleton and Jared “Hazr” O’Bree and now look to rebuild with new lesser-known talent. The team added Tom “apocdud” Henry and Omichella to fill out the roster. The addition of Omichella is the big move; this player has not only the raw skills but has the intangibles to become a great player. With the trio of Damion “Damyo” Portelli, apocdud and Omichella, the firepower is there.
It is up to IGL Toby “BRACE” Barnes to reclaim some old form back and continue contending as a top team in OCE. It is a huge setback losing HaZR and ADDICT, but the results have been solid thus far with six out of eight map wins to start the season.
It has been the craziest transfer window I can remember for Oceanic Counter-Strike and has set the table to be a very exciting season, especially come playoff time.