kNgV-, destiny to miss EPL S9; horvy and SHOOWTiME to stand-in
Following a report earlier today by Roque Marques at Mais Esports (in Portuguese), INTZ's coach Alessandro "Apoka" Marcucc has confirmed that Vito "kNgV-" Giuseppe and Lucas "destiny" Bullo will be missing ESL Pro League Season 9 due to visa issues.
To replace them, INTZ have turned to João "horvy" Horvath and Gustavo "SHOOWTiME" Gonçalves. horvy currently sits on INTZ's bench, having largely been out of action for majority of the year, although the Brazilian did recently have a short loan period with oNe before they decided to sign Bruno "b4rtiN" Câmara.
As for SHOOWTiME, he will be linking up with INTZ while still under contract with Imperial, a team most known for recently attending WESG 2018 and the IEM Katowice Americas Minor. This arrangement will reunite SHOOWTiME with Gustavo "yeL" Knittel, with the duo having played together on Luminosity for nearly two years.
kNgV-'s absence at this event marks his continued troubles receiving a visa to enter the United States, in part due to Immortals paying him to play while he was in the country with a tourist visa. His visa issue most notably played a part in forcing 100 Thieves to miss the ELEAGUE Boston Major.
As this is the inaugural offline season of the ESL Pro League, some teams and players had to acquire visas to participate in the event. Although INTZ have previously played in the EPL, they played from Canada, and this will the first event the lineup has had to travel to the United States for.
This is also the second instance of visa issues affecting EPL attendance as recently Peruvian player Bruno "BRUNO" Hernandez also announced that he would be missing the event due to being unable to receive a visa on time.
As such, INTZ will play EPL with the following lineup:
Marcelo "chelo" Cespedes- Alexandre "xand" Zizi
- Gustavo "yeL" Knittel
- João "horvy" Horvath (Stand-in)
- Gustavo "SHOOWTiME" Gonçalves (Stand-in)
- Alessandro "Apoka" Marcucc (Coach)
INTZ's opening EPL match will be against NRG on April 12th, at 20:20 EDT.
