Report: Sonic in talks with Envy; TenZ and FNS to stand-in for Lazarus
Last week a report by Jarek "DeKay" Lewis suggested that Envy were "exploring replacements" for Josh "jdm64" Marzano and that they were in the process of trying out Tyson "TenZ" Ngo. Now, Dust2.us has learned that Envy are set to acquire the services of ATK member Aran "Sonic" Groesbeek, with the South African already signed up with the team in multiple qualifiers.
After playing with Bravado for over 3 years, Sonic and the rest of the team rose to prominence after moving the team over to North America as part of what they called "Project Destiny". Since then the South Africans have made a name for themselves after winning MDL Season 28 and finishing second at DreamHack Open Winter 2018.
Following the conclusion of their time with Bravado, Sonic and company were briefly associated with Denial before moving onto ATK, where the team resides today.
If this move were to come to fruition, Envy's roster would look as follows:
Noah "Nifty" Francis- Jacob "FugLy" Medina
- Sam "s0m" Oh
Bradley "ANDROID" Fodor
Aran "Sonic" Groesbeek- Zachary "Eley" Stauffer (Coach)
The move would be of special importance for the South African CS community, as Sonic would be the first South African to play for an international team since Robby "blackpoisoN" da Loca did so with nerdRage and European Misfits all the way back in 2015.
As for TenZ, the young Canadian will be playing in the first Americas Minor North America qualifier as a stand-in for Lazarus, alongside his countryman Pujan "FNS" Mehta. The two players will be filling in for Michael "dapr" Gulino and Braxton "swag" Pierce, respectively, with the former set to attend a wedding at the time of the Americas Minor Closed Qualifier, and the latter not eligible to participate in Valve-sponsored events.
As such, Lazarus' roster for at least the first Americas Minor North America qualifier will be:
- Jordan "Zellsis" Montemurro
- Gage "Infinite" Green
- Yassine "Subroza" Taofik
- Pujan "FNS" Mehta (Stand-in)
- Tyson "TenZ" Ngo (Stand-in)
- Danny "fRoD" Montaner (Coach)
Sign-ups for the first Americas Minor North America qualfier are still open, which you can find on the Dust2.us Calendar.
