iNTACT fracture further; release optimus
After releasing Sam "Noxio" Goodwin earlier this week, iNTACT have further reduced their team size, with Ali "optimus" Mashhou announcing over social media that he has been released from the roster as well.
In a follow-up tweet, optimus stated that he saw himself as the outlier of the team and that "friendships always prevails in this game," possibly hinting towards a personality conflict or a disconnect between himself and the other players on iNTACT.
This is further hinted at in later tweets, where optimus stated that he found it funny that he was cut a day after retweeting a video about the necessity of sacrificing friendships in teams to keep the team together and to prevent egos from clashing.
iNTACT's recent changes are likely in response to the team's recent performance in the Advanced regular season and the WESG 2019 USA Finals. While iNTACT has been doing well in Advanced, where they are currently 7-2, the team took a hard 16-7 loss to FURIA, who is poised to be one of the top teams in the division.
Later in the WESG 2019 USA Finals — with Rich "rich" Sylvestri standing in for Alan "Shakezullah" Hardeman — the team struggled to make an impact against Infamous. While the team did make a dent in Spacestation, taking the first map into overtime, iNTACT were ultimately eliminated by Spacestation, who took the series 2-0.
Down to just three players and a stand-in, iNTACT's roster is:
Alan "Shakezullah" Hardeman- Michael "Turismo" Haas
- Christopher "Swahn" Swahn
- Rich "Rich" Sylvestri (Coach/Stand-in)
iNTACT are currently 7-2 in the Advanced regular season, with matches against blitz and Grizzlys set to play out tomorrow. It is currently unknown who the team intend to field for those matches. While willmeister has recently been added up to the team's ESEA roster, the player has yet to pay the division fee.
