Kinship Black announce Russian-American roster

Kinship have returned to ESEA Advanced with a new roster competing under the Kinship Black name. The roster features most of the players that represented the organization at Fragadelphia 16: Chicago, but with the addition of Jolene "jaro" Aro, who takes over the fifth spot temporarily occupied by Anthony "CLASIA" Kearny at the event.

The roster is headlined by Russian duo Sebastian "Florence" O. and Mike "clipsanity" Yelnikov. The duo are most notable for finishing ESEA Advanced Season 38 in 9th-12th place with Ukranian-Russian squad Brigada. Last season, Florence was out of action after five matches with mix-team Curse while clipsanity made Advanced playoffs with InControl.

Matthew "cryptic" Whitmore last played for Limitless/Eros in ESEA Advanced Season 38. The team qualified to ESEA Premier Season 39 but notably disbanded four games into the season due to the poor showing and waning morale.

Benjamin "niise" Mauldin's last team of note was UYU, which made playoffs during ESEA Advanced Season 37. Since that season he has largely been out of action, spending last season with the aforementioned Curse mix-team but otherwise not doing much until recently linking up with Kinship Black for Fragadelphia 16: Chicago.

The final piece of the team, Jolene "jaro" Aro will be playing her second season of Advanced after briefly trialing for CLG Red during ESEA Advanced Season 38. She is notably one of the few female players to have joined a co-ed team ahead of the start of this season.

Kinship Black are now:

• Sebastian "Florence" O.

• Mike "clipsanity" Yelnikov

• Matthew "cryptic" Whitmore

• Benjamin "niise" Mauldin

• Jolene "jaro" Aro

• Matthew "slug" Wins (Analyst)

Kinship Black won their ESEA Advanced Season 40 debut match against against Cyberstorm last night 16-13 on Overpass. The team's next match will be against 8rwscokelines tomorrow at 9:30 PM EST.