Strife overhauls roster with two additions

Following the departure of David "J0LZ" Jolin to WITHOUTWARNING yesterday, Strife have confirmed their roster for ESL Challenger League Season 45. The overhaul sees Ryan "Snakes" Amann out of the roster while Anthony "CLASIA" Kearney and Matthew "d4rty" Paplawskas have claimed the two open spots.

The changes to the roster come after Strife were spotted playing without J0LZ and Snakes in the recent ESEA Cash Cup Circuit event on March 29th - 30th. With the duo, Strife claimed a second-place finish in the finals against ATK.

While J0LZ's departure from Strife seems to have been in the works for some time, as confirmed by the player to Dust2.us, the departure of Snakes raises a few more questions. Regarding the decision to part ways with Snakes, Strife's IGL, Bobby "stamina" Eitrem, told Dust2.us:

The situation with Snakes was a bit different, we really felt he wasn't performing at the level we needed to make the next step as a team. He is a great guy who shows flashes of his old prodigal self, and I think that's mainly what we were hanging onto. But we felt bringing in someone with a bit stronger communication and understanding of the current meta, was necessary.

As commented on by stamina, Snake's departure from Strife comes as something of a disappointment as the 20-year-old has struggled to return to the heights of his early career. In ESL Challenger League Season 44, Snakes ended the season with a muted 0.97 rating over 25 maps.

The additions of CLASIA and d4rty are an attempt to rectify the firepower situation onto the team as the duo are regarded as two of the strongest individuals in ECL at the moment. Additionally, they have ties with stamina from the short-lived but interesting Demon Time project. The duo are also set to get some LAN experience before starting practice with Strife as they are set to play the BLAST.tv Paris Major Americas RMR with yur in Mexico.

With the addition of CLASIA and d4rty, Strife are now:

• Gage "Infinite" Green

• Paul "aris" Wilson

• Bobby "stamina" Eitrem

• Anthony "CLASIA" Kearney

• Matthew "d4rty" Paplawskas

• Calvin "becker" Becker (Coach)

Strife await the start of ESL Challenger League Season 45 on April 10th.