kariESPORTS dissolves as team runs out of roster additions

It has been revealed today that kariESPORTS have unfortunately dissolved and dropped out of ESL Challenger League Season 46 due to being unable to assemble a complete roster to continue competing. The move comes shortly after the team brought in Latvian collegiate import, Dans "danss" Sils, to try and salvage their season.

The team's road to dissolution comes amidst a difficult season for kariESPORTS, ultimately leading them to run afoul of two of ESL's rules regarding ECL roster additions. For context, the relevant rule in this situation is that teams can only make two additions during the season itself.

To start their run of bad luck, back when the squad were ex-BHOP the team almost immediately lost Brandon "bew" Roberts on July 15th, with him later being replaced by Justin "jsfeltner" Feltner. Fortunately, this move did not count towards the limit as it came before the start of the season. However, this was followed by both Andrew "Andrew" Burrell and Jack "micro" Ryan leaving the roster on August 25th, with the latter leaving to join WITHOUTWARNING while micro left due to internal issues on the team.

The roster was brought back up to full strength by the return of James "Gonzo" Madden from last season and the addition of Kaid "bootylord" Miller, however even with Gonzo not counting as an addition, the team's final change was used up by adding Slovenian coach Ažbe "mindtr6cks" Frlan.

As such, when Mohamed "Penguin" Algadir stepped down from the team due to not wanting to play Counter-Strike 2, it left the team unable to add anymore players, danss included. The demise of kariESPORTS has raised consternation and complaints towards ESL that their roster rules are too stringent and unfair to teams at the ECL level. While this debate is ongoing, it is also noting that in this case kariESPORTS were able to recently able to field Aidan "Feral" Wood in their October 25th match against Take Flyte, meaning they were granted two roster additions outside of the rules.

As such, while there is room to debate the efficacy of ESL's rules, this situation does have elements of NA rosters being unable to stick together along with the lukewarm reaction by some member of the community to CS2.

kariESPORTS was:

• Drew "drewtheshrew" Lamb

• Justin "jsfeltner" Feltner

• James "Gonzo" Madden

• Kaid "bootylord" Miller

• Dans "danss" Sils

• Ažbe "mindtr6cks" Frlan (Coach)

• Byron "mst" Masterson (Analyst)