Outfit 49 quickly return with Phoenix core

On January 29th, Canadian esports organization Outfit 49 announced their return with the signing of four players. With the core coming from Phoenix, they will retain their previous VRS rank under the new banner. The team's fifth player, likely the AWPer, is yet to be announced.

The team's core consists of former Phoenix players Gabriel "Gabe" Shah, John "mds" Marin, and Nazar "H0NeST" Stefinko, who first played together on Phoenix in mid-October last year. Ukrainian rifler Vladyslav "Valter0k" Pukhtai joined them toward the end of 2025 and was with them at fl0m's Mythical LAN, their only event in 2026 so far.

Caleb "jchancE" Davis, the AWPer for Phoenix, has somewhat surprisingly not made the move to the new organization despite his long-term partnership with Gabe and mds that began all the way back in mid-2022. However, mds told Dust2.us that the team and jchancE decided to try something new after so many years together.

With this being the team's first organization since jchancE admitted to inappropriate behavior toward community members at Fragville 2025, it is possible the team or organization are also looking for change and a clean break reputationally heading into the 2026 season.

Outfit 49 are now:

• Gabriel "Gabe" Shah

• John "mds" Marin

• Nazar "H0NeST" Stefinko

• Vladyslav "Valter0k" Pukhtai

• Nicholas "Carbs" Carbonetto (Coach)