Arctic Raptors have decided to make a change to their team just a day after finishing in the top 128 of the RMR Open Qualifiers. Ash “Xey” Xey will be parting ways with the roster as Ben “C60” Saberton reunites with Zachary “seiren” Bland. With the roster shakeup, Noah “Naoh” Dalton has decided to step away from the squad, Joe “GODKU” Fowkes will be taking on the IGLing responsibilities and Ethan “EJR” Ross will be standing in on a trial basis.
For Arctic Raptors, the plethora of moves may seem odd as they have recently played very well in the RMR Open Qualifiers however when you look at their ESEA season you start to see the full picture, as they are currently 0-2. It will be interesting to see if this move can raise the team’s ceiling and whether EJR will stay as their permanent fifth for the future.
For C60 this is a return to playing with seiren as the two competed together on the Recognised Talent roster earlier this year, this is also a return to a higher level of play after spending time in Open with a mix this season since the breakup of Hypnotic.
According to a source close to the team, after Xey was benched Naoh became unhappy and then made the decision to part ways with Arctic Raptors.
UKCSGO was able to talk to Seiren in order to understand why this move was made:
I think the move was necessary for the future and progression of the team. It’s difficult to make tough decisions, especially when it’s your close friends, and then finding out Noah was going to leave as well threw a spanner in the works, but overall my outlook for our future is really positive. I’m excited to put it bluntly.
After these changes Arctic Raptors will be:
Zachary “seiren” Bland
Joe “GODKU” Fowkes
Thomas “Trouto” Troughton
Ben “C60” Saberton
Ethan “EJR” Ross (Trial)
