Shea βStorMβ Metcalfe announced in a TwitLonger on Wednesday that Legates have closed down. The organisation was active for three years and qualified for the most recent season of ESL Premiership, but due to a βplethora of reasonsβ it has been shut down for the foreseeable future.
Closing our doors
Read: https://t.co/9Ld88B9i7r
— Legates Esports πΊπ¦ (@LegatesEsports) March 8, 2023
Legates competed in CS:GO, VALORANT and Rainbow Six: Siege. In CSGO they were prolific enough to send multiple teams to UK LANs, including sending five Legates line-ups to EPIC.LAN 35 in 2021. They signed the former Evolved Gaming line-up, Scambit, in August 2022, and maintained the core of Alfie βRaymanβ Bench, Connor βBigun007β Suddons and Kerran βK6yβ Bartlett until the organisationβs dissolution. Notably, the team was coached for a time by caster and former Coalesce coach Jack βZerpherrβ Kelly.
Their biggest success under Legates came when they qualified for ESL Premiership Autumn 2022, beating NeverBrokeAgain in the lower bracket of the Promotion play-off. While they did not make the play-offs, victories over 7AM and eMasters meant they finished in 7th-8th place and retained their spot for the next season. In the most recent season of ESEA Main the team finished on an 8-6 record, meaning they missed out on play-offs. The team has yet to achieve any meaningful placements on LAN, with their best finish being a 9th-12th placing at EPIC38 last month.
Rayman has indicated the team intends to continue and that the players will play under the name WOODZ while they seek a new organisation to represent. They are also searching for two new players as Tom βpraisyβ Panting and Connor βFinuiβ Fincane have chosen to leave the team. WOODZ will next be seen in action in the upcoming Closed Qualifier for the UKIC CeX Spring Invitational, where they will use Michael βZALβ Chapman and Sebastiaan βAcornβ Wehnes as stand-ins.
WOODZ are currently:
Alfie βRaymanβ Bench
Connor βBigun007β Suddons
Kerran βK6yβ Bartlett
Michael βZALβ Chapman (stand-in)
Sebastiaan βAcornβ Wehnes (stand-in)