North American Counter-Strike: Global Offensive squad affNity has signed with esports organization 3sUP Enterprises, which is best-known for its outings in Call of Duty.
The team consists of in-game leader and AWPer Arya “Arya” Hekmat, riflemen David “Davey” Stafford, Francis “Kiko” Lao, Abraham “Abe” Falsi, and entry fragger Jason “JasonR” Ruchelski. The team took ninth place in the ESL ESEA Pro League in North America last season with an 8-14 record.
Team manager Nick “Sybe” Van Glahn tells the Daily Dot that the team is extremely excited to represent the organization within the world of Counter-Strike.
“Having such a hard-working staff behind us is the greatest feeling in the world.” Van Glahn said. “We are very confident moving forward into the next season that we can show how well we can play as a unit.”
The team recently added Lao to its roster after the departure of Jason “focs” Mauery—an addition that said will make the team “stronger than ever.”
“Kiko has a huge impact on every match he plays. Those that had the pleasure of watching Kiko in the earlier days of CS:GO know how much of an all-star he was. It is almost as if time has stood still in the world of Counter-Strike for him. We look forward to making a big splash this season.”
Team member Stafford echoed Van Glahn’s excitement:
“This has been a long time coming and after a lot of talks with many different organizations the entire team felt that 3sUP was the best for our team. We really enjoyed working with their managerial team through the entire process. Both parties feel we came to a fair agreement that will benefit everyone. This will allow our entire team to focus fully on improving our game and taking the steps to becoming the best we can be. The addition of Kiko to our roster has nothing but strengthened our team and with that we have a new found motivation to be the best. We would like to thank all of our fans who supported us this season and we hope to improve every match and be the best.”
AffNity has been actively pursuing new sponsorship opportunities over the past several months, and at one point was close to finalizing negotiations with League of Legends organization Team Coast. It was also been in conversations with League and Halo organization Winterfox.
Image via Valve | Remix by Jacob Wolf
