Popular Counter-Strike player Sean “Seang@res” Gares will appear on the caster desk at the ESL ESEA Pro League Finals in Burbank next week.
He stepped down from his position as captain and in-game leader of Cloud9’s Counter-Strike team on Nov. 24. Neither the organization nor Gares gave a reason for him leaving, although a string of poor individual performances on the international stage may have led to his decision.
Gares joins some great casting talent who are being flown in to cover the event. This includes Anders Blume, Auguste “Semmler” Massonnat, Jason “Moses” O’Toole, Robin “Fifflaren” Johansson, and more. Intel Extreme Masters desk host Alex “Machine” Richardson also returns to his regular role as host for the event.
The tournament begins on Dec. 10 and will mark the final major offline tournament on the competitive Counter-Strike calendar for 2015. Teams will be competing for their share of $250,000.
Cloud9 will not be competing in the tournament next week, despite being the almost-uncontested No. 1 team in the North American region this year. A bad run in the final weeks of the online league cost them a spot in the top four. Team Liquid, Luminosity Gaming, Conquest, and Counter Logic Gaming will represent North America.
In Europe the ex-Team SoloMid players (who parted with the organization yesterday) will be joined by Fnatic, Na’Vi, and EnVyUs.
Fnatic and Luminosity will be hard to beat, with the Europeans taking out first place at DreamHack Winter last week, and the Brazilians coming in second. Ex-TSM, EnVyUs, and Team Liquid will be looking to prove themselves after disappointing international results recently, while Conquest come into the tournament as major underdogs.
Cloud9 has not yet announced a replacement for Gares.
Photo by Patrick Strack via ESL/Flickr
