After parting ways with one of the most highly regarded Counter-Strike: Global Offensive teams in the world, Team SoloMid is rebuilding a North American roster for 2016.
Last week, SoloMid bought out Kory “Semphis” Friesen and Timothy “autimatic” Ta from compLexity Gaming for around $85,000 in total, sources close to the players and organization tell the Daily Dot. Friesen’s contract was estimated to be worth $50,000, with Ta’s coming in around $35,000.
The team also attempted to pick up Enemy’s star AWPer Kenneth “koosta” Suen. But according to sources close to Suen he declined the offer and has renewed his contract with Enemy for 2016.
Other names who have negotiated with the SoloMid organization to be on the new lineup include former Counter Logic Gaming in-game leader Pujan “FNS” Mehta, former Team Liquid rifler Jacob “FugLy” Medina, and former Splyce entry fragger Jake “Stewie2k” Yip. None of these players have signed a contract with the organization yet.
Mehta and Medina could still sign with SoloMid, but Yip, who was one of Splyce’s best players, is likely out of the picture. Mehta and Medina apparently don’t want to compete with him, sources close to all three players tell the Daily Dot.
The full roster should be signed soon. Team’s manager Leena Xu told her Twitch audience in December that the SoloMid will finalize its first-person shooter rosters (both Counter-Strike and Call of Duty) “sometime in January.”
Ta is widely regarded as a mechanically strong up-and-comer, though he’s yet to find many tournament victories. Friesen, meanwhile, is known mainly for his two-year stint on premiere North American team Cloud9 from 2013 to 2015. He was part of the original compLexity/Quantic lineup—later acquired by Cloud9—that went on to take up the mantle of best North American team after the competitive bans of iBUYPOWER.
After being cut from the lineup in April, Friesen moved on to Nihilum, where he played alongside Ta. That team saw mediocre results before the roster was acquired by compLexity on Aug. 25.
It makes sense that Team SoloMid is eager to former a new roster and continue having a presence in North American Counter-Strike. The game continues to expand rapidly in the region. Activision Blizzard just announced this week it had acquired Major League Gaming, which will host the first North American Counter-Strike major on March 29 to April 3. And Television network TBS will launch a televised Counter-Strike league, ELEAGUE, this summer.
SoloMid’s original lineup, which was widely considered one of the best in the world, left the organization on Dec. 3.
The players have since been outspoken about how poor communication between the organization and team contributed to their decision to leave. For its part, SoloMid said it prefers to work with a team closer to home. The European lineup now goes by the name “Question Mark,” and is reportedly negotiating with well-known Dota 2 organization Team Secret, according to Breitbart’s Richard Lewis.
Team SoloMid will need to add three more players to its lineup. Those players will be limited , various free agents left after several months of roster changes. With only two months left until the Major League Gaming major, the team will need to move quick to assemble a high-caliber roster.
CompLexity Gaming declined to comment on this report.
Photo by Marcin Wróbel via ESL/Flickr
