Team Envy won’t be a part of Overwatch Contenders anymore. The organization disbanded its Contenders roster last night and became the latest in a line of teams to give up on their lineup for the competition.
“Today we part ways with our [Contenders] team,” Envy said. Former DPS Stefan “Onigod” Fiskerstrand confirmed that the organization doesn’t plan to rebuild.
The team had great success in the Contenders scene. In 2019, Envy were the champion of both seasons of the tournament and landed a second-place finish in the Atlantic Showdown, which pits organizations from North America, Europe, and South America against each other in a gauntlet.
Envy follows a long list of organizations that have dropped their Contenders teams over the past year. The Overwatch League’s San Francisco Shock disbanded its Academy team, NRG Esports, early in 2019, followed by the Florida Mayhem’s Mayhem Academy. The New York Excelsior also squelched its XL2 Academy lineup in November 2019 and the Los Angeles Gladiators gave up on the Gladiators Legion late in 2019.
The casualties continued in 2020 after the Atlanta Reign’s ATL Academy went on hiatus “until further notice” in March and the Toronto Defiant disbanded its academy team, the Montreal Rebellion, earlier this month. Chinese Contenders also didn’t escape unscathed with the Chengdu Hunters and Guangzhou Charge both disbanding their academy teams.
Although Envy has dropped out of Contenders, its players have banded together to create Team Doge, a six-man squad that has its sights on the next season of the Contenders series.
