Counter-Strike: Global Offensive teams are finalizing their rosters with less than a week until ESEA MDL season 33 starts. In light of the pre-season shuffle, former Singularity player Jordan “Zellsis” Montemurro has seemingly joined the Rugratz roster.
There hasn’t been an official announcement on Rugratz’s twitter, nor has Zellsis spoken publicly about the situation. However, he joined the team as of January 27 according to their ESEA roster.
Meanwhile, Alexander “zander” Diaz is listed as having left the same day. He announced on Twitter just 15 minutes later that he was now open to opportunities from other teams in ESEA.
https://twitter.com/zanzCSGO/status/1221663717927948291?s=20
Zander played an integral role in the team’s past successes. The squad placed fourth in MDL last season, which qualified them for the MDL Global Challenge tournament. His departure from Rugratz comes about a month after Daniel “roCa” Gustaferri and Sean “ashen” Yang left the team. Joshua “Hunter” Madore and Erik “penny” Penny are the only remaining members from the MDL team.
Zellsis’ history
The partnership between Zellsis and Rugratz isn’t a new one. He previously played with the group when the team had benched Tyler “tweiss” Weiss. Zander spoke to HLTV.org about Zellsis’ time with them in an interview.
“Zellsis said he was available and wanted to join. But then, as he was playing with us, he decided he would rather wait for Pro offers.”
Now that he has officially joined the roster, he should make a substantial addition to the team. Zellsis has an accomplished career in CSGO, as he has a strong roster history with Singularity, Swole Patrol, and Lazarus. Further, he had a trial with Cloud9 for three months between 2018-2019. Recent victories include taking Winners League Season 2 in 2019, and a third-place finish at Mythic Cup 5.
Rugratz starting line-up
With a revamped roster, the team now just has to wait for the season to start in the next few days. Additionally, ESL One Rio qualifiers are beginning soon, meaning the team has a lot to focus on in the upcoming weeks.
The starting roster is now:
- Joshua “Hunter” Madore
- Erik “penny” Penny
- Nathan “leaf” Orf
- Marian “tyfoon” Lesnic
- Jordan “Zellsis” Montemurro
- Nathan “madcow” Retterath (Coach)
