Season 40 will be Garda Panteri’s 3rd straight season in Europe’s top level, and after two conclusive seasons where they improved from 6th to 4th place, S40 could have been their confirmation as a force to be reckoned with in Prem. It is still far from impossible but a serious roster alteration, their first since Week 2 of Season 38, could make things more complex for a squad who had stayed roughly unchanged for most of their history.
The new recruits are juxta, smile and thedog, playing Flank Scout, Demoman and Medic respectively. Garda played (and lost) their Week 1 game with klsz still being around, but eventually had to move juxta to Scout and pick up thedog to fill the hole left by the departure of the Turk. This will be juxta’s first experience as a Prem scout, having only featured as Ora Elektro’s Medic during S38 before. smile and thedog are more common sights in Prem, and have also played the last two seasons on nunya together.
Pocket Scout KJKUOD and Soldiers Manky and buud are all still a part of the ride as the core of the team that first assembled during Season 37, where they got second place in Division 1 (alongside thedog). KJKUOD is probably one of the keenest players on the globe, playing simultaneously on top teams in both NA and EU, while buud and Manky’s coordination will surely continue to be a great asset for their team, even more now.
We spoke to team leader buud to get some insight into these changes:
TEAMFORTRESS.TV: Since last season you've changed klsz, milky and auto for juxta, smile and condawg, respectively. Why the change and why bring those players in?
every change was necessary, and was a cause of either the player leaving or being let go. The preseason was pretty messy in terms of this. juxta is new to scout but is a smart player with good mechanics so i'm sure he'll adapt quickly. Condawg will definitely bring some brain to the team that is for sure needed. smile is just all around solid, does his job well
TEAMFORTRESS.TV: Where in the table do you want to finish and where do you think you will?
i have no idea where we'll finish as we are like a completely new team now, the dynamic completely changed after milky left
Ready to discover what was thedog doin, Garda Panteri is:
- Pocket Scout: KJKUOD
- Flank Scout: juxta
- Roamer: Manky
- Pocket: buud
- Demoman: smile
- Medic: thedog