After suffering a narrow defeat at the hands of ego in the ozfortress season 15 Premier Upper Page Playoff, previously undefeated Jasmine Tea have lost medic and captain Brutalix. As an apparent result of the loss, the creator and figurehead of the team has stepped down from his position with immediate effect. In accordance to the ozfortress mutiny ruling, core demoman for the team Paulsen has replaced him as the team’s official representative. He now finds himself leading a team originally formed by Brutalix in OWL 12, who, before their recent loss against ego, were strong favorites to win this season.
The replacement for Brutalix on medic has not been announced, but the team is likely to consider their backup Sole, an experienced medic who played the class for the legendary team Mad Dogz.
This roster shuffles raises questions about the future of Jasmine Tea going forward, especially regarding their potential attendance at the upcoming i58 tournament later this year. However, this may come as a welcome relief to certain members of the team as it has been reported that a number of players were unsatisfied with the harsh attitude that Brutalix had brought to the table for quite some time. Even considering this tension, Brutalix did form the cornerstone of the Jasmine playstyle, and the loss of his on point main calling could be their downfall in upcoming matches. Such remains to be seen, as they face Home Alone this coming Sunday night in the Semifinal of OZF 15.
Paulsen had the following to say on the matter:
Losing Brutalix is a pretty big blow to the team and it's definitely going to be hard to replace him. His confident and concise calling style was a significant factor behind the success the team has had in competitions over the years.
While his arrogance definitely had a positive impact on our overall team cohesion, it unfortunately led to several instances where he would completely refuse to call or leave scrims entirely if people argued with him or if the team wasn't performing to his standards.
The final straw seemed to be our recent close loss to ego, where he decided he no longer wanted to be apart of the team. While he was a good person outside the game, the majority of us felt his instability as a teammate was often negatively impacting the team so it is not all bad news.
As for now, our current focus is looking for a medic replacement for the rest of the season and maybe beyond. Once this has been sorted, we are optimistic that we can continue to perform just as well as we always have and still win this season convincingly.
The remaining core lineup for Jasmine Tea is:
- Scout: Madness
- Scout: Elmo
- Roamer: Zaka
- Pocket: Geoh
- Demoman: Paulsen