After being dropped by their previous org, ex-Crowns eSports Club roster NASA underwent a massive overhaul of their roster, with Thaigrr announcing their new lineup on Twitter. Former happy farmers scout Schocky will be taking the place of p-rez, while the the Swedish duo of BeaVerN and ondkaja will be replaced by Planet Weeb: Make Anime Great Again's UK duo Funs and Flushy. The team will also have a new name, as they have confirmed to teamfortresstv that they've joined UK organization Team XENEX. With the new recruits and a new sponsor, the team is ready to make their appearance at Insomnia58.
Some of the colors took a different river, and in that river they turned red & black (picture by Ness "uberchain" Delacroix)
The NASA roster has had a bumpy road over the past few months. While playing under the Crowns eSports Club banner in ETF2L Season 24, the team was handed loss after loss in the regular season, putting their playoff appearance at risk. Despite their shaky form, they had a strong performance at DreamHack Summer 2016 with a 3rd place finish, but after returning home from LAN, the team wasn't able to make the playoffs and they were left out in the bleachers.
The recruitment of Schocky to XENEX will mark his first appearance at an I-series event in two years. The German player is known as one of the best scouts on Europe, having played on the famed Epsilon eSports and also placing 1st at i49 with the team in 2013.
For the Planet Weeb duo of Funs and Flushy, they'll be making their first appearance at an I-series. Flushy is familiar with the top level of European TF2, having played on Planet Express in Season 19 and placing 2nd at i43 with Team Infused. But for Funs, this will be the first time he'll be on a Premiership team. The pair show great promise, as they recently grabbed a silver medal in ETF2L Season 24 High after a close series against eventual champions top5rocket.
For Team XENEX, this will be the first ever TF2 team that the organization has had under their name. The org currently fields teams in CS:GO, DotA 2 and Hearthstone, and they'll be helping their new TF2 lineup in preparation for what looks to be the biggest TF2 event of the year: Insomnia58.
AMS spoke to teamfortresstv about the recent roster changes:
We were all quite disappointed with how we performed last season and at DHS. Smirre and I wanted to create a stronger lineup for i58 with an actual main-caller and players with more natural chemistry.
The team feels really great now with the addition of flushy as IGL, completely taking over the comms and entirely changing the way we play the game into a less random and more coordinated style. Schocky brings a lot of experience and DM ability to the flank and works well together with Thaigrr. Funs has surprised everyone so far with his fragging abilities under high pressure, as well as playing exactly how flushy wants him to play.
With these roster upgrades we look forward to playing at i58 alongside the best teams in the world.
flushy also spoke about the new org:
On behalf of the team we're pleased to be representing Team XENEX at i58. They're an organisation with pedigree, having had some high profile UK teams over the years, as well as being professionally run. My thanks to Jamie for his efforts ahead of i58 and good luck to the CSGO boys, as well as the Dota2 and HS teams in their respective competitions at LAN. Shoutouts to our sponsors GamersApparel, SoundBlasterX, WebHost4You and Arozzi.
Team XENEX's roster is now:
- Scout: Schocky
- Scout: Funs
- Roamer: Thaigrr
- Pocket: AMS
- Demoman: Smirre
- Medic: Flushy