EVL Gaming has announced that they'll be parting ways with their longtime TF2 roster. They've also stated that with this exchange of rosters, they will be ending their involvement with the TF2 scene.

In a quick turn of events, an agreement has been reached for the #EVLTF2 to be bought out and join the new org, Ascent by Invite Player Ma3la. While we’re sad to see our longtime players go, we wish them the best of luck in their future endeavors. From a mid-tier invite team to the #2 Invite team over multiple season, we are glad we were part of that journey along with them. Thank you to rando, Bdonski, corsa, Nursey, yomps, and Paddie for helping to turn what was just supposed to be a sponsorship into a full fledged organization.

Fortunately, the roster will not be sponsorless for very long, as they'll be acquired by newly founded TF2 organization, Ascent. While a familiar name among TF2’s finest rosters to play, at the head of team operations stands none other than former RONIN and Ascent soldier, Ma3laa.

Ma3laa will be reviving the Ascent brand (picture by Ness "uberchain" Delacroix and Jasmine "Jasbutts" Ho)

We were able to get a few words from Ma3laa regarding this new announcement, and he had the following statement to say about Ascent’s reentry into TF2:

In my time away from TF2 for the past year, I still found myself watching matches and trying to keep up with things going on in the TF2 scene, and really in esports as a whole. Despite the fact that I know I have no desire to play games competitively forever, I’ll always love esports, and TF2 specifically. I wanted to stay involved esports no matter what other ventures I have going on, and I figured the best way to do that would be to create my own esports organization. I’m going to do my best to provide as much as I can for TF2 teams as long as the scene keeps running.

Additionally, when asked about soldier roles, and whether or not rando was planning to return to the pocket role, Ma3laa responded saying:

As far as this season goes; Paddie will not be able to play it out, so I will be stepping in as pocket soldier. rando is enjoying playing roamer, and I've always been a pocket soldier who never got to play pocket.

The new org will see Ma3laa reuniting with rando and Bdonski under the blue and white colors. The team has had a long history in North America, with the Ascent brand stemming back to the days of Season 19, where Shrugger, Decimate, Ma3laa, and Bdonski reformed their roster after a 2nd place finish at the last held ESEA LAN in Season 18. They went on to challenge the international stage at i55, making a run up to 4th place in a tournament stacked with talent from all across the world.

Since then the team has gone through numerous roster changes and names, including sponsorships under RONIN and later on EVL Gaming. Their most recent LAN appearance was at Rewind LAN last January, where under the EVL name, they managed to finish 3rd after a loss to Se7en in the lower bracket finals.

Following this announcement, the newly reformed roster of Ascent now consists of:

• Scout: yomps
• Scout: corsa
• Roamer: rando
• Pocket: Ma3laa
• Demoman: Bdonski
• Medic: Nursey