Ora Elektro, coming from a fourth-place finish at Insomnia 63, have announced that they will be recruiting two LAN-proven players in the form of papi and Maroš, who have both played at multiple Insomnia's and other community gatherings.
In turn, Ora Elektro will be losing Scruff, who joined the team for Copenhagen Games 2018 and ultimately stayed after the conclusion of the event, and eskimo, a long-standing player from their original roster back when they played in High.
Maroš made his way into Premiership with ChampGG.K! back in Season 25. After showing off strong performances on Scout and Sniper on the team, he was quickly picked up by Arctic Foxes. On the Arctic team, he quickly found himself in the Grand Finals of Seasons 26 and 27, and even won the second grand final over Se7en 3-1.
Will Maroš be able to carry his impressive form online? (Picture by Adam "ArchRhythm" Lloyd)
Maroš went into hiatus shortly afterwards, only coming back for community LAN events, which in turn reinvigorated his desire to play again. "After experiencing what LAN is all about," Maroš told us, "I am really keen to come back into this game and try my hardest to win next LAN." In Denmark, he finished second at Copenhagen Games 2018 with MGE Chad, and more recently placed 7th-8th with Timed out in Birmingham at Insomnia63.
We spoke further with Maroš, who detailed their enthusiasm to play once again in Premiership, and to play with Ora Elektro.
I'm extremely happy to be a part of this team. Ora is a great team, a team that has been together for a while now and is constantly working on improving. You don't see that often, but they are a great example of what a team that sticks together can achieve and how they can improve. I think this team can only get better, with our attitude Im confident we will reach good results in future.
Papi reached the Premiership tier after a meteoric rise through the divisions, going from Open to Premireship in just four seasons. After spending some time with various nunya rosters, he established himself as one of the top soldiers in Europe with stints in Lowpander and SVIFT, as well as winning the latest Nation's Cup with England.
We spoke to Papi to comment on his team, and he graciously took the opportunity to tell us his thoughts on Ora Elektro and retell his life story.
Some will remember in late 2016, Eemes was the best Gullywash (only) demo in PugChamp. Lots of players saw the talent in the young man; he even played Prem Playoffs before playing in Premiership. This was mightily impressive for the PugChamp scene, shortly after, Eemes fell into a slump. This was a tragic period for Eemes’ PugChamp career: sliding from first pick to fatkid.
Luckily, my former teammate, Snakedawg, saw his potential and brought him to the Premiership division — where they finished dead last. He's slowly been grinding his way through the Premiership gears and has matured himself into the greatest Demo of all time.
I begged Eemes for a trial, but he was still on edge on whether I deserved the Ora Elektro Pocket Soldier spot. After showing him a couple nukes I'd been dropping, i got the callup. Absolutely buzzing, I hit the dm server.
Channeling my inner yllen33, I changed my hud and only shot upwards directs. I played the trial vs Faint EU and went 1-30. Eemes was impressed to say the least, after playing with iatgink, anything was an upgrade. I got an invite to the roster that night and haven't looked back. i'm looking forward to get back to my former level of play. I'm excited for the season. Let's go Ora!!
Ora Elektro themselves have been an up-and-coming team for the past few seasons due to their ability to retain their player core for multiple seasons. Their talented and stable roster has allowed them to take on a very coordinated playstyle.
This playstyle has been shown at numerous LANs, such as at Insomnia63, where they finished fourth. After knocking SVIFT into the lower bracket they themselves were relegated to loser's bracket by froyotech. Their run ultimately ended in the lower bracket round of 5, where they bowed out to SVIFT after a close rematch.
We contacted Eemes about the changes and the new season.
After our good performance at i63, we were sorry to see Scruff decide to take the season off, and Gink was also adamant that he would sub in for the tournament and leave it at that, as planned. However it didn't take us long to find two excellent replacements in Maroš on Pocket Scout and Papi on Pocket Soldier.
They're both players who have been in and around the highest levels of the European scene for a while now, so we are glad to add their expertise and quality to our roster. With our competitive new team we are keen to make our mark on Season 31, putting aside some poor performances last season, and showing that we can be as good online as offline.
Looking to be swift champions this season, Ora Elektro's roster is now:
- Scout: Nevo
- Scout: Maroš
- Roamer: Azunis
- Pocket: papi
- Demoman: Eemes
- Medic: Demos