Just as the latest season of ESEA Invite is set to commence in the coming days, Ascent have been forced to make a last-minute roster change.

Legendary Demoman duwatna has found himself unable to commit for an entire season, leading marmaduke to replace him on the starting squad. In turn, this has forced significant role shuffles on Ascent, returning sighguy to his staple Demoman role and showstopper to his equally iconic Pocket Soldier role.

marmaduke makes a surprise return to Invite (picture by Ness "uberchain" Delacroix and Jasmine "Jasbutts" Ho)

Coming off a third-place finish last season with New God Flow, marmaduke is reuniting with a variety of former teammates, including sighguy from the aforementioned New God Flow as well as showstopper and cozen from the Street Hoops eSports roster for Rewind Invitational 2017.

Meanwhile, duwatna last played in Season 20, and since then has frequently teased a return to the upper echelons of the TF2 scene. He even nearly starred on the aforementioned Rewind Street Hoops eSports team, before he was unable to attend the event after being hospitalized days before the LAN.

We reached out to showstopper, who eloquently summarized the situation.

Steve didn't feel like playing, so we got marm. We suck either way lol.

Going into their first match of the season, Ascent rebound with:

• Scout: alec
• Scout: ash
• Roamer: marmaduke
• Pocket: showstopper
• Demoman: sighguy
• Medic: cozen