After just five months of up and down performances in various tournaments, Lazarus's entire Male CS Go Team has been relieved of their contracts with the organization.
Originally known as SetToDestroyX, the Canadian based esports organization would rebrand itself as Lazarus, beginning on November 30th of 2018. Aside from Counter Strike Global Offensive, the organization competes in various games including Fortnite, Madden 20 Classic, Forza, and PubG. Shortly after rebranding itself, Lazarus would set its sights on the former Swole Patrol roaster, signing Swag, Zellsis, Infinite, Subroza, Yay, and FroD, who would serve as the team's coach until its recent disbanding.
During the five-month period that the roster was active, they would only see success at lower-tier tournaments, placing first at WINNERs League – Season 2: North America Invite Division and 4th at Mythic Cup #4. While the team would qualify for ESL Pro League Season 9 and ECS Season 8, they would fail to qualify for any major tournaments and continue to struggle at higher tier events. Despite this, many within the community felt that the organization would give its current roster more time to bond. However, it appears the organization has made the decision to disband its current roster and focus on rebuilding its Male CS Go team.
While the organization's decision to disband after only five months is a bit shocking, it's clear from this move that Lazarus felt that its current roster was never going to gel. Other organizations need to learn from this experience and stop using the same rosters for years when things are clearly not working out as it only hurts the players, in the end, taking valuable years away from their playing time.
News of the disbanding comes straight from Lazarus's official twitter account,where they go on to thank their male CS Go team for their efforts and wish them luck in the future. They go on to say that they plan on focusing on other areas of their organization, but don't rule out the possibility of revisiting the game at a later date. While the former Lazarus squad won't have an organization behind them, they will have the chance to compete in the upcoming ESL Pro League, giving them the chance to capture the attention of both organizations and sponsors if they do well. ESL Pro League Season 10 will begin on October 8th and run through November 18th.
Though it is difficult for the players, Lazarus did the right thing here. Perhaps if their former squad does well in the upcoming season they may once again capture the attention of the organization and have a second shot at showing what they can accomplish.
Given that each of the former members of Lazarus has a wealth of experience at various levels of competition, it's only a matter of time before they improve as a team. Even if their team doesn't pan out, each of the members will have no trouble securing a spot on an up-and-coming team in the scene.