Infamous start the new season with almost a full new roster. From The International 2017 line-up only Accel remains with the team but he is now joined by a few familiar faces.
Although they finished on the bottom four at TI7, the 2016/2017 was by far the best competitive season for the Peruvian organization. As the first South American team to have ever qualified to The International, Infamous wrote history for their region. Their road to TI7 was toilsome, they faced numerous roster changes, they fell short in many other tournaments, they lost players outside shuffle periods many times, but in the end, they took their chances with a mix of youngsters and veterans of the scene and delivered when it mattered the most.
Returned home from Seattle, the TI7 roster of Infamous dissipated and the organization was once again left only with Christian 'Accel' Cruz who never left the team since its inception, back in 2015. Joining him now, are two of his former teammates, Alonso 'Kotar?' León and Steven 'StingeR' Vargas with whom, Accel qualified at the first ever Valve-Major, Frankfurt 2015. The trio is joined by Leonardo 'LeoStyle-' Sifuentes, most known for his tenure at Not Today and by the TI7 team coach, Mariano 'Papita' Caneda.
Infamous’ roster from position 1 to 5:
Alonso 'Kotar?' León
Leonardo 'LeoStyle-' Sifuentes
Mariano 'Papita' Caneda
Steven 'StingeR' Vargas
Christian 'Accel' Cruz
With Papita, an Argentinian player, moving to an active role in the team, Infamous is not a full Peruvian roster anymore, which will make them ineligible for the WESG season 2 tournament. At the beginning of this year Infamous qualified to the first WESG event, and placed fourth at the LAN finals in China, taking home, $60,000 in prize money which is close to what they earned with their bottom four finish at TI7 as well, and more than a decent sum for any team competing in the South American region.
But, taking into account that the new season has no less than 11 Minors and 11 Majors, all with hefty prize pool money on the line, and all with qualifier points for TI8, it’s understandable why WESG is not a target for the smaller teams anymore and Infamous’ announcing a roster that’s not eligible in the Olympic format of WESG should not be surprising to anyone.
The first challenge for the new roster of Infamous starts tonight, September 6th, in the Beyond the Summit King's Cup: America league play which serves as a pre-qualifier for the BTS Minor from this December. The King’s Cup: America features eight teams battling in a league bo2 round robin format, followed by a single elimination bracket playoff where the winner will receive an invite to the BTS Minor regional qualifiers.
