Knights today announced the signing of former Invictus Gaming star Matin "SpeakEasy" Yunos for Stage 3.
The move comes a week after he revealed he was leaving iG and reunites him with his former captain, Glen "Lunarmetal" Suryasaputra, who is now the Knights coach.
"Towards the end of Stage 2, even without the roster change, we were already a strong team that was about to get stronger," explained Lunarmetal in a statement to SiegeGG.
"But when we found out Matin was on the market, we couldn't help but think he was the last missing piece to push us to the next level. Especially after having worked with him for a long time before, knowing what he was like both on and off the game, I felt that he'd get along very well with this roster much like I have. The trials we had just proved me right."
SpeakEasy has been one of the best players in APAC since he joined the Invictus roster back when it played under Aerowolf in Season 9 of the ESL Pro League. With them, he and Lunarmetal attended one Pro League Finals, two Six Invitationals, two Six Majors, and one Minor.
In Stage 2 of the 2022 season, SpeakEasy was eighth-best in APAC South by SiegeGG Rating, though he was unequivocally the best in Stage 1 with a 1.42 Rating -- 0.15 Rating points higher than second-best.
SpeakEasy was also the best player by SiegeGG Rating and K-D in Stages 2 and 3 of the 2021 season and was fifth-best by Rating at the Mexico Major (though his team failed to make it to the playoffs).
He replaces Jai "Quiz" Riddle-Browning, who only joined Knights earlier this year before the start of the season. With them, Quiz nearly qualified for the Six Berlin Major, but Knights failed to win the final round of a tense winner-takes-all 7-8 against Gaimin Gladiators.
Domestically, Knights have looked rock-solid with first place finishes in Stages 1 and 2 of the Oceanic Nationals and a win in the Oceanic Championship Series in Stage 2.
Quiz struggled in Stage 2 in APAC South, however, and was the worst player on Knights by SiegeGG Rating while primarily playing Sledge and Wamai. This followed similarly poor performances in Stage 1 and the Stage 1 APAC Playoffs.
The new Knights roster will debut with the start of Stage 3, which will be somewhere close to the EUL start date of Sep. 12.