CYCLOPS athlete gaming today announced the departure of Hideki "Gatorada" Nishida from their team after the expiry of his contract.
This is the first roster move for CAG in over three years, with the previous player change only having been made in Dec. 2019. Now, the team will head to the Six Invitational 2023 next month with a new player after having achieved qualification on the third day of the Jönköping Major.
Gatorada had joined CAG in Jun. 2019 and had immediately helped his new team towards qualification for the Six Major Raleigh. With CAG, he attended six international events, including two Six Invitationals and four Six Majors.
Disappointingly, CAG failed to progress to the playoffs of all six international events. As a result, questions over their insistence to keep the same roster began to intensify.
CAG coach Fumiya "Fuji3" Fujisaki addressed the discontent prior to the Jönköping Major in an interview with SiegeGG, stating that "potential roster changes" were in the offing "depending on the result of this Major and the Invitational".
The potential has now become reality, with Gatorada making way. With just over a month until the Six Invitational, though, CAG likely have a replacement lined up and will presumably announce it soon.
In a Twitter post, Gatorada seemed to imply that he had a new team lined up and asked fans to "look forward" to the announcement.