Image: Rogue (screengrab)
While the Charlotte Major saw 33 of the 80 players new to that level of competition, the Berlin Major will have just 11 new players.
Gaimin Gladiators: Ape, Hovenherst, Rixx, and Tolji
This Gaimin Gladiators team has a real fairytale story.
They started off by winning their national league multiple times, before winning the sub-regional SEA Championship to qualify for the APAC relegations. Here, they beat ORDER 2-0 to replace them in APAC South and now, a stage after their debut, they’re set to play in Berlin.
These four players are some of the least experienced players attending the event, but APAC has a good history of successful debutants when considering Elevate and DAMWON’s prior success.
Read more: Who are Gaimin Gladiators, the Berlin Major-qualified team that made their APAC debut in March?
Rogue: Deapek and Spoit
After years of competing in under-18 tournaments, show matches, and charity events, William "Spoit" Löfstedt turned 18 years-old on Apr. 11. Rogue then locked him in to replace Jan "ripz" Hucke during the May transfer window and he made his debut as a professional player this stage.
A 1.30 SiegeGG Rating was the best in Europe, as he got the best kill differential, highest kills-per-round figure in the league, and the second-best entry differential, only behind Shaiiko. He is certainly Stage 2’s most promising talent and it’s just a question of whether this will show up on a global stage.
Rogue also signed Tom "Deapek" Pieksma earlier this year following the departures of Kevin "Prano" Pranowitz and Maurice "AceeZ" Erkelenz. But although this season marked his debut in the EUL, Deapek has toiled away in the lower tiers for four years to get here.
Not only did he beat both Team Liquid and Team oNe (now known as MIBR) at R6 Minor events, Deapek also competed in five running Challenger League seasons, three of which ended with a top-four finish.
After teaming up with various current and ex-pro players, Deapek successfully broke into the top flight and helped his team reach a second place finish in the EUL in Stage 2.
Photo: Ubisoft/Kirill B.
SANDBOX Gaming: GoodBoy and Arukaze
Lee "GoodBoy" Ji-heon has been on this roster for over a year as a content creator or substitute while moving from Cloud9 over to SANDBOX. In April this year, one day after Spoit’s birthday, this finally changed as he turned 18 and was finally brought into the team proper.
While he made his official debut on the final play day of Stage 1’s APAC North League, Stage 2 was his first time on the starting lineup as he replaced Lee "Nova" Si-hun on Finka. While he wasn’t as explosive as many fans would have likely wanted, he still ended Stage 1 as the fifth-best player by kills in the league, helping SBXG to finish just one point shy of DWG KIA in second place.
Instead, Stage 2’s top player for SANDBOX was Hwang "Arukaze" Hyeon-jin, who joined during this stage to replace Lee "Harp3r" Hyo-jun. He had previously spent two stages on T1 where he finished as the eighth and third best-rated player in the league.
This stage, he took the number one spot as he ended with a 1.34 SiegeGG Rating. This is as he secured APAC North’s best kill differential and the joint-highest number clutches, while also having the joint-most plants on his team and playing Sledge. Arukaze could contend with Spoit as the newcomer to watch.
Ninjas in Pyjamas: Wizard
Replacing Julio "Julio" Giacomelli, Gustavo "Wizard" Gomes was the Brazilian scene’s only player change in the May transfer window, as he came to revitalise an NiP side that had finished 10th in Stage 1 of the BR6.
Wizard had previously been a part of Team oNe’s academy roster, where he finished in the semi-finals during both the Brazilian Challenger League and Stage 2’s Brazil Cup. His teammates in this time include João "Jv92" Vitor, now on w7m, and Gabriel "AsK" Santos, who’s on Team Liquid.
Wizard then moved onto the promising Escolinha do bubu roster -- a team named after XSET’s coach Matheus "Budega" Figueiredo -- where he spent Stage 1 this year. He is now set to make his global debut in Berlin in the same group as XSET.
Photo: Ubisoft/Kirill B.
Elevate: Markshortboyz and MrPuncH
Saravut "Markshortboyz" Mandee and Phuriphat "MrPuncH" Kessaneeyabut had never competed in the APAC League before Stage 1, but came very close before. Both had competed the 2020 APAC relegations, in which they fell to the current Dire Wolves roster, while Markshortboyz also played in the 2021 relegations.
After joining Elevate for the 2022 season, they made it through the APAC Playoffs to qualify to the Charlotte Major, but were unable to attend as they weren’t able to get US visas in time.
Two-in-a-row
There are also a further 16 players who made their debut in Charlotte and are set to attend their second event running in Berlin.
These are the entirety of w7m, everyone but Aaron "Shuttle" Dugger on Astralis, Ethan "Nuers" James and Mitch "Dream" Malson from Oxygen, Lucas "DiasLucasBr" Dias and Arthur "GMZ" Oliveira from XSET, Thiago "Handyy" Ferreira and Willian "Stk" da Costa from FURIA, and Yanis "Mowwwgli" Dahmani from Wolves Esports.