Envy Gaming announced major changes to the Team Envy Call of Duty lineup today, signing four players who recently won the 2018 Call of Duty World League Championship: Patrick “ACHES” Price, Bryan “Apathy” Zhelyazkov, Adam “Assault” Garcia and Justin “SiLLy” Fargo-Palmer, all formerly of Evil Geniuses. The four will join Team Envy and play with longtime Envy Call of Duty player Cuyler “Huke” Garland.
Today we combine 6 Call of Duty World Championship rings with the winningest organization in Call of Duty World Championship history. #TeamEnvy
Details: https://t.co/nUj0n4asYY pic.twitter.com/OnNznP3iIi
— Team Envy (@Envy) September 22, 2018
Earlier this week Activision and Call of Duty World League (CWL) organizers announced the upcoming Call of Duty esports season would shift from a four-versus-four to five-versus-five format. Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 officially releases October 12th.
ACHES, Apathy, Assault and SiLLy found success playing for Evil Geniuses in 2018, surprising many in the COD esports scene by winning the Call of Duty World League Championship in August. Two of the players have played for Envy before: Apathy won a CWL championship with Team Envy in 2016 and ACHES played for Envy from 2015-2016. Dallas-based Team Envy has competed in Call of Duty since 2007.
Huke, the youngest Call of Duty player ever to win an X Games medal, combined with the world champions ACHES, Apathy, Assault and SiLLy sets high expectations for Team Envy heading into the 2019 CWL season. Former Evil Geniuses head coach Embry “Bevils” Bevil will also join Team Envy as head coach for the team.
Team Envy players Martin “Chino” Chino, Nicholas “Classic” DiCostanzo and Jacob “Decemate” Cato are currently seeking new opportunities. Envy says they will work with each of the players to transfer them to a team of their choice.
The first competitive event for the new Team Envy Call of Duty roster will be CWL Vegas on December 7-9.
Meanwhile, Evil Geniuses are left in the unenviable position of having to find a roster before December. The team posted their farewells to their Championship winning team on their website.
“It’s a somber day for me personally to say goodbye to our team, I wish them the very best of luck and will always be pulling for them from the sidelines. For my first year in Call of Duty full time, from barely qualifying for the pro league to a World Championship, 2018 has been a year I’ll never forget. It is undecided where we go as an organization from here but at this time we wish to stay in Call of Duty and are still looking to rebuild a team that can compete for another Championship.”
— Ryan Towey, Evil Geniuses Call of Duty Manager
