Bad News Bears disbanded

Taking to Twitter, Will "dazzLe" Loafman revealed that Bad News Bears has disbanded after some of its members received other opportunities.

dazzle didn’t go into details, but shortly after, Jonathan "Jonji" Carey moved to Chaos Esports Club as a stand-in to replace Nathan "leaf" Orf. Michael "dapr" Gulino also had an announcement of his own, stating that he would be retiring from competitive CS:GO to begin a career in VALORANT.

Bad News Bears had already lost Austin "crashies" Roberts to VALORANT in April, with dapr making their second move to the upcoming game. However, in dazzLe’s statement, he said “I love counterstrike, no game can ever replace it for me. Even if the chances to make money are better in Valorant, I’m not going to switch as of right now.” His words indicate that dazzLe’s decision to switch careers could have had some bearing on the team disbanding. 

dapr voiced his frustration at “being in the bottom pro league loop I've been in for the last couple years.” He joined the Bad News Bears in February, replacing Michael "Grim" Wince who left to rejoin Triumph. Peter "ptr" Gurney and Mitch "mitch" Semago haven’t shared their plans for the future yet.

Bad News Bears started out as Test Takers in 2018, but changed their name in January the following year. Signed by Riot Squad Esports in June 2019, the squad became the first North American team to make it to the Grand Finals of a Global Challenge event. They also finished 7th-8th under the FunPlus Phoenix banner in Flashpoint Season 1.

The Bad News Bears final roster consisted of:

• Jonathan "Jonji" Carey

• Mitch "mitch" Semago

• Michael "dapr" Gulino

• Will "dazzLe" Loafman

• Peter "ptr" Gurney (captain)

It will be interesting to see whether ptr and mitch will also make the move to VALORANT or stick with CS:GO as dazzLe intends to do.