Rumor: Smooya and Snappi in talks with TIGER

According to a DBLTAP report, Owen "smooya" Butterfield and Marco "Snappi" Pfeiffer are in talks with Chinese esports organization, TIGER. Currently fielding a Mongolian team, it would appear that the organization is looking to create an international roster. 

While British player smooya has reportedly almost completed the free transfer process, his Danish counterpart "Snappi" will be bought out of his contract with Heroic. They will replace Bold "ncl" Batsuh and Yesuntumur "nin9" Gantulga.

smooya was benched following his inability to return to the United States and his team, Chaos Esports Club. Leaving for the United Kingdom, the COVID-19 pandemic created unavoidable problems that prevented him from getting his P1 visa approved, which lead to his removal from the team. The talented AWPer last played with Chaos Esports Club during Phase 1 of Flashpoint Season 1.

Snappi was benched in early April after a deal with FunPlus Phoenix to acquire the Heroic roster fell through. Choosing to make significant changes to their squad, Snappi was benched alongside Patrick "es3tag" Hansen. 

TIGER took many by surprise after winning the recent ESL One: Road to Rio Asia event on May 5 by defeating TYLOO in the Grand Final. During the tournament, they also defeated Beyond Esports, Lucid Dream, and ViCi Gaming. Although they won 1,600 RMR with this event, if these transfers go through, they stand to lose 640 points.

Here's what the TIGER roster will look like if these changes are implemented:

• Gan-Erdene "dobu" Batbold

• Batbayar "kabal" Bat-Enkh

• Erdenetsogt "erkaSt" Gantulga

• Owen "smooya" Butterfield

• Marco "Snappi" Pfeiffer

• Ming “MingSir” Yuanwen (coach)

TIGER is currently topping the ImbaTV CSGO Development League Season 1 standings with 20 points and no losses. They're also ranked 8th in the Weibo Cup 2020 Asia Professional Championship.