SK Gaming roster changes

SK Gaming have confirmed that Lincoln "fnx" Lau will be benched to make space for Portuguese Counter-Strike veteran, Ricardo "fox" Pacheco.

SK Gaming have announced that long-time member of the core roster, Lincoln "fnx" Lau will be stepping down from the starting roster of the legendary Brazilian team to make space for Portuguese ex-FaZe representative, Ricardo "fox" Pacheco. It must be pointed out that Lau has not been removed from the roster per se, rather shifted to the bench until further notice. 

The announcement comes in light of a mixed bag of results and internal tensions between the teammates. Ever since their victory at ESL One: Cologne 2016, the team haven't been able to recreate quite the same performance, with runner-up finishes across the board, be it the iBUYPOWER Fall invitational, ESL One: New York 2016, Epicenter 2016 or the ESL Pro League Season 4 LAN Finals. A total of five months have passed since their triumphant moment, understandably sparking varying opinions in the team. 

The following is what Team Captain, Gabriel "Fallen" Toledo had to say regarding differences in opinion:

Lincoln was crucial in our success as he was one of the important pieces that led us to achieve the things we did in the last year. Our team can only be successful when all players are working constantly for the same goal. Lately, it didn't feel like everybody had the same vision for our team going forward. A team lives of good and tough moments during which you need special motivation, hard work and full commitment to get back to where you want to be. Everyone, including Lincoln, tried extremely hard in the last months to fix that situation but ultimately we felt a change was a necessary step for now to development as a team.”

Replacing "fnx" will be Ricardo "fox" Pacheco, a Counter-Strike veteran, with experience stemming from 1.6 through to CS:GO. The ex-FaZe player had been in somewhat of a loop ever since he was moved to an inactive role on the roster, with his most recent team being K1ck.old, a roster entirely comprised of Portuguese players. He will now be joining the Brazilian roster for the ECS Season 2 LAN Finals and the ELEAGUE Major 2017 in attempt to improve their performance at said tournaments.

Following is Pacheco's statement upon securing his role in the team:

First of all I'd like to thank every single player on the SK roster for this opportunity and for their confidence on my abilities. Secondly I'd like to say that I will be able to fulfill two of my dreams at once. One of them is to represent one of the oldest and most respected gaming organizations in eSports, SK Gaming. I've had the dream of representing them since the CS 1.6 days. The other dream is to play for the best team in the world and the Brazilian iteration of SK Gaming, which was something I never thought was possible, but luckily it was. Third of all I'd like to emphasize that I will only represent SK Gaming for next two tournaments, ECS this week and the ELEAGUE Major next January. Being apart of the SK roster in fulltime was something that was never discusssed. Lastly I'd like to thank every message of support and confidence that I've received.”

SK Gaming's roster will be comprised of the following five individuals over the course of ECS Season 2 Finals and ELEAGUE Major 2017:

Gabriel "Fallen" Toledo
Fernando "fer" Alvarenga
Marcelo "coldzera" David
Epitacio "TACO" de Melo
Ricardo "fox" Pacheco 

Lincoln "fnx" Lau (Substitute)

Images courtesy of SK Gaming Facebook