Contenders Season 2 Pacific runner-ups CYCLOPS athlete gaming CYCLOPS athlete gaming Inactive kenmohororo Kaito Yoshida off tank AmeKen Kenji Hisano dps Dep Yuuma Hisamoto dps CLAIRE Takahiro Watanabe (渡辺 孝博) support SABAGOD Ryoma Tsuji (辻 竜馬) support have announced the suspension of their Overwatch division. Their former roster has disbanded.

Translation: As a result of considering progress with team members, managers, and supervisors, as of the end of November 2018, we decided to pause the team activities of the CAG Overwatch department.

I truly appreciate the players who continued to support the team since the establishment of CAG in 2016. A team who did not win easily at the time of its establishment grew to be able to finish second place in Overwatch Contenders Pacific.

Earlier this year, as many of the powerful Overwatch teams declared the suspension of activity, we managed to find ways to keep the team so that CAG players could make the most of their work. However, in the current market environment and team situation, it is difficult to continue to operate as a professional team.

In the future, if the market environment changes, of course I would like to resume activities as a professional team. I would like to continue working to that end.

Finally, I would like to express my gratitude to all those who supported us and I would like to express my appreciation to the companies who sponsored the players, staff, and support staff who supported the CAG Overwatch department so far. I'm really thankful to you.

Translation provided by Gilesquest

While CYCLOPS competed in a number of different Japanese competitions throughout 2016 and 2017 and even attempted to qualify for the Pacific Championship Season 2 in mid-2017, the CAG team the globe became familiar with came together in 2018.

After a top three finish in the Open Division, CYCLOPS athlete gaming competed in Trials Pacific Season 1 with a roster that consisted of ta1yo , SamuraiD , kenmohororo , Yoz and CLAIRE . They were the lone team in Trials to both take maps off of and defeat DeToNator.KOREA DeToNator.KOREA Inactive SleepyBear Lee Geum-yong (이금영) off tank Blitz Ahn Kwang-hwan dps Dahim Park Joon-hee (박준희) dps XOON Kim Soo-hoon (김수훈) tank Cr0ng Nam Ki-cheol (남기철) tank Apache Lee Min-hyeok (이민혁) support , who went 6-1 in Trials that season. They finished third, good enough for promotion into Contenders Pacific.

CYCLOPS did not compete in Contenders Pacific Season 1, however, as a result of being unable to compete in Taiwan where the tournament took place. Instead, Yoshimoto Encount Yoshimoto Encount Inactive Sa1nt Seiji Tejima (手島 聖司) off tank Aktm Akihiro Kushida dps Mafin dps Mason Manato Yoshida tank Bep Naoki Onimaru (鬼丸 尚稀) support HAYAMIN Souichirou Yokoyama support competed in Contenders that season as the lone Japanese team, going 1-4 and failing to qualify for the playoffs.

Before returning to Trials for Season 2, CYCLOPS changed their roster. They added the trio of AmeKen , Dep and SABAGOD to play alongside the previously mentioned group of players.

They once again finished third in Trials, except this time they would be accepting their promotion into Contenders Pacific. With the tournament's regular season set to be played online this time, nothing was holding them back.

The team dropped Yoz before the start of Contenders and went on to finish 5-0 in the group stage. They continued to show their strength in the playoffs and qualified for the grand final scheduled to be played in Thailand. They were not only going to be the first Japanese team to be in a Pacific final, they also were the first Japanese team to make it to a Pacific playoff.

SamuraiD left the team before their grand final matchup and thus DPS Ta1yo was set to play main tank for CAG. Despite this setback, CYCLOPS took two maps en route to a 4-2 defeat to Talon Esports.

Ta1yo left the team following the end of the season to pursue an offer with GG Esports Academy, Ta1yo said in an interview with Inven. GGEA never finalized his contract and dropped out of Contenders Trials completely. Even so, he told Inven he was unable to return to CYCLOPS because Japanese culture wouldn't approve of it.

CYCLOPS would have had a guaranteed place in Contenders Season 3 Pacific after their grand final finish in Season 2. This marks the second straight season in which a Contenders Pacific grand finalist has disbanded before the start of the next season. DeToNator ceased their Overwatch operations after DeToNator.KOREA were the champions of Contenders Season 1 Pacific.

Contenders Season 3 Pacific begins November 22.

The roster of CYCLOPS athlete gaming CYCLOPS athlete gaming Inactive kenmohororo Kaito Yoshida off tank AmeKen Kenji Hisano dps Dep Yuuma Hisamoto dps CLAIRE Takahiro Watanabe (渡辺 孝博) support SABAGOD Ryoma Tsuji (辻 竜馬) support was:

  • Kenji "AmeKen" Hisano (DPS)
  • Yuuma "Dep" Hisamoto (DPS)
  • Sean "ta1yo" Taiyo Henderson (Flex)
  • Kaito "kenmohororo" Yoshida (Off Tank)
  • Takahiro "CLAIRE" Watanabe (渡辺 孝博) (Support)
  • Ryoma "SABAGOD" Tsuji (辻 竜馬) (Support)