Team EnVyUs announced today that two new players would be joining their roster for APEX Season 3: projectile and hitscan DPS talents Lui and EFFECT. This news comes after the team shifted their roster, parting with INTERNETHULK and moving HarryHook back onto Lucio with its new aggressive changes.
Lui and EFFECT will be EnVy’s sixth and seventh men on the roster, switching in and out as the team builds synergy and as their opponents require them to. The new APEX rule allows teams to have rosters of up to eight players, with many taking advantage to shore up weaknesses and add new flavours to explore.
For EnVyUs, this has opened up DPS partnerships that never existed for them before now. The team was found lacking an elite Tracer or Genji, and HarryHook’s necessary switch to DPS in the previous season gave them issues elsewhere. Team EnVyUs found themselves locked into compositions because their players could only have their renowned carry impact on those heroes. Lui and EFFECT are their portals to new worlds.
We are happy to announce our @ognglobal APEX Season 3 roster with 2 new additions at the DPS role. Welcome Lui and Effect. pic.twitter.com/0tjl8fDZp7
— Team EnVyUs (@TeamEnVyUs) 27 April 2017
Lui was seen playing with EnVyUs in the Rivalcade Rumble, the first online competition for EnVy in over half a year, where they squeezed past an improved Liquid to top their group and then only lost to Rogue in playoffs. Their run saw them topple Immortals and Selfless, the former favourite for second place, but in the end not overcoming the French team and placing silver all the same. The team demonstrated more flexibility from Mickie and Lui in particular, with presumably more to come from that lineup.
The announcement of EFFECT, in comparison, was unexpected. Known within the East as a Tracer prodigy but without the experience or opportunity to prove it to the world, he had announced on Twitter earlier in the month that TSM had given him a contract to sign. The tweets revealed a dilemma he was facing, tempted by the overseas offer but wary of the risk involved as well. He had also applied to be a seventh or eighth member for Lunatic-Hai but was not holding out too much hope, he said.
It now seems that he declined that offer from TSM, instead staying within Korea but competing for foreign team EnVyUs in APEX Season 3. With EFFECT alongside Lui, Taimou, and Mickie, the team once known for its rigid triple tank composition will have a huge new array of styles to experiment with. And a handy travel guide.
For INTERNETHULK, the score is already 2-0 to his new team Rogue after their wins in the Rivalcade Rumble. Though EnVyUs and Rogue are not occupying the same group at APEX, there will be mixed emotions between the two sides as they oscillate between competitive rivalry and a desire to see each other succeed as the Western representatives.
EnVyUs’s roster actions over the last few weeks clearly indicate that they felt changes were needed prior to APEX Season 3. Rogue could not be more different; over.gg has been informed by the Rogue manager that they have no plans to bring in a seventh man to the game, supremely confident in their hand. So far, they’ve barely had to show more than a single card to win.
The APEX Season 3 Team EnVyUs roster is now:
- Lui "Lui" Olivares (DPS)
- Kim "EFFECT" Hyeon (DPS)
- Timo "Taimou" Kettunen (DPS)
- Pongphop "Mickie" Rattanasangohod (Flex)
- Christian "cocco" Jonsson (Tank)
- Sebastian "chipshajen" Widlund (Support)
- Jonathan "HarryHook" Tejedor Rua (Support)