Turbulent times down under as the winter shuffle has intensified in recent days with the announcement that Tempo Storm have axed half their roster barely two and a half weeks after acquiring Untitled Spreadsheet.

Flex shotcaller Jordan "Gunba" Graham, "best McCree in Australia" Brett "tjk" Bell and support player Andre "LUSH" Ricardo are all released from their obligations in a move that was foreshadowed nearly two weeks in advance when the organisation appeared to have sprung a leak, but it only emerged more recently that the three replacements would be coming from their long-time rivals, Chiefs eSports Club.

Chiefs (formerly Vandelay Industries) and Untitled Spreadsheet had long contested the ANZ Overwatch throne, but since the end of June it had been Chiefs who were mainly playing second fiddle to a rampant Spreadsheet. Unable to lock down a core roster Chiefs had been settling for silver right up until the Heroes League Season 1 Playoffs which saw them knock the newly signed Tempo Storm out of the tournament and rallying through the Lower Bracket before losing out to JAM Gaming in the Grand Final.

In the post-match interview HeyKatie confirmed that the match was their last as Chiefs, having been struggling without a core six (playing then with subs ory and Smauglet) and with the upcoming fulltime employment of Bradley "aporia" Philpott looming large. So the stage was then set for the remaining three Chiefs - HeyKatie, Dorky and termo - to slip in to Tempo Storm jerseys.

Another fascinating OCE Overwatch thread explores much of the backstory behind the roster moves with a history stretching back months in the claustrophobic ANZ scene where everyone seems to know and have played with everyone else at some point.

The end result, however, is a new ANZ super team that sees Team Fortress 2 legends yuki and termo back together after a tricky divorce. The shuffle also marks termo's transition from tank to flex and Dorky's from flex to support whilst HeyKatie maintains his DPS status.

The Tempo Storm AUS roster is now:

  • James "yuki" Stanton (DPS)
  • Kyall "Mosh" Margitich (Tank)
  • Sam "Refz" Rogers (Support)
  • Jackson "HeyKatie" Taylor (DPS)
  • Jake "termo" Hickman (Flex)
  • Daniel "Dorky" Stevens (Support)