Gen.G have made a roster change for their professional Call of Duty team ahead of their final week of matches in the CWL Pro League.
On Monday, June 24, Gen.G put out a tweet announcing that substitute Michael ‘SpaceLy’ Schmale would be promoted to the starting lineup.
The news comes with just one week of matches remaining for the team in the CWL Pro League – a total of four matches to be played during Week 12.
According to the post, SpaceLy will be definitely be playing in those four remaining regular season matches, but his involvement in the upcoming CWL Finals and Champs remains unconfirmed for now.
However, assuming that Gen.G will clinch a spot in the Playoffs, it’s likely that the team will opt to go with SpaceLy during the $1.25 million postseason tournament in Miami.
UPDATE: @SpaceLy will be joining us on the active roster for our cross-division games at the @CODWorldLeague. pic.twitter.com/eO3KoRyH08
— Gen.G esports (@GenG) June 24, 2019
As for who SpaceLy will be replacing in the starting lineup, Gen.G’s tweet did not name a specific player, although a tweet put out shortly after by Jared ‘Nagafen’ Harrell confirmed it to be him.
“No words, to be honest,” he tweeted. “Good luck to every team competing at cross-division these next two weeks.”
no words tbh. goodluck to every team competing at cross division these next two weeks
— Jared (@Nagafen) June 24, 2019
Joey ‘Nubzy’ DiGiacomo, coach of the CoD team, also put out a tweet of his own following the announcement, calling Nagafen a “great player” and asking fans to show “nothing but respect” to all the players.
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“Not going to make the same mistakes as last change by responding to anything,” he wrote. “Jared is a great player and he’s shown that throughout the years. There are some things that people won’t understand, but I ask that nothing but respect be shown to the players and Jared.”
Not going to make the same mistakes as last change by responding to anything. Jared is a great player and he’s shown that throughout the years. There are some things that people won’t understand, but I ask that nothing but respect is shown to the players and Jared.#GenG
— Gen.G Joey (@JoeyNubzy) June 24, 2019
Uncertainty now clouds Nagafen’s future going into the final phase of the Black Ops 4 CWL season. With no more roster change periods remaining, his only hope of featuring for a pro team again is if he gets promoted back into Gen.G’s starting lineup.
His only other option will be to try his hand in the Open Bracket tournament at CWL Finals, where the top 16 teams will qualify for Champs.
We have reached out to Nagafen for a comment about his plans moving forward.
SpaceLy was first dropped from the starting lineup on March 6, replaced days later by Midnight Esports’ Dylan ‘Envoy’ Envoy ahead of CWL Fort Worth.
Since that change, Gen.G have had a relatively up-and-down several months of competition, which included the CWL major tournaments in Forth Worth, London, and Anaheim.
While their second-place finish at Anaheim was probably the highlight of their season so far, it was not good enough to paper over the poor 2-5 split they had in the Pro League during May, which saw them go from first place in Division A down to third.
However, with their 11-7 record and a healthy two game lead over fifth-place, they are still heavy favorites to finish in the top-four and clinch a Playoff spot, and they could prove to be a very dangerous team at the CWL Finals in Miami.
