EternaLEnVy and Gunnar reuniting on new team after ugly breakup

It’s no surprise that Jacky “EternaLEnVy” Mao is set to land with a solid stack after failing to qualify for The International 2021. But what comes as a massive surprise is who he’s teaming up with.

During a recent stream, EternaLEnVy announced the lineup for a new team that he will play with for an upcoming Dota 2 tournament hosted by Beyond the Summit. Among the list of teammates is Nico “Gunnar” Lopez, a player who EternaLEnVy famously and dramatically kicked in 2019. The lineup consists of the following players:

1. Jacky “EternaLEnVy” Mao
2. Nico “Gunnar” Lopez
3. David “Moo” Hull
4. Zakari “Zfreak” Freedman
5. Jacob “Husky” Fifik

EternaLEnVy and Gunnar reunited after previous falling out

The lineup is interesting for a number of reasons, most of all for the reunion of EternaLEnVy and Gunnar. The duo played together on a number of different teams in 2019, with Gunnar being kicked off the team each time. The most notorious one came when the pair were on Team Team.

Team Team posted a major upset to qualify for the MDL Disneyland Paris Major and then received a direct invitation to ESL One Mumbai. But after the team suffered an early elimination from ESL One Mumbai, Team Team dropped Gunnar. 

Gunnar appeared on the ESL One Mumbai analyst desk to discuss the news and was clearly crestfallen about the news, discussing how his family booked tickets to Paris to watch him compete. From there, Kyle “Kyle” Freedman delivered an infamous rant where he labeled EternaLEnVy a villain, kicking off a whirlwind of criticism against the player.

While players have overcome hurt feelings over roster changes in the past, Gunnar and EternaLEnVy putting those issues behind them is a surprise. The team does have a fairly high ceiling if they can gel and if Moo can once again assert himself as a potent offlaner.

4 Zoomers may be dead after TI10 qualifier failure

While Gunnar and EternaLEnVy reuniting is surprising, the most notable thing about this news may be the possible end of the 4 Zoomers team. The fact that Gunnar and Husky are set to compete with a different roster in an event that they likely would’ve been invited to suggests that the team may have broken up after coming up short in the qualifiers to The International 2021.

4 Zoomers formed in 2020 from a number of North American journeymen, competing in a slew of events during the online regional league era. The team posted mixed but generally positive results, placing in the top four of almost every tournament it played in. Its most notable achievement came with a first-place finish at BTS Pro Series Season 5: Americas.

In Dota Pro Circuit competition, the team had the misfortune of being cemented in place as the fourth-best team in North America. The team went 4-3 in both NA DPC League seasons, losing to Evil Geniuses, Undying, and Quincy Crew while beating everyone else. 

That trend continued into the qualifiers for TI10. 4 Zoomers made it to the upper bracket finals, lost to Undying, advanced to the grand finals, and then lost to Undying again.

If 4 Zoomers is indeed done, that leaves Jacob “ocean” Gosen, Samuel “Sammyboy” Anderson, and Braxton “Brax” Paulson on the free agent market. Expect a number of new stacks to form in the coming weeks as teams dissolve around TI10.