Envy bench ANDROID, leaving three active players on the roster

Team Envy continued its Counter-Strike: Global Offensive purge today with the benching of Bradley “ANDROID” Fodor from its active roster.

Formerly known as Team EnVyUs, Envy has benched Bradley “ANDROID” Fodor, according to a tweet from the organization’s official Twitter account. The team said that it will field offers for the 25-year-old rifler, but the decision leaves Team Envy with only three players on their active roster:

• Noah “Nifty” Francis
• Jacob “Fugly” Medina
• Ryan “ryann” Welsh

ANDROID’s benching comes just weeks after the organization transferred young CSGO prodigy Sam “s0m” Oh to Gen.G’s CSGO expansion team on December 9. Days later, Envy parted ways with both its CSGO manager Taylor B. and head coach Zachary Stauffer. The changes came immediately after the team lost to Just for Fun in the first round of the IEM Katowice 2020 open qualifiers.

Two hours after announcing Stauffer’s dismissal, Envy tweeted an application for both the manager and coaching spots for the team. Noah “Nifty” Francis, one of three remaining players on Envy’s roster as of today, retweeted the application in an apparent endorsement of the organization’s decisions.

“Culture drives habits, habits drive behavior, behavior drives results. We’re looking for people that are going to change everything,” Nifty said.

Envy trails in CSGO as focus on Overwatch, Call of Duty increase

While other organizations are stocking up on talent for the two upcoming CSGO leagues, BLAST Premier and the rumored owner-run “B Site,” Envy is publically focused elsewhere despite the call for resumes. Although today’s tweet points towards an Envy rebuild, the organization is desperately behind other squads in terms of fielding a competitive roster in today’s CSGO environment.

Additionally, much of Envy’s public messaging has centered around Envy’s Overwatch League team, the Dallas Fuel, and its upcoming Call of Duty League team, the Dallas Empire. Envy hosted the Overwatch League’s first homestand in April 2019 to acclaim, passing the eye test for how successful a franchised homestand model could be in esports.

Once a Counter-Strike: Global Offensive powerhouse, Envy spent much of the organization’s early years ranked in the world’s top ten. In February 2017, the organization moved Nathan “NBK-” Schmitt, Kenny “kennyS” Schrub, and Dan “apEX” Madesclaire to G2 Esports yet continued as a top CSGO team roster that included Vincent “Happy” Schopenhauer and Cédric “RpK” Guipouy.

But the team plummeted in the rankings after the organization moved to a new North American roster. Envy bottomed out at 176th place in October 2018 and has since become a revolving door for some North American talents struggling to climb the region’s professional Counter-Strike ladder. 

While Envy has frequently found success in small tournaments and open qualifiers, it hasn’t won a top competition since 2017’s DreamHack Open Atlanta. As the Dallas Fuel and the Dallas Empire are enjoying a period of growth, Envy’s CSGO team just keeps getting smaller.