Counter-Strike veteran Ryan “freakazoid” Abadir is back in the game.
Three weeks after teasing a return to professional CSGO, the former Cloud9 player has joined eUnited. The organization revealed the news and announced that he will be in action immediately.
“Freakazoid will be joining the active roster immediately. Please welcome Ryan as he competes with the squad at ESL One New York and the ESL Pro League,” the organization revealed on Twitter. “Kaleb “moose” Jayne will be placed on the bench as he takes a self-imposed break from the team.”
Freakazoid has been a fixture of the North American scene since 2009 with Counter-Strike: Source. Along the way he has played with a number of top organizations including Cloud9 and Echo Fox, but he has also had a longstanding relationship with Swole Patrol.
He teamed up with Ghost Gaming in January and had a decent six-month run with the team. He became a free agent in June when Ghost released its entire roster and announced the end of its efforts in CSGO.
Freakazoid’s status in the game became uncertain from there. While he didn’t officially retire, he seemed to be transitioning into becoming a streamer. His level of activity on social media went up considerably, with frequent Twitch streams and updates to his YouTube channel. That changed on September 5 when Freakazoid teased his return to competition by simply posting “I’m coming back” on Twitter.
He joins eUnited at an interesting time for the organization.
While the organization hasn’t really been a force in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, eUnited had a moment at the forefront of the esports world earlier this year when it won the 2019 Call of Duty World League Championship. That victory undoubtedly has the organization looking to better establish itself in other titles.
eUnited first appeared in CSGO in 2016 and has been a steady presence in online North American leagues and qualifiers since. The team has performed fairly well in that setting, but hasn’t been able to find success against top competition in an offline setting.
Having competed at a number of different majors and premiere live events over his career, Freakazoid is immediately the most credentialed member of the team by a large margin. The team has a chance to prove itself as a real contender at ESL One New York later this week.
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