Lazarus Esports kicked out of Americas Minor, Luminosity added

Lazarus Esports’ loss is Luminosity Gaming’s gain.

The Brazilian squad is now set to compete in the Americas Minor Championship ahead of the StarLadder Berlin Major. The move comes after a number of changes to Lazarus’ roster. The news was announced by StarLadder on Twitter.

According to StarLadder, the rules called for a play-in series between Luminosity and Team Envy to determine the replacement for Lazarus. Envy declined the invitation due to their intent to compete at the upcoming Intel Extreme Masters XIV Chicago tournament, which gave Luminosity the invitation by default.

Specifics were not offered, but the ejection of Lazarus likely stems from the team’s use of a pair of substitutes.

Lazarus fielded a modified version of their roster for the North America closed qualifiers due to restrictions placed on Jaccob “yay” Whiteaker and the standing ban on Braxton “swag” Pierce from participating in Valve-sponsored tournaments. Despite those issues, Lazarus sliced their way through the upper bracket and earned a spot in the Americas Minor Championship by defeating both Envy and Luminosity.

In the weeks since, Lazarus’ sub for the qualifiers, Tyson “TenZ” Ngo, has joined Cloud9 on a permanent basis while Pujan “FNS” Mehta has not been competing with the team. The specifics on the situation are unclear, but Lazarus Esports coach Daniel “fRoD” Montaner suggested on Twitter that StarLadder barred Lazarus from participating due to rules regarding adding a new player to its roster. That said, it remains unclear how Luminosity could compete under those same rules after adding former MiBR player João “felps” Vasconcellos.

This is a tough blow for Lazarus.

Lazarus has been performing well over recent months, including taking first place in the North America division of Winners League Season 2. Though the minor will feature tough competition including NRG Esports and Furia Esports, Lazarus has taken wins off the latter in the past and had a decent chance of punching a ticket to Berlin.

Instead, Lazarus will be forced to watch the event from home.