Heading into 2021, Paradox were poised to break the top four and punch on with the best in Oceanic CS:GO. And while the original project hit a wall in September, the organisation’s commitment to Counter-Strike was never stronger.
Paradox signed the Rooster core in late September, who despite their dotted success in the region, were yet to be a part of an established organisation.
The revamped project began well at Season 38 of ESEA Premier, but were forced to forfeit their playoff matches against ORDER and Ground Zero.
But December brings a change in the winds — beginning with the return of two of the original Rooster outfit we last saw in 2020.
Yesterday, the organisation announced that Tyson “asap” Paterson and Corey “nettik” Browne would be rounding out the squad alongside Danny “DannyG” Giusa, Michael “chelleos” Hawkins and Sharvesh “dangeR” Saravanan.
Snowball Esports caught up with dangeR to talk about the changes and what they mean for the team, as well as the transition into playing under his former organisation but with a new core.
“It looked like our goals were aligned very early on,” dangeR said of Paradox’s approach to him and the team.
“I’ve played with Paradox before, they gave us a decent deal in terms of what they offer, what they’re looking for and what kind of goals they want their CS team to be meeting.”
The Paradox project at the start of 2021 not only had different players, but a whole different style and philosophy on the game, which showed in their play.
“The old Paradox line-up with Kobi “xertz” Wallace had a lot of structure, discipline and set plays and reactions. Whilst the transition into Rooster was a different experience for me, I’ve been enjoying it.”
“It seems to be going well for me, not that it was bad in the original Paradox but I’ve been enjoying the loose and reactionary CS that chelleos and the new Paradox line-up bring.”
The team recently hasn’t been able to field a consistent five-man team for official matches, but behind the scenes, practice and scrimmage was already going ahead with the new squad.
With the ESIC bans of asap and nettik having reached their end last week, both are now able to return to competitive play for the first time in over 12 months.
“There was a decent amount of work to be put in,” explains dangeR. “Once [Julius “Spudwrecker” Jones] decided to step down, we needed to work out who we were bringing in.
“We knew asap was going to be unbanned, and we were still waiting for him, because he was the guy we needed — he was meant for the roster.”
“We needed to think about roles and swapping those around to fit each player that would best suit the team. Nettik was also getting unbanned, so we’re still trying to close out the year and build chemistry between us.
“[asap & nettik] are kinda just back, but you can tell that they’ve been out of competitive CS for a year — it’s going to take a toll on anyone.
“They’ve come back pretty quickly and not only adapted to the playstyle of the team but what everyone else is doing, they’ve put in so much work. Props to them for being so hungry to be back and to show themselves off.”
While some teams were able to lock in their chance at an international event this year, Paradox missed out on being able to do so in 2021.
Although Renegades and Order saw mixed results overseas, dangeR says it’s still very much the team’s goal to head overseas and show the world exactly what Paradox is made of.
“Our main goal next year is to lock in at least one international spot, at least. You have to go in with the mindset that we’re one of the teams representing our region and we have to go in strong, not thinking about how the other teams have done before.”
Paradox have put their best foot forward towards this goal, securing themselves a spot in the closed qualifier for ESL Challenger in Anaheim to be held next year.
The official Paradox squad is now:
- Daniel “DannyG” Giusa
- Micheal “Chelleos” Hawkins
- Sharvesh “dangeR” Saravanan
- Tyson “asap” Paterson
- Corey “nettik” Browne
Paradox are currently 4-1 in Season 39 of ESEA Premier, and will return to action on Tuesday against Dynasty as they look to secure an early spot in the playoffs.
