Mixwell Gets New Opportunity as Danish Team Looks to Go International
ELEAGUEÓscar ‘mixwell’ Cañellas has joined North as a stand-in for DreamHack Open Valencia as the Danish organization considers moving towards an international roster.
Mixwell will replace Daniel ‘mertz’ Mertz, the team’s 19 year old AWPer that joined the full roster in January of 2018 after a number of months on the Academy team.
The move comes as a result of the team’s coach, Alexander ‘ave’ Holdt, wanting to try a new approach that will see them move away from their all-Danish roots and look at the potential of an international roster:
“I have been looking to change up things, inside and outside the game, for some time and with the player break coming up after Valencia, I thought that now would be a good time to do a test-run with an International lineup”
Mixwell, who has struggled to find a permanent home on a roster since leaving OpTic Gaming in February, has a wealth of experience playing with international rosters and has proved himself on CS:GO’s biggest stages time and time again.
Mixwell played with a variety of nationalities while on OpTic Gaming.
North’s Director of Esports, Jonas ‘whimp’ Svendsen, made it clear that the addition of the Spaniard for DreamHack Valencia is an opportunity to test things out and make a final decision ahead of important tournaments like the FACEIT London Major in September:
“Óscar is an experienced and skilled player, and I am happy that he will be playing with us in Valencia. The trend in rosters is moving towards a more International outlook, and in our current situation, Alexander and I felt that the last event before the player break, would be a good time to change up the dynamics and see how the players react to a new structure”.
“We have an important autumn coming up, with a lot of big tournaments, including the Major, and with the lack of consistency that we have been showing we can’t leave any stones unturned. I want to see how the team fares in a different setting and to break up the current dynamics”
The team’s lineup for DreamHack Masters Stockholm in August is currently undecided and whimp confirmed that mertz, and other players, will still be an option moving forward.
North has struggled to meet expectations at premier events for the last year and many fans are still scratching their heads about certain roster moves like the decisions to drop Emil ‘Magisk’ Reif and Kristian ‘k0nfig’ Wienecke.
SEE YOU IN DH VALENCIA!
I will be playing with @TheNorthIsHere as a stand in infront of my home crowd!¡NOS VEMOS EN DH VALENCIA!
¡Voy a jugar el torneo como stand in con @TheNorthIsHere, por fin puedo jugar con vosotros de público… Tengo unas ganas tremendas!— Oscar Cañellas (@Mixwell) July 9, 2018
The decision to try out new structures without making any permanent decisions seems to be a sign that the organization has learnt from previous mistakes and it taking a more measured approach in the second half of 2018.
North’s DreamHack Open Valencia roster will consist of:
- Mathias ‘MSL’ Lauridsen
- Philip ‘aizy’ Aistrup
- Markus ‘Kjaerbye’ Kjærbye
- Valdemar ‘valde’ Bjørn Vangså
- Óscar ‘mixwell’ Cañellas (stand-in)