cbz and da bears go inactive. Welcome Todd "anger" Williams to x3o CSS.

Today you see some pretty interesting changes with the X3O Professional Counter-Strike Source division. After transitioning from Counter-Strike 1.6 after the WCG U.S. Finals 2007, the team worked behind the scenes to develop themselves in preparation for the upcoming CEVO season, and future events here in 2008. Unfortunately during that time new developments formed, which are resulting in the inactivity of two players from the team. Charlie “cbz” Pyo and Erik “da bears” Stromberg will be inactive members of Team X3O for the remainder of their contract.

Though the team never a chance to truly get off the ground, personal issues and motivations from both players have led to this decision. Charlie is looking to retire from professional gaming for the next few months, to re-focus on his personal life and relationships. Erik is currently looking into other working opportunities that may result in relocating and working in a new environment that is not conducive to professional gaming. Both players will be missed, and we wish them the best of luck as they start to progress in new aspects of their lives.

Looking towards the future, we are proud to announce the official acquisition of Todd “anger” Williams. Todd is no stranger to the competitive gaming, and Counter-Strike Source scene, competing at both the CGS Region 1 Combine last year, and most recently, the CPL Winter 2007 Championships. When asked to briefly describe his start and experience with gaming, Todd replied:

“Hey, my name is Todd “anger” Williams. I started playing computer games starting after the release of the original quake series. I started getting into Counter-Strike around 1.5 “pubbing” a lot , while playing quake competitively and eventually painkiller. I made the switch to Counter-Strike Source for the 2005 CPL Summer Tournament; since I couldn't finance myself to go for 1v1 I joined a source team called
Children of the Sun.

My source history is mainly simple , I played for Children of the Sun . Splitting off after Summer CPL 2005 I joined a team called CB7 for CEVO-Professional Source Season 1. The team died shortly after I left for military school. Returning a year later, I joined team Devastation for a season of CAL-Invite and half a season of CEVO. I started attending LANs a lot more and eventually got noticed by the Check-Six organization.

I attended the BUY.com CGS Region 1 Combine Qualifiers with Check-Six, finishing third and advancing to the CGS Combine. We broke up afterwards for internal reasons. I attended the combine with team XPC and then afterwards didn't get drafted. That pretty much sums up my history.”

Todd will be starting for X3O effective immediately, replacing cbz. Over the next few days/weeks X3O will be playing with a variety of players to see who will be the best fit. Erik may still play in CEVO matches, as we look to re-stabilize the roster. The Team X3O CSS Roster now is:

Ryan “NineSpot” Bell
Tarik “rockyte” Elkhatib
Justin “sunman” Summy
Todd “anger” Williams

Charlie “cbz” Pyo (Inactive – September 2008)
Erik “da bears” Stromberg (Inactive – September 2008)

The team will continue to play the remaining CEVO-Professional Season 5 matches, and will look to turn around the season and work to make it to the playoffs. A special thank you goes out to all of our old and new fans that continue to support us here in 2008.

Stay tuned for the announcement of our final roster and an in-depth interview with Todd “anger” Williams in the days to come.