eLevate add desi

24-3-2015 10:24

With the departure Jonathan "EliGE" Jablonowski from eLevate's starting lineup announced yesterday, it was only a day's time before the organisation announced the acquisition of North American talent Derek "desi" Branchen.

When the news broke yesterday of Jonathan "⁠EliGE⁠" Jablonowski's move from the eLevate roster for Team Liquid, and due to the additional fact of eLevate having to compete shortly at the CEVO-P Season 6 offline finals on April 13-15, it was speculated that a fifth player joining the eLevate lineup was not far from fruition.

desi makes his grand return to competitive play in eLevate

That fifth player will be none other than Derek "⁠desi⁠" Branchen, who joins eLevate (and who also previously played for the team last year) after some time away from the competitive scene in North America. This means that eLevate's current starting lineup is now:

Tyler "⁠Storm⁠" Wood
David "⁠Xp3⁠" Garrido
William "⁠RUSH⁠" Wierzba
Daniel "⁠roca⁠" Gustaferri
Derek "⁠desi⁠" Branchen

desi was last seen playing as a stand-in for iBUYPOWER at DreamHack Winter 2014, after which he was taken out of that roster in favour of Sam "⁠DaZeD⁠" Marine.

Perhaps then spared the future humiliation and subsequent notoriety of iBP's roster, desi seems driven to play seriously for eLevate, which can be seen in his thoughts given to the eLevate organisation on returning to the team:

"Rejoining the eLevate team was an easy decision for me. After being out of competitive play for some time now, I'm more hungry now than ever. After seeing eLevate really hit their stride in the second half of the season, it was great to know that I am teaming up with an already solid team. I'm excited to see what the team can do from here on out."

eLevate's CEO, Brandon "MaDDoG" Hatfield also had this to say on the acquisition:

“We were sorry to see Derek go, but hoped that wouldn’t be the last we saw of him. He is a solid player with skills to spare, and will ultimately be a great player in our roster. We’ll be continuing our way to the top of NA CS:GO in no time with this lineup.”

eLevate will be seen competing at the MLG.tv arena in Columbus, Ohio on April 13-15 for a title at the CEVO-P Season 6 finals.

He looks so sad.

2015-03-24 10:24

8 replies

2015-03-24 10:52

Like Xizt

2015-03-24 11:09

roll a fat joint and i dont give a fuck baby LIGHT IT UP PACK IT Thight let it Flamie and big Hits All DAAAAAAAY sunny Weather Loose women, its all good mein fuhrer

2015-03-24 12:07

1 reply

you like loose women huh. Might as well have sex with a freshly opened Chef Boyardee Beefaroni can

2015-03-24 17:01

like shox

2015-03-24 12:38

like shox definetel

2015-03-24 12:51

definitely*

2015-03-24 12:53

these the guys that got raped by summit?

2015-03-24 20:37

-desi +Relyks

2015-03-24 10:27

13 replies

hope this is a joke LOL

2015-03-24 10:34

4 replies

nope Relyks is love Relyks is lyfe

2015-03-24 10:43

3 replies

0-5 after 10 rounds on CT side Cache on LAN. The other 5 rounds were saves.

2015-03-24 10:45

2 replies

Are you defining someones skill just by one game?

2015-03-24 16:05

That was a trend, not an outlier.

2015-03-24 19:24

Relyk is a strong player, but he's still got some work to do. He's making a few strides with his current team. I wouldn't want to risk moving him and disturbing the experience he's currently gaining with SKDC. Meanwhile, Desi's not only a solid pickup for Elevate, but he's played with the team before. Simple choice for himself and the team I'd assume.

2015-03-24 11:05

honestly sine Liquid stole EliGE from eLevate and therefore left NAF-FLY with no home, I think NAF has much stronger talent and the drive to win versus desi. Desi is a team-hopper and that is pretty evident to everyone, I can guarantee that his stay will not last. Also if eLevate want to seemingly go anyhwere, they need to do what Warden did and make storm become a coach. He is a very inconsistent player, he usually bottom frags and when he is playing 'good' hes barely above 1.0KDR

2015-03-24 16:35

The guy knows less smokes than a random DMG, I don't even want to know about other things...

2015-03-24 11:10

Desi is easily top 10 players in na, relyks isn't even near the level of desi.

2015-03-24 12:06

+1. thank mr hat

2015-03-24 13:19

-1 lol... ur joking hes awful. all he does is team hop he has never played a consistent role in high level counter-strike. i can name 20 players that are much more talented than his sorry ass

2015-03-24 16:36

We're talking about NA here.

2015-03-24 23:17

:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D 1/10 troll

2015-03-24 13:50

cool

2015-03-24 10:28

American ringer desi ;) Is there any player in the world that is more overrated? ;)

2015-03-24 10:31

Last time he played for Elevate, he was doing really good? Why would you say he is overrated?

2015-03-24 12:44

Hes good player in terms of skill gamesense whatever u call these things 4sho; I think the biggest problem of desi seemed to me is his mentality, in few matches which were streamed from pov I could hear the childish behavior of desi maybe it was frustration for some reason, and maybe this is the reason for which he couldnt find any team.

2015-03-24 13:41

3 weeks

2015-03-24 10:35

nice

2015-03-24 10:38

expected

2015-03-24 10:40

Roca Elige Lucky Hiko Skadoodle Top1 na

2015-03-24 10:44

Why Lucky? So random..

2015-03-24 11:06

Thats why hes called Lucky I guess? huehuehue.

2015-03-24 11:36

Lucky top1

2015-03-24 13:48

But Lucky is awful. <3 you lucky

2015-03-24 13:36

Desi is a very smart player with all kind of skill.

2015-03-24 10:48

Raging IGL. Good luck xD

Desi isn't an igl.

expected. lol

2015-03-24 11:26

Awesome pickup, good luck elevate.

2015-03-24 11:47

Good pick, as I said before Desi is the future of NA.

2015-03-24 12:31

AWESOME

2015-03-24 12:54

Must suck to be an NA player. Doesn't matter how much you play, you're gonna get REKT by all the European teams.

2015-03-24 13:02

5 replies

Very eloquently put m'fellow European. If you aren't too exhausted from jerking off to the thought of how lucky you are to have been born in the white utopia that is Sweden, may I invite you to the Euro-only cirklejerk club?

2015-03-24 13:28

Rekt

2015-03-24 13:31

''circlejerk club'' kek

2015-03-24 15:19

lold

2015-03-24 17:20

>white utopia >sweden pick 1 Kappa

2015-03-25 15:38

RIP the NA dream: desi, hiko, Skadoodle.

2015-03-24 13:29

[*]

2015-03-24 13:33

2015-03-24 13:44

How old is Xp3? He played even at CGS in CS:S...

2015-03-24 13:47

mmm, maybe 27 years old

2015-03-24 13:57

storm plays since before

2015-03-24 15:54

xp3 played for team aAa in 1.6 back in 2005

2015-03-24 16:16

elevate need second awper, Skadoodle.... and 1 fragger, hiko... +hiko -roca

2015-03-24 13:59

*-rush +hiko

2015-03-24 14:00

desi? summit's waifu?

2015-03-24 14:48

Interest in NA CSGO couldn't be any lower.

2015-03-24 15:00

storm xp3 :D

2015-03-24 15:50

Meanwhile Globe CSGO is nowhere to be seen. Show us your true colors, you cowawd.

2015-03-24 15:51

This comment was directed towards #69. HLTV wont let me edited for some reason.

2015-03-24 15:55

there goes hiko's dream teamerino

My man desi, finally back on the road to the top.

So who will replace xist?

2015-03-24 15:57

overrated shit player

2015-03-24 15:59

good for him. rip elige hello desi

2015-03-24 16:06

summits wife gona play elite csgo

2015-03-24 16:10

well desi, elige, storm, xp3, roca would be a solid lineup

2015-03-24 16:15

Yay finally someone picks him up.

2015-03-24 16:29

Did Elige say why he left or are we gonna be kept in the dark?

$$$

2015-03-24 17:36

allright, good luck!

2015-03-24 17:26

replace storm xp3 and rush all are garbage

2015-03-24 19:49

just dont lose roca!

2015-03-24 20:00

rip elevate, desi is american troubley eventhough he doesn't come close to troubley's level but his attitude could surpass xD

2015-03-24 20:04

Played for one good team, and he talks on his stream like he thinks he's a tier 1 player. Sat around waiting for an offer from Hiko that was clearly never going to come.

2015-03-25 01:06