AZR, Gratisfaction to play RMR qualifier with Encore

The Oceanic duo will see action for the first time since October 2021.

Encore has announced that veteran in-game leader Aaron "⁠AZR⁠" Ward and AWPer Sean "⁠Gratisfaction⁠" Kaiwai will stand in for the upcoming Oceanic RMR Closed Qualifier. The organization hopes to increase its chances of reaching the Regional Major Ranking event with one of the most accomplished duos in the region.

The two players have not recorded games since October when they played their last match for EXTREMUM at IEM Fall 2021 North America, where they finished in 6th place and failed to qualify for the PGL Stockholm Major.

AZR and Gratisfaction have not played competitively since October

The AZR-Gratisfaction partnership is most well known from their stint with Renegades in 2018-2019. The Oceanic roster reached the playoffs of both IEM Katowice 2019 and StarLadder Berlin Major before being acquired by 100 Thieves that year, and then EXTREMUM in 2021.

Following the team's failure to qualify for the PGL Stockholm Major, the Russian organization benched and transfer-listed its entire roster. Most of the players have since left, including AZR after the IGL found an agreement for the termination of his contract in May. Gratisfaction is still tied to EXTREMUM.

Read more
AZR looks for new IGL challenge as he enters free agency

Encore is the rebranded organization that competed under the Looking For Org name of at ESL Pro League Season 15. The roster experienced international LANs again at IEM Dallas and ESL Pro League Conference S16, but following disappointing results at both events, the team parted ways with Benson "⁠Liki⁠" Niuila in early July and has been using stand-ins since.

Mike "⁠ap0c⁠" Aliferis will be making the step up to the coaching position after years of competing as a player. The 34-year-old's career dates back to Counter-Strike 1.6 before moving to CS:GO and includes dozens of regional and international LANs such as FACEIT League 2015 Stage 3 Finals and IEM Sydney 2018.

Encore's roster at the RMR qualifier will be:

Australia Jared "⁠hazr⁠" O'Bree
Australia James "⁠SaVage⁠" Savage
New Zealand Euan "⁠sterling⁠" Moore
Australia Aaron "⁠AZR⁠" Ward (stand-in)
New Zealand Sean "⁠Gratisfaction⁠" Kaiwai (stand-in)

Australia Mike "⁠ap0c⁠" Aliferis (coach)

New Zealand Euan 'sterling' Moore
Euan 'sterling' Moore
Age:
24
Team:
Rating 1.0:
1.17
Maps played:
869
KPR:
0.77
DPR:
0.60
Australia Aaron 'AZR' Ward
Aaron 'AZR' Ward
Age:
29
Team:
Rating 1.0:
0.99
Maps played:
1091
KPR:
0.68
DPR:
0.69
Australia James 'SaVage' Savage
James 'SaVage' Savage
Age:
17
Team:
Rating 1.0:
1.02
Maps played:
290
KPR:
0.66
DPR:
0.61
Australia Jared 'hazr' O'Bree
Jared 'hazr' O'Bree
Age:
20
Team:
Rating 1.0:
1.09
Maps played:
792
KPR:
0.75
DPR:
0.68
Australia Benson 'Liki' Niuila
Benson 'Liki' Niuila
Age:
24
Team:
No team
Rating 1.0:
0.99
Maps played:
403
KPR:
0.66
DPR:
0.64
New Zealand Sean 'Gratisfaction' Kaiwai
Sean 'Gratisfaction' Kaiwai
Age:
26
Team:
Rating 1.0:
1.05
Maps played:
895
KPR:
0.69
DPR:
0.62
Lame
2022-08-26 15:07
0
5 replies
who is that krav guy? some french guy with 0.64 rating, why is he playing for that australian team lol imgur.com/a/oqyNbPw upd. nvm
2022-08-26 15:12
0
#42
Old school: User been here for more than 10 years  | 
 | 
Australia frogskate
lets go the boys
2022-08-26 15:39
0
#64
 | 
Brazil Necro_Spa
two awps whos going to main? sterling or grat?
2022-08-26 16:28
0
2 replies
#76
Old school: User been here for more than 10 years  | 
steel | 
Belgium VulcunStoleMyD
sterling, gratatata was a gucci decoy unless he's a God now.
2022-08-26 17:22
0
1 reply
#84
Old school: User been here for more than 10 years  | 
 | 
Australia frogskate
he was good at rifles
2022-08-27 01:27
0
#3
 | 
Equatorial Guinea Karlheinz
Chinese Savage Pog
2022-08-26 15:08
0
#4
 | 
Norway noc4b
savage is australian or chinese? O_O
2022-08-26 15:08
0
4 replies
Bahaha wtf, must be bugged
2022-08-26 15:08
0
Who knows
2022-08-26 15:09
0
they put in the wrong savage does no one proof-read this?
2022-08-26 15:11
0
1 reply
why would they hire a proofreader when users do it for free, LOL, and even then they don’t correct it most of the time. I’ve seen articles which had a whole paragraph cut off left up for almost a week, sometimes not fixed at all.
2022-08-26 15:46
0
banger
2022-08-26 15:08
0
Let's goooo
2022-08-26 15:08
0
#7
 | 
Russia sharazami
nice savage hltv
2022-08-26 15:08
0
#8
 | 
Faroe Islands kww1xie
Savage is Chinese or Australian lol ?
2022-08-26 15:10
0
2 replies
He is Asian Australian
2022-08-26 15:09
0
1 reply
Austrasian
2022-08-26 15:37
0
2 AWPers?
2022-08-26 15:09
0
3 replies
I'm guessing Grat will be rifling since it seems he's taking ap0c's place.
2022-08-26 15:11
0
2 replies
#50
 | 
Ukraine SLGay
What are you on, my friend, for me it is clear that azr takes ap0c’s place, while gratis faction-liki’s
2022-08-26 15:53
0
1 reply
Same difference. Grat rifling, sterling AWP.
2022-08-27 06:38
0
savage chinese no?
2022-08-26 15:09
0
#13
Faceit level 9  | 
 | 
Sweden pvzCS
I think that might be the wrong SaVage
2022-08-26 15:09
0
#15
Faceit level 10  | 
Europe DygL
wrong savage
2022-08-26 15:10
0
save jks from g2 and make aus cs big again
2022-08-26 15:10
0
Ben Savage goat Q_Q
2022-08-26 15:10
0
nice to see AZR and jks reunion
2022-08-26 15:11
0
god i miss old Renegades they were fire
2022-08-26 15:11
0
#23
 | 
Germany Jonaah
i would like to see them on the major
2022-08-26 15:13
0
#24
 | 
England Jerry2805
YEAH THE BOYS
2022-08-26 15:15
0
2022-08-26 15:16
0
#26
 | 
Sweden nathanel
Lfg
2022-08-26 15:17
0
#27
 | 
Malaysia Gardss
LIAZZ LEFT
2022-08-26 15:18
0
2 replies
No he's still playing for order, right ?
2022-08-26 15:29
0
there is more than one austrlian team my dude
2022-08-26 15:34
0
EZ 4 ENCE
2022-08-26 15:18
0
they are back!!
2022-08-26 15:20
0
gratata ma boi welcome back
2022-08-26 15:25
0
#31
Old school: User been here for more than 10 years  | 
 | 
Sweden CharlesEmilNilsson
Weird no EU team picked up AZR as IGL, no?
2022-08-26 15:26
0
2 replies
They just standing in. Prolly to prove they can compete at high level. Jks effect
2022-08-26 15:34
0
#39
Old school: User been here for more than 10 years  | 
Latvia Kriipa
True. At least now i was tought he could be great addition to Mouz? Even i was watching Oceania Games with Dexter and Grayhound / Renegades stuff there was nothing special i guess they pick him because there wasn`t so much choices. But AZR could make some impact for sure, But... i dont know, maybe he just want to have more relax and fun with his stack to play a chill not going to team being alone and tried to do smth being 29 y/o. If he could go with Gratis then yeah but no idea which 2 spots of any team could be changing. He`s like guy who wants to stick with some teammates not going alone. I`m more want to look old Vox Eminor / Old Renegades type roster to some qual AZR / TopGun / Havoc / Yam / Gratisfaction.
2022-08-26 15:37
0
OMG AZR AND GRAT ARE BACK! LETS FUCKIN GOOOOOO
2022-08-26 15:29
0
hazr and azr best duo
2022-08-26 15:29
0
who will awp? grat is basically useless if he doesnt awp but sterling isnt a god rifler or anything and sterling potentially better awp than grat anyway but grat hasnt played in a while so might prove me wrong
2022-08-26 15:34
0
9 replies
azr and grata are an upgrade for any aussie team, they have a shot now
2022-08-26 15:43
0
#45
 | 
Germany Pforzfox
Immediately thought the same Yeah, they're two proven AUNZ players that will bring a lot of experience to your roster, but you essentially have two dedicated AWPers now...and your original AWP is younger plus has recently been more active
2022-08-26 15:45
0
5 replies
Initially grat wasn't even an awper
2022-08-26 15:47
0
1 reply
#49
 | 
Germany Pforzfox
But he's been an AWPer forever Well, I suppose we don't know whether he's been grinding rifles while he didn't play official matches, but at first glance the addition seems confusing
2022-08-26 15:52
0
“your roster” lol i dont really care much about teams from australia tbh, i just like any team from any region if they’re interesting
2022-08-26 16:21
0
2 replies
#74
 | 
Germany Pforzfox
Your roster as in "the roster you're on", not talking about you
2022-08-26 17:18
0
1 reply
riiight yeah i thought that mightve been what you meant
2022-08-27 00:35
0
to me grat always looked better on rifle than he did on awp
2022-08-26 18:39
0
1 reply
i cant remember enough grat
2022-08-27 00:35
0
I used to love watching these guys back in renegades and 100t, true underdogs... but since then... ouf, been sad
2022-08-26 15:36
0
"its gotta be s1mple right?"
2022-08-26 15:38
0
Honest to god forgot these two existed
2022-08-26 15:45
0
decent but Sterling > Gratata on awp ap0c done the right thing going to coach, should have got valiance in
2022-08-26 15:52
0
#51
 | 
Poland Tongus
Who cares?
2022-08-26 15:53
0
1 reply
PL of course creating cringe
2022-08-26 16:00
0
#52
jks | 
Russia btt1
SUPER HYPE
2022-08-26 15:57
0
Looks solid
2022-08-26 16:00
0
If gratis rifle = good move
2022-08-26 16:03
0
for taste and more it's encore
2022-08-26 16:07
0
#57
 | 
France Diodele
rip ap0c he is still good anyway
2022-08-26 16:09
0
gratisfaction was so underwhelming in extremum. Couldn't hit shit with the awp
2022-08-26 16:12
0
Gl mens!
2022-08-26 16:15
0
Is savage related to JKS?
2022-08-26 16:18
0
1 reply
Yeah it's his son
2022-08-26 17:09
0
#62
 | 
Nepal ekadeshma
The boys are back
2022-08-26 16:23
0
Grat still playing cs??? OMG !!!! He is so bad with awp. i want a awp_only-showmatch between Grat and junior. that would be hilarious . firing and reloading awp but no one able to frag.
2022-08-26 16:24
0
2 replies
#66
Cooper | 
Europe kuu1
Does he also rock that villain mustache?
2022-08-26 16:28
0
Grat is easily better than Junior, and he is better than sterling so it's still an upgrade if he is taking the awp but he might be taking rifle (which is probably good idea as he seems better with rifle than awp).
2022-08-26 17:10
0
#65
 | 
United States H4RP
Lets go I have missed these guys for so long. Such a shame what extremum did to the team. 100T should have kept them longer.
2022-08-26 16:28
0
AZR:s1mple
2022-08-26 16:30
0
#68
Faceit level 7  | 
GuardiaN | 
Europe MARK0N1
2 awps new meta
2022-08-26 16:49
0
The aussie junior
2022-08-26 16:53
0
YEAH THE BOYSSSS
2022-08-26 16:55
0
#71
Faceit level 8  | 
 | 
United States illusi0n[1g]
about time ap0c was bad
2022-08-26 16:58
0
#75
 | 
United States AuRoarA
I’m surprised people aren’t more excited about this
2022-08-26 17:21
0
Emm ok gl
2022-08-26 17:49
0
gl boys
2022-08-26 19:54
0
#80
 | 
France weedwalker
who will awp? grat is basically useless if he doesnt awp but sterling isnt a god rifler or anything
2022-08-26 20:55
0
#81
Old school: User been here for more than 10 years  | 
 | 
Austria gex0r
Gratisfaction suchca good AWP, i wish he;d get a good euro team
2022-08-26 21:01
0
all of the 5 of the Australian 100T roster are signed now
2022-08-27 02:37
0
#87
Faceit level 10  | 
 | 
Poland SebL
Actually really nice, ap0c as a coach is an exciting thing, the guy has huge brain for CS but he can't frag anymore, so making him a coach seems great, AZR is a great IGL, and Gratisfaction in 100T didn't look good as an AWPer, but as a rifler he was pretty ok I feel like, big upgrade for this roster, GL boys.
2022-08-27 13:29
0
Login or register to add your comment to the discussion.

Back to comment

Now playing
Thumbnail for stream
Brazil
MADHOUSE TV
17891 viewers
Top streams
All(64)
Casters(45)
Streamers(12)
Organizers(7)
Brazil
MADHOUSE TV
(17891)
Brazil
gaules
(9964)
Other
PGL
(8165)
Brazil
gaules
(4778)
Other
Thunderpick
(3340)
Russia
Paragon
(2910)
Other
PGL 2
(2565)
Russia
watchfulTV
(2019)
Brazil
gaules
(1801)
Russia
watchfulTV B
(1445)
Argentina
forg1
(1212)
Brazil
boltz
(1099)
Russia
Paragon 3
(925)
Brazil
fer
(880)
Argentina
forg1
(877)
Russia
HappyChucky
(850)
Brazil
nak
(721)
Russia
poka
(697)
Ukraine
Maincast
(640)
Belgium
ScreaM
(588)
Poland
IzakOOO
(583)
United States
Trottah
(491)
United States
freakazoid
(479)
Russia
m4ga
(440)
Brazil
mch
(439)
United States
Stewie2k
(436)
Russia
Paragon 2
(421)
Romania
Werty
(421)
Russia
SBolt
(398)
Argentina
elmorocho7
(314)
Ukraine
Maincast 2
(273)
France
KRL
(235)
United Kingdom
ESL TV
(230)
United States
Trucklover86
(188)
Brazil
mch
(168)
Finland
pelaajat
(167)
Brazil
VitinhO
(156)
France
Croissant Strike
(146)
Mongolia
maaRaa
(139)
Brazil
kabrafps
(132)
Russia
jmqa
(128)
Brazil
XISTERA
(123)
Other
PGL
(118)
Mongolia
Zilkenberg
(107)
Brazil
coldzera
(89)
Brazil
Tris_Mara
(87)
Other
PGL 2
(69)
Russia
Paragon
(58)
Kazakhstan
Paragon
(58)
Brazil
gaules TV 2
(46)
Brazil
BTSBrasilTV
(38)
United States
Regent
(37)
Brazil
VilacaTTV
(35)
Brazil
Napa
(30)
France
KRL 2
(25)
Brazil
gaules TV
(25)
United States
Trottah
(25)
Finland
Elisa Esports
(13)
United States
iamfusiion
(12)
Ukraine
WOLF
(6)
Brazil
kabrafps
(5)
Ukraine
Maincast
(2)
Brazil
BTSBrasilFPS
(1)
Brazil
JokerBR (YouTube)
(1)