ex-Nouns to play as Moneyball, pick up Swedish duo

The North American squad is bringing in two rather unknown commodities as it searches for a new home.

The Nouns trio of Matthew "⁠Cryptic⁠" Whitmore, Paytyn "⁠junior⁠" Johnson and Anthony "⁠CLASIA⁠" Kearney will continue playing together under the name Moneyball, the team confirmed to Dust2.us, with Swedish duo Simon "⁠nomizz⁠" Palm Niléhn and Anton "⁠dottie⁠" Alevärn rounding out the roster.

The decision to move on from Nouns came after the team lost financial backing from the organization after failing to qualify for the Austin Major. Previously, two proposals to fund the team had been defeated by the members of Nouns, a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO).

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As support dried up, the team lost its two most experienced members, William "⁠RUSH⁠" Wierzba and head coach Eric "⁠adreN⁠" Hoag.

Jaxon "⁠Peeping⁠" Cornwell, who is averaging an impressive 1.25 rating in 2025, has also opted to leave the squad and is set to join a European core after the Austin Major, according to Cryptic.

nomizz and dottie are virtual unknowns, even in the Swedish scene. They played together locally in 2021 and 2022 on X Gamer and Hotspurs. Earlier this year, they relocated to North America and resumed competing on Daaku.

nomizz links up with ex-Nouns trio

The Swedish duo played for Moneyball over the weekend as they finished second to NRG in PrizePicks NA Revival Series 6, with dottie averaging a 1.40 rating in the tournament.

According to Dust2.us, the team will finish out the ESL Challenger League season under Nouns with Peeping and Khizar "⁠Momo⁠" Rehman as stand-ins. They are slated to face Vagrants on May 6 in the first round of the upper bracket after finishing the regular stage with a 21-7 record.

Moneyball have the following roster:

Paytyn "⁠junior⁠" Johnson
Matthew "⁠Cryptic⁠" Whitmore
Anthony "⁠CLASIA⁠" Kearney
Simon "⁠nomizz⁠" Palm Niléhn
Anton "⁠dottie⁠" Alevärn