Monte add AZUWU, Bymas

The Ukrainian organization has also signed afro to a long-term deal.

AZUWU is set to play his first game for Monte later today

Monte have announced the additions of Aurimas "⁠Bymas⁠" Pipiras and Oscar "⁠AZUWU⁠" Bell as well as the long-term signing of Aurélien "⁠afro⁠" Drapier, who has been standing in for the team since April.

The news brings Monte's roster back up to full strength after they parted ways with Ali "⁠hAdji⁠" Haïnouss and Vladyslav "⁠leen⁠" Stepanov at the start of June.

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Having put themselves on the map in 2023 with a run to the playoffs of BLAST.tv Paris Major, Monte enjoyed a fruitful stint around the top 10 of the world ranking across the next 12 months, which included a win at ESL Challenger Jönköping and a top-four in ESL Pro League S18.

With the departure of Alexander "⁠br0⁠" Bro for Astralis early in 2024 Monte's results began to trend downwards, and their long-standing core of Volodymyr "⁠Woro2k⁠" Veletniuk, Sergiy "⁠DemQQ⁠" Demchenko and Szymon "⁠kRaSnaL⁠" Mrozek steadily departed as well over the next year.

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The team has endured a particularly turbulent time over the last 12 months, fielding at least 10 different players in the attempt to find a long-term constellation.

afro has been one of those players, and has enjoyed solid form since joining as a stand-in in April. The Frenchmen has averaged a 1.13 rating and helped guide the team to a notable top-eight finish in YaLLa Compass Contenders.

Bymas also already has some games with Monte under his belt, having featured in CCT Season 3 Europe Series 3 before the player break. The Lithuanian has been without a long-term home since he departed Into the Breach last year.

Completing the roster is AZUWU, who was part of SAW's international experiment across the first season of 2025. After some initial success that experiment waned as time wore on, and AZUWU was dropped in the off-season as SAW went back to an all-Portuguese roster.

Monte are now:

Aurélien "⁠afro⁠" Drapier
Jack "⁠Gizmy⁠" von Spreckelsen
Gytis "⁠ryu⁠" Glušauskas
Aurimas "⁠Bymas⁠" Pipiras
Oscar "⁠AZUWU⁠" Bell

Ivan "⁠AiyvaN⁠" Semenets (coach)