Big developments in the North American Counter-Strike community today as two of America's most successful teams reach agreement on a contract trade, engineering changes to their rosters in the wake of the ESWC 2008 World Finals.

The most profound of these movements centers around Shaun "Hostile" Catron, a longtime CS veteran and notably outspoken competitor. Today marked the obtainment of Catron's contract by EG.usa from his home for the majority of the 2008 year, MoB Gaming.

The choice to remove Ryan "Ninespot" Bell came from team leader Nazar "steno" Vynnytsky. Evil Geniuses organizational head Alex Garfield went into further detail.

"Steno is the leader of our team, both inside and outside of the game, and this is a decision he wanted to make. He has an extremely calculated approach to the teams he builds, and he wanted five players all capable of playing at an extremely fast pace while making quick decisions. Ryan is a fantastic player. He played extremely well for us on LAN and was also a very consistent presence overall, but Steno simply felt that in order to get to the play style he wanted, this change was necessary."

When questioned regarding if the availability of Catron lead to the dismissal of Bell, Garfield explained that, "the decision with Shaun didn't really happen before or after the decision with Ryan; as is always the case with roster changes in Counter-Strike, the two were essentially interconnected".

In exchange for Catron, MoB Gaming gained control of Scott "Evolution" Cavallero. The East coast player was most recently involved in what many saw as a suprise development, as Vynnytsky benched Cavallero in favor of new pick-up Fadil "Nepo" Canovic, whos relatively unknown status brought upon the doubt of many.

In tandem with their new talent, MoB has moved Matt "Lim" Beahan up to the starting rotation to fill a spot formally occupied by Thomas "thoMz" Garcia who recently went inactive for an undetermined amount of time.

EG.usa Roster

Jordan "n0thing" Gilbert
Michael "chE" Guevara
Nazar "steno" Vynnytsky
Fadil "Nepo" Canovic
Shaun "Hostile" Catron

MoB Gaming Roster

Joe "perez" Perez
Ryan "Pham" Pham
Noah "Striker" Alvarado
Scott "evolution" Cavallero
Matt "Lim" Beahan