?

Former Denial eSports captain Lewis "Blackout" Spencer announced a new team of six players, including GosuCup #1 champion Ignite and several Managrind champions and high finishers.

With Denial eSports' and Reason Gaming's rosters coming to an end due to internal issues, several known Hearthstone players were left teamless. Announced today was Team Phoenix, headed by Blackout who captained Denial before the fallout and who'll now lead a roster of five others.

Those who follow weekly cups will be familiar with most of the Phoenix players. Next to Ignite we see GosuCup #1 champion Ignite - who also has high finishes in the IEM Katowice qualifiers - as well as GosuCup bronze finalists Skip and Semijew. 

The other two players are Kunzi, a Managrind silver medalist, and Bulgarian BlazingGlory who's holding the number one spot on the EU ladder.

"I'm excited with the position the team is heading in as well as the aims we've all got," Blackout told GosuGamers. "Playing with some people who are new to the competitive team scene (Semijew and Blazing) as well as my good friends Jan and Nuno is really cool; I've known the latter for coming up to 6 months now and they're two of the most dependable people I know.

Denial was a super good team whilst it existed; we were winning just about everything and performing really well in all tournaments. It's evident a team has talent when all of the players of the team are now playing in top teams again, be it Team 5 or Refuse. However sometimes things just don't work out as planned, people have other stuff on their mind and the best option is to part the way we did (but thankfully on good terms).

Overall in the short term I'll be reaching out to sponsors for the current team as it has huge potential to potentially become one of the "elite" teams in Hearthstone along with  the current top dogs Dogehouse and Liquid, and in that time all we can do is try and do our best in tournaments and hope to gain as many fans as possible."

When reached for comment, GosuCup #1 champion Nuno "Ignite" Pinho had this to say:
 

First and foremost, thank you for the opportunity to make a public statement. Secondly, I'd like to thank Lewis "Blackout" Spencer for his persistence in gathering a great group of players with the same goal in mind - to excel and thrive at the highest stage possible. I feel that team Phoenix has assembled a great roster with the ability to compete at its best within the team and tournament environment.

I very much enjoyed the experiences I had with my former team-mates in Denial eSports, they helped growing immensely as an HearthStone player and as a gamer. I'm glad every player on that roster has found a new home where they can continue evolving in the competitive scene, be it Refuse, team5 or Phoenix.

The team is looking good and I'm looking forward to share thoughts and hours of gameplay with my new colleagues in order to stay ahead of the curve and conquer the scene!

Blackout (C)
Ignite
Skip
Semijew
Kunzi
BlazingGlory