CRUC1AL joins Gentle Mates as stand-in for Stake Ranked

Joey "CRUC1AL" Steusel, a Dutch sniper, will serve as a stand-in for Gentle Mates in the upcoming Stake Ranked Episode 3. His inclusion comes after Antonio "MartinezSa" Martinez left the team for HEROIC on July 7.

At 29 years old, CRUC1AL has been a free agent since the beginning of the year following his time with Nemesis. In the past six months, he has only participated in two official matches on HLTV, after briefly filling in for illwill during the CCT Europe Series 4 due to illness.

CRUC1AL's last appearance at a LAN event was in November at the XZONE Masters Season 1, making this upcoming tournament an important opportunity for him. He will debut with Gentle Mates against Wildcard on Wednesday at Stake Ranked.

In addition to Stake Ranked, Gentle Mates are set to take part in the online stage of BLAST Bounty Season 2 from July 21-26, although their roster for that event is yet to be confirmed. Furthermore, the organization is reportedly in talks to exit Counter-Strike, with potential new affiliations including Heretics, KOI, and GiantX, as mentioned by Sebastien "KRL" Perez prior to MartinezSa's move.

The roster for Gentle Mates at Stake Ranked Episode 3, taking place from July 15-18 in Barcelona, Spain, includes: - Alejandro "alex" Masanet - David "dav1g" Granado Bermudo - Alejandro "mopoz" Fernández-Quejo Cano - Pere "sausol" Solsona Saumell - Joey "CRUC1AL" Steusel (stand-in)

Angel "repk3ys" Gracia Navarro is listed as the team's coach.