STARK have officially replaced Niklas ‘okcya’ Koskinen with Miska ‘mlwhisper’ Koistinen. The difference in the lineup had been seen during several recent games, fueling speculation among fans. The roster change is also paired with a reassignment of roles within the squad in hopes to improve results.
Farewell @okcyadota , welcome in @mlwhisper! Changes in our @DOTA2 team. Read more at https://t.co/uX6mU0HPoi
— STARK (@STARKeSports) February 7, 2016
STARK have officially announced that Miska “mlwhisper” Koistinen has taken the place of Niklas “okcya” Koskinen. mlwhisper had been standing in with the team recently, but no official word had been released until now.
In addition to the roster change, the squad will also move Joni “Buugi” Fält back into the support role.
Although okcya is a skilled player and did bring some new insights, the team was not progressing and so they made the conclusion that something had to be changed which resulted into the decision for the roster change in combination with changes in the roles of the players.
The whole Team and the STARK Management wants to thank Niklas for his efforts during the last months and wishes him all the best for the future.
STARK has maintained a strong presence in the European scene. They have been participating in various tournaments and qualifiers. However, they have had difficulty securing satisfactory placement in the events. This latest change is an attempt to remedy that.
STARK
STARK is formerly known as 4 Anchors and Sea Captain, a Finnish team formed in September 2014, consisting of Kalle “Trixi” Saarinen (formerly of Fnatic), Lasse “MATUMBAMAN” Urpalainen, Riku “Buugi” Fält, Mikko “Vaalix” Ristimäki and Jesse “JerAx” Vainikka (formerly of QPad). JerAx left in January 2015 to Team Tinker, before he switched to SEA team MVP.Hot6ix and moved to Korea.
At the end of August, Lasse “MATUMBAMAN” Urpalainen left the team for 5Jungz (Team Liquid) and was replaced by Niklas “okcya” Koskinen. STARK picked up the Finnish team at the end of September.
The team first took third at the WCA 2015 qualifiers, then took higher placements in PGL Dota 2 Pro-AM, StarLadder i-League qualifiers, MDL Winter 2015 qualifiers and BTS EU series 1.
The team was able to then make some progress and took second place in the ProDota EU cup, after being swept by Team Spirit.
However, they then took 9-12th place in UCC, 3-4th in Shanghai Major European Open Qualifiers and 7-8th place in both Captains Draft and ProDota Cup EU #2.
STARK roster:
Miska “mlwhisper” Koistinen
Sampsa “nemphy” Kutvonen
Kalle “Trixi” Saarinen
Mikko “Vaalix” Ristimäki
Riku “Buugi” Fält
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