TSM sign Snaski and Mognus to their Rocket League roster
Team SoloMid announced the signing of Joonas "Mognus" Salo and coach Nicolai "Snaski" Vistesen Andersen to their Rocket League team, who will help the North American organization in their venture into Rocket League Championship Series Season 9, set to kick off on February 1, 2020.
The announcement surfaced this Saturday, January 11, on TSM's Twitter page, where the NA organization unveiled Mognus and Snaski as replacements for Yanis "Alpha54" Champenois and coach Jake "Jake" Edwards, who left the team at the start of the month.
https://twitter.com/TSM/status/1216041522812026881
Mognus has started his career as a professional Rocket League player in June 2016, when he joined Cow Nose. There he played alongside Hampus "Zensuz" Öberg and 2017 RLCS S7 – Europe champion Niels "Nielskoek" Kok. Later he played for Aeriality, ProficiencyHQ, Secrecy, Resonant Esports, Element, Method, Run'n'Hide and most recently for Complexity Gaming.
Throughout his career, Mognus has seen a fair amount of success in Rocket League tournaments, with his biggest achievement to date coming in November 2017, when he finished second at RLCS Season 4 – Finals with Method. A year later, Mognus also claimed a bronze medal at RLCS Season 5 – Finals while playing for Complexity. Last season alone, Mognus finished second at RLCS Season 7 – Europe: RLRS, third-fourth at DreamHack Pro Circuit: Valencia 2019 and in November finished eighth at RLCS Season 8 – Europe.
Mognus also ended on the podium twice at the World Cup and finished second at 2017 League of Rockets World Cup with Finland, where he played alongside now-retired Joni "JZR" Humaloja and Otto "Metsanauris" Kaipiainen, who will be his new teammate at TSM.
With Metsanauris, Mognus also reached the Grand Finals of the NBC 2v2 tournament back in 2017, which Mognus claims to be the proudest achievement of his career, so it's nice to see he got a chance to reunite with his friend and former teammate.
Mognus’ Twitter post following the announcement read:
"I've now officially joined TSM! I'm thrilled to join such a legendary organisation and unite once again with my Finnish brotherman Metsanauris. We both have come a long way during our careers, we started the road together and I hope we can end it together as well."
Playing alongside the Finnish duo and leading the team will be the experienced TSM's captain Remco "remkoe" den Boer.
Snaski, who was assigned as TSM's new coach entered the Rocket League competitive scene back in December 2015 when he teamed up with Supersonic Avengers. He later played for REUNITED, The Leftovers and Fnatic where he spent most of his career. In January 2019, Snaski joined Vikings, where he remained for barely two months before he got acquired by Dignitas as their new head coach.
After four months as Dignitas head coach, Snaski made one last appearance in the scene as a player with Complexity, where he played alongside Mognus for five months, until the organization decided to release their roster on December 9, 2019. Now the duo will re-join at TSM, where they will look to cause some damage in the scene and help TSM establish themselves as one of the best Rocket League teams in the world.
"I am very proud that I got the chance to represent TSM," said Snaski.
"I grew up watching TSM take over the League of Legends scene, and helping esports become what it is today. I truly hope that I can help push the Rocket League team to reach the standard of the name TSM."
TSM entered the Rocket League professional scene on January 4, 2019, when the organization acquired We Dem Girlz roster, which fielded Jordan "EyeIgnite" Stellon, remkoe and Metsanauris. Despite the trio's success in 2018, when they won ELEAGUE Cup 2018: Rocket League and finished third in RLCS Season 6 – Finals, remkoe and co. couldn't find any stability while playing under TSM banner.
In August, TSM released EyeIgnite and replaced him with Alpha54, but even that did not help the team reach any notable results. In European RLCS, TSM finished sixth in Season 7 and seventh in Season 8. Their best result in 2019 came at DreamHack Pro Circuit: Dallas 2019, where TSM finished second. That being said, there are a lot of reasons for TSM fans to look forward to 2020 season with optimism.
The arrival of Snaski and Mognus, will add a lot of quality to TSM, who seem set to compete for top spots in RCLS. Mognus is a very talented and experienced player, while Snaski is not a pushover in that department either. Throughout his four-year-long career as a professional RL player, Snaski has established himself as an excellent player, who specialises in defence, especially goalkeeping, which is exactly what TSM needed, considering they were known for their lacklustre defence last season.
The first test for TSM's new roster will come this February when Rocket League Championship Series Season 9 begins. The tournament will feature 10 teams, who will compete for a spot in the RLCS Season 9 Finals and the lion's share of $313,973.60
