Winter is coming – LG Dire Wolves return to SMITE, looking to make an impact at SWC

Alexander “HughZ” Hughes

Dire Wolves continue their big off season, acquiring Oceanic SMITE Champion’s “Team Pandamonium” prior to their competing in the SMITE World Championships in Atlanta, Georgia in early 2017. This isn’t the first venture by the Dire Wolves into SMITE – from mid 2015 through to March of this year LGDW were a renowned presence in the Oceanic SMITE community. After roster instability led to the disbandment of the squad after Split 1 of this year, Dire Wolves focused their efforts outside of SMITE but always with an eye towards returning to the Battleground of the Gods.

“I’m very excited to be back in SMITE” says Nathan Mott, Founder and CEO of LG Dire Wolves. “LG Dire Wolves are one of the first eSports clubs to enter SMITE Oceania, I’ve always kept the scene close to me even when we parted ways with the previous squad earlier this year. We’re privileged to have the opportunity to support their upcoming SWC campaign giving them and Oceania the best shot possible.”

Read: Team Pandamonium Wins SMITE Oceania Championship

The tremendous amount of support we have received from them in order to boot camp and put on the best possible showing at SWC is incredible, we couldn’t ask for anything more

With this new organisation comes some changes for the team – longtime captain and jungler Daniel “Rowe” Rowe will be stepping down from the captaincy and former LGDW captain Nick “RichardCastle” Gallaugher will be taking over his former role. Speaking on working with his old organisation, RichardCastle said “I’m absolutley delighted to be working with LG Dire Wolves again, I have nothing but great memories of our previous partnership and can’t wait to represent them and our region at the SMITE World Championships. I’ve kept in touch with Rippii and followed the clubs progress in other areas, I have so much respect for everything he and the others have been able to accomplish. The tremendous amount of support we have received from them in order to boot camp and put on the best possible showing at SWC is incredible, we couldn’t ask for anything more.”

The team is heading to the United States very early this year to bootcamp ahead of a challenging SMITE World Championship, looking to do away with the disappointing memories of last year. Planning on practicing as much as possible, the expectations from the SMITE community are low but within the team, a sense of purpose and drive have this team focused and itching to get to Atlanta as soon as possible.

This has not been the only organisation change in SMITE OCE post-regionals – Alpha Sydney’s squad has disbanded with all members looking to join new members for next year. Former captain Torrey “Torreyskiez” Nghi said about the team splitting, “Everyone on Alpha Sydney decided it was for the best that we all parted ways as most of us had different ways about how we thought about the game which sometimes caused conflict between us, I wish them all the best of luck for next year. My plans regarding smite is that I’m going to be lft (looking for team) or I’ll make a new team for next split that is able to make it to LAN again as it was such a great experience for me.”

Next year is still some ways off, for now, everyone is going to be watching Dire Wolves and tracking their progress at worlds with great interest: is this the year OCE can make a run beyond the placement stages, or will last years ghosts come back to haunt them? Make sure to tune into Hi-Rez Tv, January 5th-8th to find out.