Following a successful perfect regular season and first place finish in ESEA Invite Season 24, froyotech will be saying goodbye to their scout Freestate, who cited retirement from TF2 as his reason for departure.

Freestate says goodbye to his TF2 career (picture by Ness "uberchain" Delacroix and Jasmine "Jasbutts" Ho)

Freestate was acquired by froyotech back in Season 21 as part of the Strawberry Mangoes merge with b4nny’s team in 2016. Before the acquisition, Freestate’s prior experience was not something to overlook, making appearances with teams such as The Five Dollar Club, Attack of the Yommies, and the aforementioned Strawberry Mangoes.

Since donning the green and black colors, Freestate had an incredibly successful time as a part of North America’s best TF2 team, taking every ESEA Invite title with froyotech since joining the team.

In his offline feats with froyotech, Freestate took part in the team’s journey to i58 last August, where they took 3rd place after falling to Full Tilt in the Lower Bracket Finals. Most recently, he took 1st place at ESA Rewind LAN in January, where he and froyotech defeated Se7en, a relatively new team consisting of half of the Crowns eSports Club roster that took first place at i58.

We were able to get a word from Freestate regarding this decision, and his response is as follows:

I'm leaving the game because my life has started quickly moving in another direction, and I feel like I need to move with it. I can't afford to keep waiting for TF2 to get big. I took my commitment to the team very seriously, so every season I always gave them 100%. Because of everything happening in my life right now, I know I won't be able to give them that same level of commitment. I know that if I did continue to play, I would end up letting my teammates down, so I feel like it's better to just step down and let someone else take my place. Leaving the scene is honestly terrifying, because this game has been a huge part of my life for so many years, but I know this is the right decision for me. I'm satisfied with what I've accomplished during my time in the scene, and I'm ready to move on to other things. TF2 will always have a special place in my heart though, and I'm hard-pressed to believe anything will completely fill the hole it leaves. I'm gonna miss this game and all the awesome people I've met through it. Huge thanks to all my supporters and fans. I'm glad I could bring some enjoyment into your lives. Shoutout to my teammates. Couldn't have done any of it without you. <3 you froyo. Peace everyone :)

Following Freestate’s departure, froyotech’s roster is now: