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Brazilian Counter-Strike 2 esports team, RED Canids, announced the benching of João “felps” Vasconcellos and Henrique “HEN1” Teles following a poor display during the South American regional qualifier for the BLAST.tv Austin Major.
The benching of the ex-Imperial Esports duo marks the first change RED Canids have made to their CS2 division since the arrival of Andre “drop” Abreu in March and the ninth in the past year.
The roster is now left with just four active members in drop, Carlos “venomzera” Dias Junior, Marcelo “coldzera” David, and Marcelo “nyezin” Ramos.
Anunciamos que os jogadores @felperaa e @HEN1 foram movidos ao banco de reservas e estão abertos à proposta.
O foco foi, desde o começo, a vaga no Major e sabemos que este também era o foco de vocês. Tentamos, mas mesmo assim a classificação não veio e agradecemos a ambos pela… pic.twitter.com/kqp8psBufS
— RED Canids Kalunga (@REDCanids) April 17, 2025
The abrupt benching follows RED Canids’ last-place finish at BLAST.tv Austin Major 2025: South American Regional Qualifier, where drop and co. placed last in Group B with two 0-2 losses against Legacy and BESTIA.
Felps and HEN1 were the worst-performing duo in the match against Legacy, averaging 0.63 and 0.68 performance ratings, respectively.
They have, however, shown better form against BESTIA with 0.99 and 1.08, but even that was not enough for RED Canids to avoid losing 10-13 on Inferno and 9-13 on Anubis.
As stated in the announcement, the driving factor behind the arrival of the former Imperial Esports players was, from the beginning, to qualify for the upcoming Major.
HEN1 joined RED Canids in August 2024 on loan from Imperial Esports and signed for the team at the end of January.
On the other side, Felps put on RED Canids’s jersey in January when the team benched David “dav1deuS” Tapia Maldonado and Gabriel “nython” Lino after failing to qualify for the Perfect World Shanghai Major 2024.
Neither of the two players accomplished much during their relatively short stints with RED Canids; however, they have both posted promising numbers.
HEN1 averaged a 1.09 performance rating over the last eight months, while felps posted 1.12 in the three months he was with RED Canids.
RED Canids have yet to reveal who will fill in the missing gaps, but more information should become available through the team’s social channels.
