Today, competitive Quake lost one of the good ones as GaRpY decides to hang up the gauntlet and call it a day. Although I (Dylan Winn) have only known GaRpY a short time, his achievements have left me in awe.

Gareth “GaRpY” Marshall is one of esports founding fathers, especially so in the European and UK scenes. Gareth carved out a name for himself back in Half-Life Deathmatch before making the eventual transition to Quake. After finding his footing in Quake 3/ Quake 4 and Quake Live, he signed on Team Dignitas in 2007, and went on to have a very successful gaming career for a number of years. 

Fast foward to the present, and we find ourselves with a hot new Quake title, and like many old-school Quake players, Gareth decided to return and throw his hat back into the ring with the early access release of Quake Champions. Here our own history begins and Myztro was founded to bring a few like-minded Quake players together to once again compete on the main stage.

Gareth, alongside new teammates Vo0, Hypno and lifelong friend/rival Hell, joined our organization on July 6th 2017, when Team Envico was picked up by Myztro. This Sacrifice team went on to compete at the QuakeCon 2017 World Championships, which were held in late August of that year. After a long road of qualifiers and regional competitions, which held some of the most exciting games we’ve had the pleasure to watch, GaRpY and the rest of the Sacrifice team placed 5th/6th.

After QuakeCon and the World Championships, we saw GaRpY compete at a number of Majors. First, DreamHack Denver 2017 saw Myztro dominate the Duel category with Raisy taking the win this time around, GaRpY finishing second and Dooi also coming in the top four. But GaRpy would go on to get his revenge…and make history in the process.

At ESWC 2017, GaRpY was able to go the one further and finish as Duel Champion, in the process becoming the first every competitive gamer from the UK to win a Major!

Rounding off 2017, the Sacrifice team qualified for and then competed at DreamHack Winter 2017 and placed top 9. With Sacrifice starting to flounder GaRpY turned his focus to Online 2v2 and Duel cups, and competed with a number of teammates, but primarily with his good friend and longtime Quake rival Aaron “HELL” Jones as the duo under the name Myztro UK before going on to compete with international teammate Dooi under the team name Myztro UKSA at several LAN events.

Coming into 2018, we had to wait quite some time before Major events were announced and Sacrifice floundered. GaRpy competed in a number of online tournaments in both 2v2 and Duel in the build-up to LAN events.

Gareth placed second in the first Quake Open League Elite Division Duel tournament after a tightly fought contest throughout the bracket. Come QuakeCon 2018, GaRpY and Dooi teamed up to place 3rd/4th in the QuakeCon 2v2 tournament, and Gareth placed 3rd/4th in the Duels Showdown. He returned to ESWC 2018 in an attempt to defend his title, and finished with a 3rd/4th placement, while his fellow Myztro teammates, Clawz and Raisy, swept the podium.

GaRpY has gone on to represent Myztro as a player and ambassador throughout 2017 and 2018 at Quake Champions events and has done us proud. He proved he wasn’t past Quake, and in the process, he got what he wanted all these years… that major win.

A note from the Editor Chris Jones

Gareth isn’t just a fantastic teammate to all the Myztro Quake players, he has proved to be a consummate professional and passionate friend to everyone he has met or brought into the Myztro family.

His event preparation and bootcamping have been fantastic, wowing the community by going so far as to delay his own honeymoon to get in a few weeks more practice before major events. He has been ever present in online competitions honing his craft and been ready to scrim at the drop of a hat. 

He has helped raise money for charity, took part in community meet and greet events, and celebrated birthdays and milestones with the extended Myztro family and I can say on behalf of the whole team that it’s been awesome!

So it would be foolish to end it now right? We agree, and most importantly Gareth “GaRpY” Marshall agrees. It may be the end of a legacy for his days in Quake, but as one door closes, another one opens.

Myztro Gaming enters #blackout. We are thrilled to announce @myztrogarpy / @myztrohell to our official roster

Where are we dropping lads? 🙂 #ZOWIE @GamersApparel #Twitch #NewChapter pic.twitter.com/l9Tma2rKiN— Myztro Gaming (@MyztroGaming) December 5, 201

Once more teaming with his brother from another mother and Myztro teammate Aaron “Hell” Jones, who also has taken a step back from competing in Quake as well, GaRpy has taken a liking to Blackout. Gareth has been really enjoying the change of pace and gameplay experience that Treyarch title Black Ops 4 offers with its Battle Royal mode, 
Blackout. So watch this space and expect him to be flying the Myztro banner once more in the near future, albeit in a different arena.