{"id":15604,"date":"2022-09-06T13:32:21","date_gmt":"2022-09-06T13:32:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blix.gg\/news\/cs-2\/minor-roster-moves-after-the-summer-break"},"modified":"2022-09-06T13:32:21","modified_gmt":"2022-09-06T13:32:21","slug":"minor-roster-moves-after-the-summer-break","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blix.gg\/blog\/news\/cs-2\/minor-roster-moves-after-the-summer-break\/","title":{"rendered":"Minor roster moves after the Summer Break"},"content":{"rendered":"

With the player break nearing its end and the BLAST Premier Fall Groups fast approaching, a lot of teams have opted to make changes to their rosters. So, which teams have chosen to make adjustments thus far during the break? Here’s a list of some more notable and interesting roster moves after the Summer break.<\/p>\n

HEN1 to MIBR<\/h2>\n

Henrique “HEN1” Teles has been added to MIBR as the team’s fifth player. The AWPer steps in to take up Breno “brnz4n” Poletto’s AWPing responsibilities after Imperial-bound chelo left the position open.<\/p>\n

HEN1 had been without a team for the previous month before joining MIBR. After 00NATION acquired Epitacio “TACO” de Melo, Eduardo “dumau” Wolkmer, and Bruno “latto” Rebelatto back in July, HEN1 was let go from his GODSENT contract.<\/p>\n

In 2020, the Brazilian was ranked as the 16th best player of the year on HLTV’s Top #20 player rankings, which is only one example of HEN1’s illustrious career. Additionally, he has several outstanding tournaments finishes to his credit, most notably when his Immortals team made it to the PGL Major Krakow final and his MVP-winning effort with FURIA in the online ESL Pro League Season 12 NA.<\/p>\n

The Brazilians will have to go above and beyond at ESL Pro League Season 16, considering they are in a group with the world’s number-one team, FaZe Clan, and G2 and BIG.<\/p>\n

Another French shuffle<\/h2>\n

Another French shuffle is upon us, and it was kick-started by the removal of Audric ‘\u009cJACKZ’\u009d Jug from G2, K\u00c3\u00a9vin ‘\u009cmisutaaa’\u009d Rabier’\u0099s departure from Vitality, and Nathan ‘\u009cNBK-‘\u009d Schmitt’\u0099s benching from MOUZ. It was recently announced that K\u00c3\u00a9vin ‘\u009cmisutaaa’\u009d Rabier and Nathan ‘\u009cNBK-‘\u009d Schmitt would replace Nicolas ‘\u009cKeoz’\u009d Dgus and Jayson ‘\u009cKyojin’\u009d Nguyen on the Falcons side. A couple of days earlier, it was also made public that Audric ‘\u009cJACKZ’\u009d Jug would be replacing Lucas ‘\u009cLucky’\u009d Chastang on HEET.<\/p>\n

\"Audric Audric ‘\u009cJACKZ’\u009d Jug at the PC during his time playing with G2<\/span><\/div>\n

Image: Copyright PGL<\/a> | [Jo\u00c3\u00a3o Ferreira]<\/p>\n

These international talents will help the French Counter-Strike scene grow and aid the development of regional talents. Vitality acquired Lotan ‘\u009cSpinx Giladi’\u009d Giladi, majority French, and Falcons and HEET are the two biggest French teams. Can either Falcons or HEET propel French Counter-Strike back to the top again?<\/p>\n

Ex-Dignitas sniper hallzerk replaces junior on Complexity.<\/h2>\n

Complexity entered 2022 with an all-new American project, and it struggled to get off the ground. Their most recent outing was at the IEM Cologne 2022 Play-In, where Johnny ‘\u009cJT’\u009d Theodosiou’\u0099s men failed to qualify for the main event, exiting the Play-In in last place. This extended the Complexity squad’\u0099s losing streak to ten in a row, and it was obvious to most that roster changes were on the horizon heading into the Summer break.<\/p>\n

American sniper Paytyn ‘\u009cjunior’\u009d Johnson showed promise throughout the pandemic. His stint with Triumph in 2020 netted the young AWPer three shoutouts from other professional players as a ‘\u009cBold Prediction’\u009d to step out as a big talent heading into the next year. This attention netted him a spot on FURIA and then eventually on this blockbuster all-American Complexity side. The expectations were high, but the lineup ultimately fell short, and these poor results were in part attributed to the poor performances of the sniper, as mentioned earlier.<\/p>\n

\"Paytyn Paytyn ‘\u009cjunior’\u009d Johnson waits for the start of a match during his time with Complexity<\/span><\/div>\n

Image: Copyright PGL<\/a> | [Jo\u00c3\u00a3o Ferreira]<\/p>\n

Therefore, heading into the Summer break, the Complexity organization decided to bench the underperforming 21-year-old and replace him with Norwegian AWPer H\u00c3\u00a5kon ‘\u009challzerk’\u009d Fj\u00c3\u00a6rli. The Ex-Dignitas star will look to turn the fortunes of this American roster around and propel the Dallas Cowboys-backed organization to some strong results in the second half of the year.<\/p>\n

Copenhagen Flames embark on a new project.<\/h2>\n

After the sale of their previous roster, Copenhagen Flames is looking to embark on a new project and again build another Danish powerhouse. They acquired Thomas “birdfromsky” Due to Frederiksen from ECSTATIC, who is hot property at the moment due to the immense success he found with this international side. Johannes “b0RUP” Borup and Thomas “TMB” Bundsb\u00c3\u00a6k were signed from MAD Lions alongside Rasmus “raalz” Steensborg from Sprout to round out this new lineup’\u0099s rifle trio.<\/p>\n

Alongside this Danish quartet, Romanian star Iulian “regali” Harj\u00c4\u0083u was brought in to fill the AWP role for the Flames. Prior to this move, the nineteen-year-old played for academy side Fnatic Rising and showed his worth in the WePlay Academy Leagues. This roster has a few tenured players – Johannes “b0RUP” Borup formally from Heroic and Thomas “birdfromsky” Due Frederiksen, who is a fairly experienced leader, as well as some young promising talents in Iulian “regali” Harj\u00c4\u0083u, and Thomas “TMB” Bundsb\u00c3\u00a6k. This fact leads me to believe that this lineup has immense potential and can certainly reach the heights of the previous Copenhagen Flames squad.<\/p>\n

Apeks looking to reach new heights<\/h2>\n

This Summer break has prompted the Norwegian organization to head in an international direction. They began with the acquisition of Jakub “kuben” Gurczy\u00c5\u0084ski as their coach, who was famously part of the Golden Five. It is unknown whether the organization or the newly obtained Pole caused the subsequent signings, but they started with Lithuanian Justinas “jL” Lekavicius from MAD Lions – who is looking to be a phenomenal talent and can certainly develop into something special.<\/p>\n

Richard “shox” Papillon completed the Apeks roster and was brought in from Team Liquid. The French veteran will bring some much-needed experience and guidance to this lineup and, I believe, will be an incredibly important signing. Another announcement was also made, and it was that Slovakian Martin ‘\u009cSTYKO’\u009d Styk would be taking over the reins as the leader of the international squad. This is exciting news as the 26-year-old was previously the IGL for mousesports in 2017 and 2018, where he won three tournaments – V4 Future Sports Festival 2018, StarSeries i-League Season 4, and ESG Tour Mykonos 2017. Can Martin ‘\u009cSTYKO’\u009d Styk as the new leader, propel this international lineup to new heights in the second half of the year?<\/p>\n

\"Martin Martin ‘\u009cSTYKO’\u009d Styk jokes with a team mate between games at DreamHack<\/span><\/div>\n

Image: Copyright Dreamhack<\/a> | [Adela Sznajder]<\/p>\n

A complete overhaul in the Sprout camp<\/h2>\n

Before the break, Sprout is undergoing a complete overhaul of its Counter-Strike division. They parted ways with Rasmus “raalz” Steensborg, who departed to Copenhagen Flames, and Timo ‘\u009cSpiidi<\/a>‘\u009d Richter, who had been a part of the German organization for almost five years. Their new project involves signing two new players – Ismail ‘\u009crefrezh’\u009d Ali from Heroic and Rasmus ‘\u009cZyphon’\u009d Nordfoss from Copenhagen Flames. These two new Danish additions join German sniper Fritz ‘\u009cslaxz-‘\u009d Dietrich, Danish rifle talent Victor ‘\u009cStaehr’\u009d Staehr, and up-and-coming Romanian talent Lauren\u00c8\u009biu ‘\u009clauNX’\u009d \u00c8\u009a\u00c3\u00a2rlea.<\/p>\n

This Sprout side has some serious talent now and can look to develop into a serious tier-one side. Another interesting thing to note is Ismail ‘\u009crefrezh’\u009d Ali is taking over the international squad’s leadership duties. It will be great to see how capable the incredibly skilled Danish player will be under the pressure of the IGL role.<\/p>\n

Evil Geniuses field two new lineups<\/h2>\n

In all honesty, Evil Geniuses have been a joke of an organization in the Counter-Strike space for a little while now. Their results have been pitiful, and their roster changes seem to have little thought behind them. Before the Summer break, Damien “maLeK” Marcel, Jake ‘\u009cStewie2K’\u009d Yip, and William ‘\u009cRUSH’\u009d Wierzba were axed from the main roster. In their place, Sanzhar ‘\u009cneaLan’\u009d Iskhakov from K23, Jadan ‘\u009cHexT’\u009d Postma from Carpe Diem, and new coach Daniel ‘\u009cVorborg’\u009d Vorborg from Copenhagen Flames.<\/p>\n

A new roster always comes with new motivation, and youngster Jadan ‘\u009cHexT’\u009d Postma could develop into a massive talent. However, the core of this Evil Geniuses roster is still present, and I will be surprised if they start making playoff appearances soon. Alongside this move, Evil Geniuses made some changes to their secondary squad – EG.CD. William ‘\u009cRUSH’\u009d Wierzba was moved to this squad, In-Game leader Peter ‘\u009cstanislaw’\u009d Jarguz was brought back and will join Connor ‘\u009cchop’\u009d Sullivan, Jerric ‘\u009cwiz’\u009d Jiang, and Colby ‘\u009cWalco’\u009d Walsh on the Evil Geniuses: Carpe Diem lineup.<\/p>\n

Regardless of the success of these rosters, what Evil Geniuses is doing is vital for the North American Counter-Strike scene and will certainly help to develop some of these potential talents that may become integral for the future of North America in this game.<\/p>\n

To conclude, the second half of 2022 looks incredibly interesting, with many new teams full of immense talents. Will any of these squads be able to rise the ranks and fight for playoffs at some of the biggest stages in the world?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

With the player break nearing its end and the BLAST Premier Fall Groups fast approaching, a lot of teams have opted to make changes to their rosters. So, which teams have chosen to make adjustments thus far during the break? Here’s a list of some more notable and interesting roster moves after the Summer break.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":135,"featured_media":15603,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-15604","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cs-2"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blix.gg\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15604","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blix.gg\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blix.gg\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blix.gg\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/135"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blix.gg\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15604"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blix.gg\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15604\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blix.gg\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15603"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blix.gg\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15604"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blix.gg\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15604"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blix.gg\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15604"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}