Author: Nik Ranger

Complexity return to NA roots with new CSGO team ComplexityComplexity have formally announced their new CS:GO team, based in North America, following the collapse of the ‘Juggernaut’ project. The core of the new Complexity team is made up of Johnny ‘JT’ Theodosiou, Justin ‘FaNg’ Coakley, and Ricky ‘floppy’ Kemery, who all join from Extra Salt. The latter recently returned to CS:GO after a brief Valorant stint with Cloud9 Blue, while the other two were longtime members of the team. The last two spots will be taken by Michael ‘Grim’ Wince, who comes off a spell with Team Liquid, and AWPer Paytyn ‘junior’ Johnson, who will be looking to reignite his career after a disappointing experience with Brazilian side FURIA. The news marks a new era for Complexity in CS:GO following the demise of the ‘Juggernaut’ project — a period of heavy investment that saw the organization sign some of the best talents in the scene. https://twitter.com/Complexity/status/1483499439667007492 The arrivals of players like Kristian ‘k0nfig’ Wienecke, Benjamin ‘blameF’ Bremer, and Valentin ‘poizon’ Vasilev propelled Complexity to new heights, but success was still infrequent in 2020 as the team struggled with consistency issues. And things took a turn for the worse in 2021. Complexity couldn’t get the best out of Justin ‘jks’ Savage — signed from 100 Thieves in a high-profile deal — and also lost k0nfig to a wrist injury during the player break. Hired in July to guide the team, Brazilian coach Luis ‘peacemaker’ Tadeu said that the team was “falling apart” around him and that, despite his best efforts, it was impossible to steer the ship back on course. “Before I joined, the team had several problems, things that were outside their control, like injuries, players being temporarily out of the roster, etc.,” he said. “It was no different at the end of the year.” The failure to qualify for PGL Major Stockholm was the final nail in the Juggernaut’s coffin: Before the end of the year, Complexity released k0nfig, blameF, poizon, and peacemaker, and sold Patrick ‘es3tag’ Hansen to NIP as they began planning for the 2022 season. A surprise return to NA As logical as it is for Complexity to sign a North American team, it was not their initial plan. In December, they came close to signing Copenhagen Flames’ Danish team, the surprise package of PGL Major Stockholm, before talks broke down at the final phase. Complexity’s decision to sign a North American roster could be tied to the new Louvre Agreement signed by ESL’s partner teams until 2025. The new deal, ESL said, includes “a tangible commitment and redoubling of efforts in the North American scene” – which took a massive hit following the exodus of players and organizations to Valorant. It is the start of a new chapter for Complexity in CS:GO. The team may be more modest than the Juggernaut, but many hope that this signing will mark a significant move towards the restoration of normalcy in the North American scene. Complexity CS:GO roster: Johnny ‘JT’ Theodosiou – Justin ‘FaNg’ Coakley – Ricky ‘floppy’ Kemery – Michael ‘Grim’ Wince – Paytyn ‘junior’ Johnson – Tiaan ‘T.c’ Coertzen (coach) –

Complexity open to offers for CS:GO duo es3tag and jks Stephanie Lieske/ESLComplexity have announced that they are willing to listen to offers for Patrick ‘es3tag’ Hansen and Justin ‘jks’ Savage as they look to rebuild their squad in the off-season. The news means that the North American organization are willing to build their team for 2022 from scratch, having already parted ways with three players in the space of a month. Kristian ‘k0nfig’ Wienecke left Complexity at the start of October amid reports linking him with Astralis. Valentin ‘poizon’ Vasilev and Benjamin ‘blameF’ Bremer followed suit later in the month, bringing an end to the ‘Juggernaut’ project. The flurry of changes came after Complexity failed to qualify for PGL Major Stockholm. The team finished well outside of the qualification places after crashing out of IEM Fall in the group stage. Complexity willing to sell es3tag and jks es3tag and jks are Complexity’s only players with long-term contracts, with Marcelo ‘coldzera’ David having joined the team on a short-term deal until the end of the Major. Today we are announcing that @COL_jks & @es3tag have been moved to our inactive roster while we seek to find them new homes. Complexity remains committed to CSGO and will be evaluating multiple options as we prepare for 2022. Thank you for your continued support.#WeAreCOL pic.twitter.com/5vrCwIdlCk — Complexity ✭ (@Complexity) November 3, 2021 Jks has been on Complexity’s ranks since October 2020, when he was signed from 100 Thieves. A star on the Australian team, the 25-year-old has been unable to replicate his form for Complexity, averaging a 1.02 HLTV rating while with the team. Es3tag joined the team in July on a free transfer after being released by Cloud9. He played only five events with the team, and though he registered a solid start to his tenure, his numbers dipped as the team’s problems became more severe. On October 30, team coach Luis ‘peacemaker’ Tadeu denied being responsible for blameF’s removal, claiming he had “no power to do such a thing”. He added that Complexity’s future plans “will be a lot clearer for everyone in the near future.” Complexity should have ample time to rebuild their roster as the team should be back in action only next year.

Richard Lewis: Complexity offered benched ENCE star Aleksib $1m deal StarLadderSources close to the player have revealed that former ENCE in-game leader Aleksi “Aleksib” Virolainen turned down a $1 million package over two years to be the new CSGO in-game leader for Dallas-based Complexity Gaming. The deal not only included a salary that would have made him one of the highest paid in-game leaders in world Counter-Strike, but also housing in a luxury apartment. Virolainen made headlines recently when it was reported by journalist Jarek “Dekay” Lewis that Complexity’s founder Jason Lake flew to Helsinki to hold talks face-to-face with the player. The same sources told Dexerto that the player turned down the move simply because he doesn’t want to relocate to North America. Virolainen has also been heavily linked with Call of Duty legend Matthew “Nadeshot” Haag’s organization 100 Thieves. The Finn’s refusal prompted Lake to approach his next target, Heroic’s 22 year old Danish in-game leader Benjamin “blameF” Bremer, who Lake also held talks with in person. Bremer has now arrived in Dallas where he will continue in an in-game leadership role with whatever roster the team builds around him. The first part of the new-look team included former Cloud9 player Will “RUSH” Wierzba, who was benched this summer after a dip in personal form. The search for a higher calibre team comes after the organization, now owned by the Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones and real estate magnate John Goff, were knocked out of the CS:GO Major in Berlin by the Australian organisation Grayhound Gaming. The shock result prompted Lake to tweet: “I love our players as individuals but these results won’t be tolerated. If you’re a Tier 1 player looking for a fresh start at the best facility in the world, HMU. I’ll pay your buyout and give you the world’s highest salaries. Let’s build a juggernaut.” I love our players as individuals but these results won’t be tolerated. If you’re a Tier 1 player looking for a fresh start at the best facility in the world, HMU. I’ll pay your buyout and give you the world’s highest salaries. Let’s build a juggernaut. Spread the word. — Jason Lake (@JasonBWLake) August 25, 2019 Many criticized the timing of the tweet, but since then the team’s owner has been as good as his word, with several roster rumours linking Complexity with international players and salary offers that would make them one of the highest-paying organisations in the world if confirmed. With so many of the high profile free agents and available players residing in Europe, the only issue seems to be one of geography. We reached out to Jason Lake who declined to comment on this report.

IEM Katowice CSGO Play In Preview with Richard Lewis & Maniac IEM Katowice’s Play In stage is right around the corner. Eight teams are looking to book their spot in the Group Stage, but just who’s primed to make it? Richard Lewis and Mathieu ‘Maniac’ Quiquerez discuss whether a revitalized Ninjas in Pyjamas will be able to handle an in-form Complexity, who recently welcomed marksman Valentin ‘poizon’ Vasilev back into the fold. The pair also look at whether Cloud9’s Colossus can handle the pace of Team Spirit, and if Gambit can grab the bull by the horns and prove their worth when it matters the most. After BIG’s stand-out BLAST performance at defeating their group, the team could be set to have a strong showing in the Play-In, and both Lewis and Maniac believe that they always come to a match fully prepared. Contrarily, though, Maniac does feel that despite how prepared they are, when looking at results such as their loss against Spirit, hindrances could come into play. Finally, the duo breaks down the match-up between Team Liquid and MIBR. While Liquid’s recent performance against FaZe was show-stoppingly dire, both believe that they’re still very likely to pull a win out of the bag in this match-up, with Maniac believing that MIBR just isn’t at the same level right now. For all CSGO news and events, stay tuned over at our dedicated page.

Jason Lake reveals “superstars” responded to his CSGO juggernaut tweet Complexity CEO Jason Lake has pulled back the curtain on his now-infamous “juggernaut” comment, revealing the frustration he felt when making the tweet directed at his CS:GO team, and also some of the reasoning behind the power move. It was the power move that launched hundreds of CS:GO memes. Jason Lake put his reputation, and Complexity’s, on the table after the team had a disappointing finish at the StarLadder Major, as he was tired of seeing Complexity fail to reach the heights that he, and his backers in the Dallas Cowboys, wished. “I think some fans neglect to realize that, when we got our investment, I could’ve thrown that team out immediately and started hiring people,” Complexity CEO Jason Lake told HLTV about his post that went viral during the StarLadder Major. “As I referenced earlier, sometimes I think I’m loyal to a fault. We had some really good people we wanted to try to build around, we wanted to give them an opportunity with the new infrastructure and system that we built here in Texas to prove they could get it done.” That roster ultimately was not able to live up to the hype they achieved at the end of 2018 at the London Major, where they managed to place top-eight at a Valve Major for the first time in franchise history. This led Lake to make the tweet, which many in the community memed and criticized as insensitive towards their current lineup. However, he says that the effect was immediate. I love our players as individuals but these results won’t be tolerated. If you’re a Tier 1 player looking for a fresh start at the best facility in the world, HMU. I’ll pay your buyout and give you the world’s highest salaries. Let’s build a juggernaut. Spread the word. — Jason Lake (@JasonBWLake) August 25, 2019 “I think if I were able to pull back the curtain and share some of the superstars who reached out because of how much they respected that tweet, that attitude and mentality moving forward, people would be very surprised.” Lake went on to mention that several superstar European players reached out but that it can be very hard to convince these players to come and play overseas. As a result of their recruitment efforts, Complexity went on to pick up the roster of Kristian ‘k0nfig’ Wienecke, Benjamin ‘blameF’ Bremer, Valentin ‘poizon’ Vasilev, former Cloud9 player William ‘Rush’ Wierzba, and the rising prodigy Owen “oBo” Schlatter. The roster, while performing decently, has so far not lived up to the hype of being a “juggernaut” team, with many of the game’s major competitions currently on a break over the holidays. Their primary placements have been an 8th place finish at ECS Season 8 North America and 13th at ESL Pro League Season 10 Americas.

Complexity throw CSGO game away with massive 4v1 fail Complexity’s CS:GO team made a massive mistake during an ECS match against ATK to lose a 1v4 for the game. In the 30th round of a game on Nuke, Complexity looked set to comfortably force overtime after securing a four-versus-one, but a major mistake cost them both the round and the game. With four members of Complexity alive with full control of the upper bomb site, the situation looked impossible for ATK’s Johnny ‘JT’ Theodosiou, until a series of errors by the terrorist side gave him an opening. Having just cleaned up two kills, ‘dephh’ made his way into the A site, but as he opened the door he swung his knife, and accidentally stabbed his teammate in the back. At the exact same moment, JT appeared from the vents, and got a quick double-kill on the lined up and now weakened Complexity players. To make matters even worse, dephh had been carrying the bomb, and with only seven seconds left on the clock the remaining Complexity members had to scramble were left without enough time to retrieve and plant it. JT was able to make a quick escape through the door and shut it behind him, leaving him safe for long enough to run down the time and win the game, despite a last-second effort by Will ‘RUSH’ to chase the final kill. Complexity aren’t the first team to make a massive, game-losing mistake on Nuke in recent memory. The most infamous example came at the StarLadder Berlin Major, when G2 Esports lost the final round to Astralis with four players alive after they failed to defuse the bomb. Unfortunately for Complexity, in this case the mistake proved rather costly, as ATK dominated the following game on Inferno to take the series 2-0 and advance to the grand final of the Series 4 ECS stage, where they will face Team Liquid.

Complexity CSGO parts ways with IGL blameF ComplexityCSGO star blameF and Complexity have parted ways after nearly two years together, and there’s no telling yet where the Danish IGL will end up now. Benjamin ‘blameF’ Bremer is the third member of Complexity’s CSGO team to part ways with the org in less than a month. At the beginning of October it was announced k0nfig would be leaving, and a few weeks later poizon also stepped away. On October 29 Complexity made things official, and announced blameF wouldn’t be returning for another season with the Dallas Cowboys’ partner org. blameF parts ways with Complexity Officially a free agent as I’m no longer part of @Complexity. Big thank you to everyone in the organisation and to @JasonBWLake for everything you have done for me. You guys have been so great to me and I am happy I took the decision to leave Denmark 2 years ago. #WeAreCOL — Benjamin Vang Bremer (@blameFFFFF) October 29, 2021 After Complexity announced the move, Bremer confirmed he was indeed a free agent, and would be looking for a new team in the future. “Big thank you to everyone in the organization and to @JasonBWLake for everything you have done for me.” blameF wrote. “ You guys have been so great to me and I am happy I took the decision to leave Denmark 2 years ago.” Complexity seems set on rebuilding most, if not all, of their CSGO squad based on these recent moves. Now only jks, es3tag, and stand-in coldzera are left on the roster, and it remains to be seen for how long. Where could blameF end up? Right now it’s unknown where blameF will end up. There are rumors that k0nfig could be headed to reinforce the struggling Astralis side, so we could very well see Bremer join him. It’s important to note though, that nothing has been confirmed so far. With the year wrapping up and the PGL Major in full swing, we could very well see many more roster moves before 2022 begins. A lot of teams will be looking to rebuild, and blameF shouldn’t have any trouble finding a new home to ply his trade.

Complexity CSGO manager reveals crazy travel schedule for team Free Images/ DexertoComplexity’s CS:GO manager, Graham ‘messioso’ Pitt, revealed on Twitter the crazy travel schedule that the team has had in 2023. Over the past few days, the esports community has debated whether esports players should focus more on content creation and brand building. Successful CS:GO teams have had burnout issues in the past with the stacked schedule of events across their competitive calendar. Asking those players to stream or create content for their own brand, or the organization they represent seems improbable given their lack of free time, according to some. The travel schedule of one CS:GO team may not translate across esports or different teams in the FPS title, but it illustrates one point against the idea that players should focus on content: When would they have the time? Complexity CS:GO have traveled across the world in 2023 Esports teams in CS:GO have always had a grueling travel schedule as they have to bounce around North America, Europe and other countries to play in LAN tournaments or qualifiers or for better practice abroad. Complexity’s CS:GO manager detailed on Twitter the amount of traveling his team has done in the first three months of 2023, and the numbers are shocking. The team has flown 99 times so far this year and spent almost 400 hours in the air, according to messioso. The team has also racked up impressive numbers in hotels, spending 310 nights (counting every member of the squad together) in hotels across five cities in five countries. The team has played in three offline events so far this season, ESL Pro League Season 17, IEM Katowice 2023 and BLAST Premier: Spring Groups 2023, and participated in online qualifiers for the Rio and Paris Majors.

CompLexity CS:GO coach responds to cheating accusations vs MiBR at ECS S7 Twitch: FACEIT TV / ECSCompLexity Gaming’s CS:GO coach Matt ‘Warden’ Dickens has apologized, after admitting to breaking rules by pointing out an enemy during his team’s match against MiBR at the ECS S7 finals. CompLexity upset MiBR 2-1 in their group B elimination match, in a closely contested third map on Mirage, which coL took narrowly, 16-14. However, a moment of controversy struck in the first half, as in the 12th round, CompLexity coach Warden appeared to directly point out an opposing player, felps, on Rickeh’s screen. The moment was highlighted by popular CS:GO community member DonHaci on Twitter, who explained that Warden “points [felps] out with his finger to him”, asking “is that even allowed?” The controversial moment can be seen below, where Warden (bottom left), can clearly be seen leaning over and pointing directly on Rickeh’s monitor. MiBR’s coach, Wilton ‘zews’ Prado was first to respond, calling out Warden on his actions, writing “not cool”, while also laying blame with the match ref’s, who should’ve have caught the incident. Wish you were our ref @DonHaci cause someone didn’t do their job. Not cool @coLWarden https://t.co/M0KWrDVyOc — Wilton Prado ‘zews’ (@zews) June 7, 2019 At this time, Warden was coaching the team in their match against Vitality, which they lost 2-0, but at the match’s conclusion, he responded to the growing controversy over his actions in the MiBR match. Fully admitting to his mistake, the coL coach explained that it was a “reactionary” behavior, and said that he had already apologized to zews and the MiBR squad for his error. 2/4 immediately I reacted instinctively. This particular situation has never occurred anytime in my career. I feel terrible and regret my actions but unfortunately all I can do at this point is admit my mistake and move on. I think it must be noted I wasn’t even aware of what — Matt Dickens (@coLWarden) June 7, 2019 He went on to clarify that in the heat of the match, he wasn’t even aware of what he had done until mid-way through the match with Vitality, when the Head of the ECS warned him of the violation. 3/4 I had done until after we started our Vitality match hours later. I was warned by the head of ECS of my violation after map 1 of the Vitality match. I think the world of MIBR and their players. These are guys we have all admired throughout our careers. — Matt Dickens (@coLWarden) June 7, 2019 Are refs to blame? While Warden’s actions were clearly unsportsmanlike and against the rules, many have laid blame with the refs, or ‘admins’, who are responsible for ensuring such incidents don’t occur. With coaches so passionately involved with the match itself, it’s understandable, forgivable even, that they might make such errors in the heat of the moment. Read More: Sources: yay joins Lazarus CS:GO team – Fellow coach Chet ‘ImAPet’ Singh and North player Valdemar ‘valde’ Bjørn Vangså even highlighted that refs would spend time on their phones, rather than actually paying attention to the match, players and coaches for which they are responsible. Our ref was constantly on his phone during our games too and thus forgot to unmute our coach in pretty much every timeout. Pretty annoying and unprofessional :/ — valde (@Officialvalde) June 7, 2019 ECS did not address the incident publicly, but given that CompLexity have now been eliminated from the ECS Season 7 finals, it’s unlikely any punishment will be exacted for Warden’s actions in the MiBR match.

Complexity continues ‘juggernaut’ rebuild by dropping Dephh, ShahZaM Complexity Gaming has released long-standing veteran Rory ‘dephh’ Jackson, and benched AWPer Shahzeb ‘ShahZaM’ Khan, as the organization continues to look for a “juggernaut” roster following their disappointing Berlin Major campaign. Complexity found themselves punted from the last major in a shock upset to Australian underdogs Grayhound Gaming, which sparked organization founder Jason Lake to declare he would be looking to “build a juggernaut” at any price. The org, owned by the Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, and residential magnate John Goff since the end of 2017, moved quickly. Hunter ‘SicK’ Mims and Ricardo ‘Rickeh’ Mulholland were benched almost immediately. To replace them, the American team acquired benched Cloud9 star William ‘Rush’ Wierzba, and Heroic’s Benjamin ‘blameF’ Bremer. Lake also backed up his post-major statement to pay any contract buyouts and offer “the world’s highest salaries” to any players willing to join Complexity. 1pv.fr reported that blameF’s buyout topped out at $500,000 USD. Now the NA team’s next moves have been revealed with Dephh, who has been a leading figure for the roster since he first joined from CAZ eSports in February 2016, being shown the door, while ShahZaM was benched and told he could look for other opportunities. While his four-year tenure under the Complexity banner has come to an end, dephh didn’t seem to be too disappointed to be stepping away from the team, and took to social media to wish the org’s new roster good fortunes. “Was probably even a little too late, but my time with Complexity comes to a close,” he said. “A great set of people that I’ll miss thoroughly. Thank you for the opportunities and the memories. Good luck to the new team!” Was probably even a little too late, but my time with complexity comes to a close. A great set of people that I’ll miss thoroughly. Thank you for the opportunities and the memories. Gl to the new team! https://t.co/VShmgYCRtb — dephh (@dephh_csgo) October 28, 2019 Dephh’s departure from Complexity marks a major closing chapter for the organization, who described their outgoing UK star as a “cultural rock” for the team over the past four years. The Englishman signed to the team in 2016 to replace Timothy ‘autimatic’ Ta and Kory ‘SEMPHIS’ Friesen. From there, the team marched to a quarter-final appearance at the FACEIT London Major in 2018, the org’s best result since EMS One Katowice 2014. They followed up their London success with a decent showing at the IEM Katowice 2019 Major, before now-Evil Geniuses superstar Peter ‘stanislaw’ Jarguz’s departure set them on a downward spiral that landed them a 12-14th place in the Berlin Major in August. With Complexity’s October 28 roster announcement, their post-Berlin overhaul looks nearly complete. Just 16-year-old Owen ‘oBo’ Schlatter, who joined the roster in June of this year still remains in the active playing roster. Head coach Jaime Hall also stayed on board. The next step now for Lake and Complexity is their recruitment drive to replace their outgoing veterans, and rumors have already blossomed about their potential future pickups. Kristian ‘k0nfig’ Wienecke could be the next pick-up for the NA team, according to 1pv.fr. The Danish rifler left OpTic Gaming after the roster decided to disband in October, and has been in the market for a team ever since. Complexity was forced to forfeit its ECS Season 8 match on October 28 due to the roster changes. The organization next plays against Team Envy on November 15 in ESL Pro League Season 10. It is expected the roster will be finalized ahead of that matchup.

Complexity complete their rebuilt “juggernaut” CSGO roster After the CSGO roster’s poor major performance, the rebuild is now officially complete. Kristian ‘k0nfig’ Wienecke and Valentin ‘poizon’ Vasilev join Benjamin ‘blameF’ Bremer, Owen ‘oBo’ Schlatter, and Will ‘RUSH’ Wierzba may well become the “juggernaut” Jason Lake envisioned. In a little over a month, the compLexity Gaming roster has wholly overhauled its roster. What began with a stripping down of the previous roster has now ended up with a group that wants to compete in a top-heavy NA scene now and for the foreseeable future. On October 6, compLexity officially announced the acquisitions of k0nfig and poizon, finally completing their five-man roster. :fire: Announcing the new #COLCS. :fire: Welcome, @k0nfigCS and @poizonCSGO! :punch:#WeAreCOL pic.twitter.com/l9GYAKw12A — Complexity Gaming (@compLexity) November 6, 2019 For k0nfig, he joins the compLexity roster after he and the remainder of the OpTic Gaming roster willingly benched themselves due to a lack of organizational support from the new owners in Immortals. Poizon joins the team after being released from his Windigo Gaming contract following the organization’s closure at the beginning of the month. This confirms the Dexerto report from insider Jared ‘DeKay’ Lewis that both players were en route to signing with compLexity. k0nfig has shown flashes of stardom while playing with various Danish rosters through the years. poizon is a young, very talented AWPer who was a bright spot for Windigo in his time with them. This concludes the journey that began with a disappointing showing for compLexity at the StarLadder Berlin major at the end of August. compLexity were eliminated from the Challengers Stage with a dismal 1-3 record, capped off with a 2-0 series loss to Grayhound that ended in a 16-4 rout on Inferno. CEO Jason Lake had seen enough. I love our players as individuals but these results won’t be tolerated. If you’re a Tier 1 player looking for a fresh start at the best facility in the world, HMU. I’ll pay your buyout and give you the world’s highest salaries. Let’s build a juggernaut. Spread the word. — Jason Lake (@JasonBWLake) August 25, 2019 Lake stated on Twitter that those kind of results wouldn’t be tolerated, and put out the call for tier 1 players that wanted to build a juggernaut. He offered a fresh start at “the best facility in the world”, and also offered to pay for buyouts and give players “the world’s highest salaries.” According to reports, Lake did offer large amounts of money to top tier talent, even going so far as to offer benched ENCE in-game leader Aleksi ‘Aleksib’ Virolainen a $1m/year deal. Eventually, the organization started their rebuild with two strong signings in Benjamin ‘blameF’ Bremer from Heroic, and Will “RUSH” Wierzba from Cloud 9. They elected to keep young NA player Owen ‘oBo’ Schlatter on account of the massive amount of potential in the 16-year-old. blameF will be given his first chance to lead a team with some real star power after proving his worth with Heroic. RUSH brings championship experience and veteran presence, having won a major with Cloud 9 in early 2018. compLexity certainly will be met with competition in the United States, as two of the top five teams in the world right now, Team Liquid and Evil Geniuses, are both North American organizations. compLexity will not be able to debut their new roster in ESL Pro League season 10, as both k0nfig and poizon have both played with other competing teams, per CEO Jason Lake.

Match-fixing report: CSGO whistleblower implicates Major winner HObbit and other CIS players forZe/PGLA match-fixing scandal is rocking the CS:GO scene in the CIS region. It implicates several well-known Kazakhstani players, including PGL Major Krakow winner Abay ‘HObbit’ Khasenov, who is currently playing for Cloud9. Rustam ‘5TRYK#R’ Älımqūlov has not had the most glittering career in Counter-Strike. In fact, to call him a journeyman would be somewhat generous. Since 2015, the Kazakhstani national has swapped in and out of playing and coaching, at one time even enjoying a run of 18 months at the Russian organisation ForZe. Currently he finds himself without work at the age of 31, a greybeard in esports player terms, and with the current geopolitical situation in the region where he would most likely ply his trade, his prospects were looking bleak. Yet it wasn’t always like this. 5TRYK#R used to rub shoulders with some of the best players his country had produced and that is no small boast. Kazakhstan has always punched well above its weight when it comes to producing Counter-Strike talent. However, according to him at least, it would be this promising start that would effectively end his career before it had a chance to begin. At the end of 2015, 5TRYK#R created a team called PARTY with the aim of qualifying for a CS:GO Major through their regional qualifiers. The roster featured two players that would go on to enjoy success at the highest level of the sport, namely Bektiyar ‘fitch’ Baqytov and Abay ‘HObbit’ Khasenov. The former would go on to play for the likes of AVANGAR and Gambit Esports and the latter is currently representing Cloud9 at the CS:GO Major at Antwerp after also playing for Gambit over two spells. The squad was rounded out by Magzhan ‘fANTASTIKA’ Temirbolat and Adlet ‘keeN’ Nyrseytov, both of whom would end up representing the most well known Kazakhstan organisation, k23. It was a roster not without some potential, but after a woeful performance in the open qualifier for their region’s CS:GO Minor, the team didn’t survive much longer and petered out just a few months later. 5TRYK#R would never play with any of these players again. It was just a few days ago that 5TRYK#R announced that he was suffering from a serious illness and that he wanted to leave nothing unsaid should the worst happen. Specifically he wanted to talk about match-fixing and in much detail. He wrote: “The tests came back with a serious diagnosis. I will fight to the end and try to win this confrontation. Since 2016 my playing career has ended due to certain actions. For 6 years, I have not been able to let go, and periodically, this situation strains me mentally. The situation due to illness is different, so I want to put my morale in order by telling the whole truth about the former PARTY team and live with peace of mind. Good health to you!” This would be the opening salvo in a series of tweets and videos that showed compelling evidence that the roster he had assembled had engaged in the practice known as spot-fixing. If you’re not familiar with the term it is basically where players fix an outcome of aspect of the game that is unrelated to the final result. For example, former footballer Claus Lundekvam claimed in 2012 that he, his Southampton teammates and opposing captains in England’s Premier League would fix the time of the first throw in or corner by simply kicking the ball out of play. These types of activities are becoming increasingly popular in the world of match-fixing because they arouse less suspicion than an underdog loss. After all, even the best players make mistakes. PARTY was simply a name for the team to play under. They weren’t an esports organisation. They weren’t funded. No-one was earning a salary. The plan, as it is for so many in esports, was to play well until they were noticed and then either obtain sponsorship or be recruited by someone that could financially reimburse them for their efforts. However, in the immediate absence of any income, the team allegedly agreed to use spot-fixed bets to earn some money on the side. The plan was to deliberately lose the T-side pistol round in each of their group matches of the Starladder Regional Minor Championship closed qualifier, with players placing bets on this outcome. They would then try and win despite this disadvantage, ultimately over-confident in their abilities as they would end up losing one of the group matches. This meant that they had to face HS.GG in the decisive Round of 8. With qualification on the line, PARTY were defeated 0-2 and failed to book a spot at the Minor. According to 5TRYK#R, the bets would have netted each of the players approximately $5,000. The compromised matches, which all took place on December 21, 2015, were: 5TRYK#R has also publicly released commentaries for each of the pistol rounds he said they intentionally lost, explaining the actions and highlighting things that don’t make sense. Russian news has a tendency to be slow in coming Westward, and so as things stand they haven’t gone viral on English speaking social media sites yet. The footage alone, regardless of commentary, shows many strange decisions made by the players. This isn’t damning in and of itself. Anyone who has watched low tier Counter-Strike matches knows that you will see all manner of suboptimal play and that’s putting it politely. However some of the play in these rounds borders of the farcical, including moments such as refusing to plant the bomb when it is completely safe to do so or a single player running towards the enemy without any regard for his life. It is generally the agreed upon standard that no matter how suspicious in-game play is, that alone cannot be enough to issue any punitive measures. Usually all that happens is the bookies decide to stop allowing matches involving the offending team to be bet on their site. For whatever reason, though, 5TRYK#R kept other incriminating evidence about the matches, such as screenshots of the betting site they would use, chat logs from other players talking about the fixed match and even voice recordings that speak openly about the nature of the plan. The screenshot shows that the website they used was olimp.kz, which is now olimpbet.kz, the Kazakh offshoot of the Russian sportsbook Olimpbet. 5TRYK#R explained that some of the team actually placed cash bets at bookmakers in a bid to not leave a digital trail. You will also notice the karmic aspect to the story. “матч носит договорной характер” – meaning “the match is a sham.” The bookmaker cancelled all bets on the match, meaning the players earned absolutely nothing despite having hindered their own chances of qualifying. “We did not earn anything from the match because Fitch told other people [outside the team] and so the bets were cancelled,” 5TRYK#R explained. “We also had our team and clan tag banned by the bookmaker.” I contacted fitch and asked if he agreed with the characterization of these events. At the time of publication he had not replied. In addition to these screenshots confirming the match was called off due to suspicious activity, he also included a screenshot of HObbit discussing the proposed bets. “Bet the house on gameplay, buy another one. Easy,” the message read. Attached were the odds from the various matches in the tournament, again using the website Olimp.kz. 5TRYK#R also sent a screenshot that he says is from when their chat group was disbanded following the cancellation of the bets. “This is it? It’s over?” Again, these conversations could be viewed as circumstantial at best. All this would really tell us for sure was that HObbit was willing to bet on games in a tournament he was playing in, an infraction that would likely carry a minor penalty but would not be treated the same as any form of match-fixing. It doesn’t end there, though. The most damning part of the evidence 5TRYK#R decided to release was a lengthy recording of a TeamSpeak conversation. He explained that this took place on February 10, 2016 and was essentially the official breaking point of the team. The recording features all five of the PARTY roster. The conversation is long and winding, but there are key parts that directly appear to corroborate 5TRYK#R’s story. At 7:58 he is speaking with fANTASTIKA, who is connected to TeamSpeak under the name “Maga”. The player confirms that there was indeed an issue with Olimp and that the team had to forgive fitch for an unspecified transgression. 5TRYK#R: Look, when fitch had the situation with Olimp, we haven’t talked like this as 5, didn’t question him like this. You had a grudge against him very strongly, I tried to calm you down, if you remember, I was the only one to try and calm everyone down – fANTASTIKA: Yes, that happened 5TRYK#R: You held a really big grudge against him, told that you won’t play with him, Adlet (keeN) held a grudge, Abay (HObbit) held a grudge – I was the only one who tried to make you reconcile, I told you “fuckk that, it happens, that it’s a human factor”, told that it was the first time we did something like that – did that happen? fANTASTIKA: Yes Then at 19:40, 5TRYK#R talks with keeN and fitch about the matches in question. In this conversation, fitch also states that they wanted to outright lose other games but had elected not to due to poor odds. The transcript of that part of the conversation is as follows. keeN: Yesterday I was shocked that you could even ask me that question – whether the match was honest or not – 5TRYK#R: Yes, I had doubts keeN: We always decide things as five, together 5TRYK#R: I asked, you answered, fine by me keeN: I’m fucking flabbergasted you could even ask that 5TRYK#R: Well, it’s because you and Abay always talked like “we need money, let’s throw, let’s throw” keeN: Yes, “let’s throw”, I was all for it, Abay was for it as well, guys wrote me and asked if something’s up, I told that I’ll ask the guys – I asked, Fitch told he’s fine with it, he needs money, you, you told that you’re against it, that’s it Fitch: We wanted to throw against 8-bit actually – right? – but lost the game against Arcade actually, and it made no sense to throw it, the betting rates were weak, it made no sense money-wise. Later at 38:42 in the recording, 5TRYK#R also states: “Fuck, that shit… happened once, but we lost fuckloads of money because of you, everyone forgave you.” The match that fitch refers to when he says “8-bit” was from the 2016 Binary Dragons Hellstore Winter Cup. Like so many matches at this level, it too was compromised in multiple ways. PARTY did indeed lose the bo3 2-1 but suspicious betting activity for 8-bit had occurred. One conversation log from a Fanobet admin at that time stated that new accounts from one IP address placed 16 bets of $50 each. In addition to that, there were serious concerns that one of the players from 8-bit, Anton ‘psyduck’ Tyurin, was using a wallhack for his team, with several incriminating clips being posted to YouTube. In the end, despite PARTY having lost the game, all bets were refunded and PARTY were awarded a forfeit win. 5TRYK#R told me this was the last time he played with anyone from the roster. He claims that this was because they still wanted the option to fix matches but he had made it clear that he would no longer be willing to do this. He also says that because he was the one saying he was against the idea of fixing the matches the breakdown in trust meant it was him, and not fitch, that was considered to be untrustworthy. It is rare in match-fixing cases to get so many different pieces of evidence that combine to tell a relatively complete story. This is about as close to that as you can get. It is worth stating though that I am not oblivious to the obvious motivations of the whistleblower. Hit with the shock of a serious illness diagnosis and thinking about his legacy within esports, he has watched players he once played with ascend to the highest levels of the game, while he told me his career was impeded because he had confronted the players and said he never wanted to be involved in anything like this again. He was clearly bitter, perhaps not without reason. “In 2016 my career was strong as a captain and a player” he said. “I was in the elite Kazakhstan CS:GO players. I knew AdreN, mou, hobbit, fitch, keen, fantastika and others but after I stopped talking with the [members of PARTY] due to them wanting to fix matches I was pushed out. I did not get into the national team anymore and players from my country stopped talking with me. I was denied access to participating in Kazakhstan CS:GO. Imagine a similar situation, that if you stopped talking with karrigan, cadiaN, gla1ve and Snappi in Denmark then you don’t have a CS:GO future in this country.” Yes, this would be a valid grievance, the loneliness of the whistleblower, yet our conversation did send some mixed messages. He intimated that he had never wanted to go along with the fixed matches and that a refusal to do so further after this tournament was what caused the friends to part ways. However, it is also undeniably true that it was his team and he didn’t have to participate in any of it. It is also very clear from the recording that he was not willing to participate in any more fixing but from his line of questioning he clearly wanted the players to self incriminate for the purposes of having evidence to use at a later date. The unfortunate circumstances surrounding his choice to release the information notwithstanding, it was clear he always wanted the option to do so. It is also clear he feels some anger at becoming something of a forgotten man in the scene. His Twitter feed, along with the evidence included above, has seen him spending time arguing with people over just how much of a role he played in building the forZe team we know today. “”This forZe roster, powered by the stars of xsepower and almazer, would go on to produce some hugely impressive results in 2019, and this was the first example of Jerry building a powerful squad from nothing.”” – Its my work(@KingDempz analyze better) 2022 its @Jerrycsgo1 work! pic.twitter.com/N4Nh5lcwMq — Rustam Alimkulov (@Stryk3rCS) May 8, 2022 The timing is also going to cause people to question the purity of his motives. At the time of writing this, one of his former teammates is currently competing at the CS:GO Major in Antwerp for Cloud9. For them, these revelations could not come at a worse time. Not only has the North American organization recently acquired the roster containing HObbit from Gambit, they have also gone to great pains to begin the relocation process for the team to ensure they are not caught up in the issues resulting from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. It is also unquestionable that HObbit has been instrumental to the team’s success, so the prospect of potentially losing him to an ESIC (Esports Integrity Commission) or Valve investigation will cause some trepidation in the camp. We contacted Cloud9 to make them aware of the allegations and request for comment. They stated they would need to conduct their own investigation before replying with any statement. Something like 5TRYK#R sharing his story is incredibly rare in any sport because it relies on self-incrimination. During our interview, I wanted to make sure that by highlighting his role in fixing these matches he too would likely receive a ban of some sort. “Yes, I know,” he said “but for now I need to focus on my health. With my knowledge and experience I should be able to get a job in CS:GO in the future.” All the evidence and material contained in this report has been forwarded to ESIC, who told us that they are taking the matter very seriously and have already begun their preliminary investigation process. I have never been involved in match-fixing. Fully prepared to assist in @ESIC_Official investigation.All that i have achieved, i earned with my hard work and perseverance. My reputation is above all to me. — Abay Khassenov (@HObbitcsgo) May 16, 2022 In a tweet posted on Monday, May 16, HObbit denied the allegations and said that he will assist ESIC during the investigation.

College bars CSGO esports because it’s “about bombing, terrorism and gun violence” ESLThomas College have avoided CS:GO in their esports varsity program, ahead of the 2019 Fall Season tryouts, claiming it is a “no-fly zone” for collegiate esports due to “bombing, terrorism and gun violence. Counter-Strike: Global Offensive is the most-watched FPS esports title, bringing in unrivaled viewership numbers from its worldwide fanbase, but Thomas College have instead opted for Rainbow Six: Siege in place of the leading FPS title. For context, during the knockout stages of the StarLadder: Berlin Major, Twitch alone boasted over 500,000 concurrent viewers, with the grand finals set to bump that figure to well over 1 million viewers across all platforms. However, Thomas College, who field multiple esports teams for a variety of games, have decided against fielding a CS:GO roster for their upcoming season, as part of their varsity program. When prompted for the rationale behind their decision on Twitter, they responded with: “CS is kind of a no-fly zone in collegiate.” Further stating that the game is “exclusively about bombing, terrorism, and gun violence [which] doesn’t lend itself well to the academic space.” CS is kind of a no-fly zone in collegiate. Hard to see, nuanced strategy in a game that outwardly looks to be exclusively about bombing, terrorism, and gun violence doesn’t lend itself well to the academic space. R6 fills that void for us with its more visible strategic elements — Thomas Esports (@ThomasEsports) September 7, 2019 The Esports program looks set to fill the void with a Rainbow Six: Siege — a game with a similar strategic stature, and fundamentally, similar in-game systems. This caused quite a stir in the replies, with users defending CS:GO’s place on the collegiate circuit. Yes true, R6 doesn’t involve the concept of guns, players just have a round table conference and decide who wins the round. Gun violence is no more thanks to exclusion of CSGO from college esports.Thanks Thomas, very cool. — Aditya Verma (@adi_768) September 8, 2019 The commitment to exclude CS:GO comes despite the National Association of Collegiate Esports (NACE) currently supporting the franchise on their circuit (with the collegiate association hosting their first tournament for the FPS earlier this year), while Thomas College Esports currently sit as a member of the association. Moreover, the North American region has been increasingly impressive in Counter-Strike esports, with Team Liquid winning the Intel Grand Slam and obtaining era-status, combined with both Liquid and NRG reaching the Champions Stage of the Berlin Major. Albeit the decision to avoid CS and opt for Siege instead has not sat well with fans, since the justification behind the college’s decision may indeed be based largely around the presentation of both titles. Siege perhaps offers a more palatable ‘Attackers vs. Defenders’ scenario, as opposed to the ‘Terrorists vs. Counter-Terrorists’ seen in CS:GO, despite both games featuring bloodshed and bomb plants.

Coldzera says he got “carried away” by friendship with NiKo when joining FaZe BLASTMarcelo ‘coldzera’ David spoke about his time on FaZe Clan with a tinge of regret, saying that he got “carried away” by his friendship with Nikola ‘NiKo’ Kovač when he decided to join the team. coldzera opened a new chapter in his career in September 2019, when he signed with FaZe after spending the first four years of his professional career with Brazilian teams. On FaZe, coldzera finally fulfilled his wish of playing alongside NiKo, but the partnership between the two superstars was not as fruitful as expected. The international team won only just two events – BLAST Pro Series Copenhagen 2019 and IEM New York Europe 2020 – over the next 12 months, with NiKo eventually deciding to move to G2 Esports to play alongside his cousin Nemanja ‘huNter-‘ Kovač. coldzera was left in charge of rebuilding FaZe, who signed Russel ‘Twistzz’ Van Dulken from Liquid and brought back in-game leader Finn ‘karrigan’ Andersen in the first quarter of 2021. But after a dismal run of form, the Brazilian found himself out of the starting lineup and assessing his options. Coldzera “analyzing” offers The 26-year-old recently made an appearance on the GGCast podcast to discuss his career and current situation. He revealed that he has been approached by multiple organizations since being benched, and said that he will not be rushed into a decision as he does not want to repeat the mistake of joining a team without carefully weighing up the pros and cons. Topic starts at 57:00 “I’ve had seven or eight offers, if I’m not mistaken,” he said. “I’ve had offers from Brazilian, North American, and European teams. “I’m analyzing my offers and seeing where I can fit the best. I don’t want to make a hasty decision. “I really got carried away by my friendship with NiKo on FaZe. I decided [to join them] very quickly. “We didn’t win as many times as we thought we would, but it was a really great experience. I improved as a human being and not just as a player.” Questioned about when he expects to make a decision on his next move, coldzera said: “I have set myself a deadline. It will be soon. Before long, I’ll be back.” GOAT status In a round of quick-fire questions, coldzera named Aleksandr ‘s1mple’ Kostyliev as the best player in the world right now. The NAVI star has been light years ahead of the competition this year and already has four HLTV MVP medals to his name, one of which is from a LAN event, IEM Cologne. But when asked about which player should hold the title of the greatest in the history of the game, coldzera believes that such honor belongs to Nicolai ‘dev1ce’ Reedtz. “Nowadays, s1mple is the best, he is putting in really good numbers,” coldzera said. “device is the greatest of all time for his consistency. “He has been in the top five [in HLTV’s player ranking] every year, and is also the player who has won the most titles in the game.”

Coldzera Responds to Recent MiBR-exit Rumors MIBRMarcelo ‘coldzera’ David has told the CS:GO community to “stay calm” after recent reports linked him with a move away from Made in Brazil (MiBR). Coldzera, one of the best CS:GO players of all time, only joined SK Gaming along with Gabriel ‘FalleN’ Toledo, Fernando ‘fer’ Alvarenga, Ricardo ‘boltz’ Prass, and Jake ‘Stewie2K’ Yip a month ago, but has been rumored to be on the verge of another transfer. On July 9, flickshot.fr reported that internal relationships within the MiBR camp had reached boiling point and that coldzera was considering leaving the team after the FACEIT London Major in September, but the 23 year-old Brazilian has assured his followers on Twitter that he’s going nowhere. In a Tweet that has been translated by Reddit user _Xerts, the flexible player is reported to have said: “Ugh! I took a plane, two submarines, ran for 10 hours, and I still had to swim to get to California! I’m looking at everything that everyone is saying about [me leaving MiBR] and I don’t understand! I’m still in MIBR 😊” The two-time Major Champion added: “I’m going to stay in Mibr, stay calm 😁” The rumors surrounding coldzera’s future with MiBR surfaced just days after the team’s disappointing 7th-8th place finish at ESL One: Cologne 2018. Coldzera, FalleN, fer, Stewie2K, and boltz had been struggling in their latter days with the German organization SK Gaming, but were expected to return to form at MiBR, a historical Counter-Strike brand from the early 2000s that was revived by Immortals specifically for coldzera and his team-mates. However, they didn’t get off to a good start in their first tournament, losing to FaZe Clan and BIG at the $300,000 event in Germany. MiBR has also been heavily linked with Cloud9’s Tarik ‘tarik’ Celik. According to reports from DBLTAP, the North American player could be on the brink of replacing Ricardo ‘boltz’ Prass on the starting roster.

Coldzera disables Instagram comments after teasing FaZe move with NiKo Counter-Strike: Global Offensive phenom Marcelo ‘coldzera’ David is giving major hints suggesting his time with Made in Brazil (MiBR) might be coming to an end. The struggles within star-studded MiBR must be a strange and frustrating ordeal for the group consisting of top talents in all roles. While there’s been attempts to fix the lineup with stand-ins and trades, it hasn’t yielded them much success so far. In their latest outing at the ESL Pro League Season 9 Finals, the MiBR squad were only able to place in 7-8th place being ousted 2-0 to eventual champions Team Liquid. While the team wasn’t playing with new signing Lucas ‘LUCAS1’ Teles, the results didn’t stop Coldzera to start “seeking a new challenge.” A cryptic message… FaZe Clan fans might be excited at the prospect of Coldzera moving on to a new org, especially after a cryptic Instagram message to his audience has jump started a slew of possibilities in the rumor mill. Read more: DeKay Debrief: ESL One Cologne 2019 – “Let us remember the inner man is always renewed,” Coldzera said on his post. “The fight enriches you from experience, pain enhances your emotions and sacrifice tempera your character. The Red Spirit suffers constant transformations on the outside, in order to acrisolar and enhance inside.” Then speculation was heavily swayed to Coldzera one day joining the ranks of FaZe when Nikola ‘NiKo’ Kovač replied with a “#FaZeUp” which caught the eye of the Brazilian star. Cold later went on to disable any replies in his post, denying the community an outlet for speculation as the silent wait begins for a possible change in teams. While it would be incredible to see dominating starpower like Niko and Cold at the core of an already stacked lineup, questions still remain as to who would lead them in the server. “I don’t see how this makes FaZe that much better unless they get a proper in-game leader (igl),” Reddit user ‘stillah’ said. Not forgetting that Coldzera has IGL’d in the past, there would have to be some adjustments from either player or team if he does end up in FaZe. The move has been an exciting prospect that would add yet another star to the FaZe constellation. Even though there might be some kinks to figure out in a Coldzera-FaZe world it could definitely be a worthwhile experiment to try out for the struggling org.

Coldzera’s insane 1v5 deagle clutch shows why he’s the hottest CS:GO player on the market ESLMarcelo ‘coldzera’ David showed why he’s the hottest prospect on the CS:GO market with an insane deagle 1v5. Coldzera is considered among the greatest CS:GO players of all time, having been the number one player in HLTV’s top 20 for both 2016 and 2017, but the Brazilian superstar is currently on the bench after stepping down from MIBR. While he isn’t expected to find a new home until after the StarLadder Berlin Major at the earliest, which concludes on September 8, coldzera has been keeping his skills sharp by playing and streaming online pick-up matches such as FPL. While playing a game on Mirage, coldzera found himself the last CT alive, with only a Desert Eagle in hand for a retake from CT spawn into the A bomb site. Read more: kNgV- expected to debut for MIBR at BLAST Moscow After a few body shots landed him the first kill, a quick headshot picked up the second and coldzera managed to find cover to take pot-shots from. An incredibly quick double-tap secured kills three and four, and after briefly failing to collect an AK-47, coldzera finish off the fifth with a final deagle headshot. Despite his legendary talent, coldzera’s future remains somewhat uncertain at this time. While he has stated that he’s had interest from multiple teams, his buyout from MIBR is expected to be extremely high, and which organizations might be able or willing to pay it remains to be seen. He also recently came under fire from several of his fellow pros after giving a controversial interview in which he was less than complimentary about some of them. Considering his immense talent, however, it seems unlikely that the remarks will prove too detrimental to his prospects. For MIBR’s part, a report by Jarek ‘DeKay’ Lewis for Dexerto revealed that coldzera’s replacement is expected to be Vito ‘kNgV-‘ Giuseppe, who will debut for the team at BLAST Pro Series Moscow on September 13-14 assuming the transfer from INTZ Esports completes as expected. In the meantime, MIBR will be forced to field coach Wilton ‘zews’ Prado at the Berlin Major, due to rosters having been locked since June 25.

Coldzera explains why he’s been benched at MIBR ahead of BLAST Pro Series LA, IEM Chicago ESLBrazilian professional CS:GO team MIBR have made a roster shuffle surrounding star player Marcelo ‘coldzera’ David, who is set to d On July 12, MIBR announced that coldzera had been moved out of the starting lineup and into the inactive players list, replaced by coach Wilton ‘zews’ Prado. The roster change will go into effect for the next two events – BLAST Pro Series Los Angeles and IEM Chicago, both of which coldzera was set to attend prior to the switch. This news has casted a degree of uncertainty around MIBR’s lineup situation, since they technically are not allowed to make any changes due to the roster lock that went into effect on June 25, barring an event of emergency. MIBR are scheduled to face off against Renegades, FaZe Clan, NRG, Team Liquid, and Cloud9 at BLAST Pro Series LA. MIBR STARTING LINEUP FOR BLAST PRO SERIES LA AND IEM CHICAGO Gabriel “FalleN” Toledo – Fernando“fer” Alvarenga – Epitacio“TACO” de Melo – Lucas“LUCAS1” Teles (loan from LG) – Wilton“zews” Prado (stand-in) – Why is coldzera leaving MIBR? Roster uncertainty aside, there had been a lot of confusion in the days leading up to coldzera’s eventual benching. While most believed that he himself had asked to be moved to the bench, the Brazilian refuted those claims on Instagram, instead saying that it was his teammates who had not wanted him featured at the upcoming competitions because of desire to part ways with the team. He later reiterated his claims in a long Twitter post he put out on July 12, stating that he wanted to feature for the team in the next two events. “I made it clear that I would play these championships with MIBR, because of the magnitude of the championships,” he wrote. “However, as I will not train with them anymore because of the new player, the decision of the team was to play with zews. I made it clear that I would play this championship without any problem, but the decision is of the team.” However, in the post, he also made it clear that his decision to leave MIBR was completely his own, citing discontent with how the team was functioning. “The decision to leave the team was 100% mine,” he wrote. “During the meeting, I was asked who wanted to stay and who wanted to leave, and I said that I wanted to leave because I was not happy with how we are dealing with the problems, how we had been playing in the last seven months, and because I felt that the team did not know how to use me and listen to me more inside the game.” Coldzera’s full Twitter post can be seen below. It was originally written in Portuguese and has been translated to English for your convenience. Official announcement about my departure from Mibr. Every book has its beginning, middle and end. We have had a very difficult start, we have overcome with great determination and we have reached the top of the world. In this way, we had obstacles, fights and the will to try again, but we managed to cross those barriers and we became the best team in the world. Some finals are happy and I can say that even leaving, this is not a sad ending. We tried several strategies: we changed players, we changed some functions, but none of them fit. Sometimes we ourselves are the problem. One of the reasons for my leaving is because I am discouraged and I am getting very stressed with the way we are dealing with defeats; instead of trying the solution inside the game, we are looking for even more problems and this started to affect my performance. Unfortunately, that did not fit and I chose to follow what my heart told me to do. Nothing lasts forever. The memories will stay in the memory and I only have to thank for having gone through all these emotions with my team. I need to look for new air, get out of the comfort zone. I still want to prove myself much more! I’ve never played and never will play for money; I play for the glory of wanting to be the best, and that’s me and no one else! The decision to leave the team was 100% mine. During the meeting, I was asked who wanted to stay and who wanted to leave and I said that I wanted to leave because I was not happy about how we are dealing with the problems, how we have been playing in the last 7 months and because I feel that the team does not know how to use me / listen to me more inside the game. That decision has been in my head for more than a year. In 2018 I wanted to leave the team, but I still did not believe that we could improve, but the defeats, fights, problems, were wearing me in an absurd way. Today, you do not see me screaming, celebrating, enveloping me, and it’s not because I do not want to, but because it seems that I always enter the game with a feeling of wear and tear. Many will say, “Cold, but this is just a bad phase; do not run away from problems; you’re going to go around “, but everything is already so worn that even in the option to stop playing I already thought. Really, I need to go somewhere else to find that will I’ve always had and this is going to be my next challenge. Talking about Major, Blast and Chicago, I made it clear that I would play these championships with Mibr, because of the magnitude of the championships, and also because I would never let them play. However, as I will not train with them anymore because of the new player, the decision of the team was to play with zews. I made it clear that I would play this championship without any problem, even more so throughout our history together, but the decision is of the team. Many may question and criticize me for thinking that I am “abandoning the boat,” but there is a negotiation and legal issues behind it, and on this break I will have a longer period of time not to sit still for so long. After the Major always roll some shuffles, which would open up my options a bit more. If I leave early, it may be that I lose all year because my transfer is very expensive. Whether you want to or not, this is my job and I need to address my professional issues as well. Life is made up of choices, and I chose to go out and try some things I’ve never tried: play on another team, get out of the comfort zone and get back to work thirsting to win. Soon I will go on vacation and in 12 days I will be in Europe training my individual and analyzing the proposals. A transfer equal to mine should take a few months because, unfortunately, my buyout is high, but I will not stop preparing. I want to get warm as soon as I get a new house! I have many whom I must thank for all my journey, but especially the Dead, Camila and Mibr, for always taking such good care of me! Dead / Camila: I really love you, it was always my parents here in the USA, they helped me grow as a person and taught me a lot ❤. Time: Thanks for giving me a chance since I started! I grew up, I learned, I cried, I laughed and our story will never be erased. I will always strive for each of you, regardless of whether we are in different ways. Whatever you need from me, I’ll always be here to help. I love you guys. And last but not least, I would like to thank my fans who always support me and are on my side. I am very grateful to all who cheer for me and, in some way, encourage me! I’m coming back stronger than ever. And rest assured: I will still go to the meeting of legends to see you! (I.e. Never forget this: Losing or gaining is a result of your work. It is better to lose giving my 110%, showing that I still want to evolve, than entering the comfort zone and find that 30% is already good. Money, fame, everything passes! But the will to win puts you where you least expect it. (I.e.

Cloud9’s TenZ reclaims CS:GO Aim Challenge world record with insane time L: Cloud9 / R: ValveCounter-Strike: Global Offensive pro Tyson ‘TenZ’ Ngo showed off his incredible skills by once again setting a world record on Betway’s CS:GO Aim Challenge, beating a record that he set in July. TenZ is known as one of North America’s rising stars. The Canadian is just 18 years old and has already represented several CS:GO teams, most notably joining one of the biggest American teams, Cloud9, in July 2019. He is often found streaming his practice routine, which includes FACEIT Pro League matches and general aim training. More often than not, he attempts the Aim Challenge and managed to break the world record on July 26 with a time of 28.165 seconds. On August 12, he took things one step further and achieved an even better time. The Cloud9 player was streaming his usual routine when he decided to take a break and spend a little bit of time working on the Aim Challenge. His first few attempts didn’t go very well as he struggled to finish the map in record-breaking time. After 25 minutes, however, he made a breakthrough. All of his shots hit perfectly, his movement was incredibly precise and he managed to roll through the map at blazing speed, securing a new world record of 27.860 seconds. At first, he didn’t even realize he had done it. “Is that close or is that it? I don’t remember,” said TenZ, before looking up the record online and finding that he had broken it. His reaction was fairly tame, simply saying: “oh I did it, alright.” While setting the world record is impressive, it will be interesting to see if he can transfer the skills to competitive matches, the next of which he is set to play on September 14 at the Arctic Invitational in Helsinki, Finland.

Cloud9’s TenZ celebrates after smashing CS:GO Aim Challenge world record for the THIRD time Rfrsh entertainmentCloud9’s Tyson ‘TenZ’ Ngo pushed himself to his limits as he managed to demolish the Counter-Strike: Global Offensive Aim Challenge world record once again. TenZ is known as an up and coming star in North American Counter-Strike. The Canadian is just 18 years old and has already earned a place in one of the biggest American teams, Cloud9, and continues to show off his amazing skills. In late July he started to take on Betway’s Aim Challenge on his stream and has managed to break the record multiple times. On August 15, he had an insane run where he managed to completely destroy his old record. After over an hour of attempts, it all clicked for the young Canadian, as he managed to secure his best time yet. Read More: CS:GO patch notes – Berlin 2019 viewer pass – Almost every shot was perfectly accurate, his movement was precise and he was able to absolutely fly through the map, beating his record by over a second and setting the new world record at 26.758 seconds. TenZ was filled with pure joy after realizing he’d set a new record. He jumped out of his seat, clapped excitedly, then yelled “lets fucking go!” and sat down again with a giant grin on his face. The Cloud9 star has been in a battle with another CS:GO player named FuriouSSS for the world record, and the two have constantly one-upped each other since late July. However, with this new time beating the old by over a second, it may be a long time before it is beaten.

Cloud9’s RUSH Weighs in on the Home Crowd Advantage Debate Following BIG’s Impressive ESL One: Cologne Run Cloud9’s Will ‘RUSH’ Wierzba has commented on the ongoing debate about whether there is any such thing as a home crowd advantage at CS:GO events. The question about home crowd advantages cropped up during the $300,000 ESL One: Cologne 2018 event where the German team, BIG, performed well above expectations. https://glhf.rivalry.gg/get-started-csgo/?utm_source=dexerto&utm_medium=link&utm_campaign=dexerto&utm_content=dexerto-csgo-esl-one-article After BIG defeated G2 Esports 2-0 in the quarter-finals, popular analyst Duncan ‘Thorin’ Shields released a video on YouTube where he broached the subject and gave arguments for and against it. While the Brit did not deny that a home crowd can have a positive effect, he did argue that it isn’t as significant as some people make out, that there is a lot of nuance to the subject, and that the pressure of a home crowd can also work against you. Read More: BIG Fans Make Plenty of Noise Outside of ESL One Cologne Arena After Semi-Final Celebration – But BIG’s performance did not stop with their defeat of G2. The German side went on to shock FaZe Clan in the semi-finals and Cloud9’s RUSH took to Twitter to share his thoughts on the subject. The reigning Major Champion claims that anyone who doesn’t believe in home crowd advantages is “simply wrong” and that he has experienced it first hand: To anyone who says there is no home crowd advantage in CS, you are simply wrong. I’ve experienced it and it really does make a difference. — Will (C9) (@RUSH) July 7, 2018 It seems likely that RUSH is referring to Cloud9’s ELEAGUE Major: Boston win where they shocked the world and became the first North American team in history to win a CS:GO Major by defeating FaZe in the Grand Final. The support for Cloud9 at the American event was certainly strong and we haven’t seen the same level from the team before or since the Major so his point does hold some significant weight. Unfortunately for BIG, home crowd or not, they were unable to defeat Na’Vi in the Grand Final, losing 3-1 to the Ukrainian team but still showing a great deal of promise. You can watch Thorin’s video discussing the subject of home crowd advantages in detail below.

Cloud9’s in-game leader to miss day one of BLAST Pro Series Copenhagen Cloud9 in-game leader Maikil ‘Golden’ Kunda Selim is set to miss the first day of the BLAST Pro Series event in Copenhagen, Denmark. The professional Counter-Strike: Global Offensive star was scheduled to be part of the Cloud9 squad to take on MiBR and Natus Vincere in the first two matches of the group stage, but unfortunately will not be able to compete. In a tweet sent out by Cloud9, they confirmed that Golden would be missing due to a “medical situation”, although it is currently unknown what that situation may be. Taking his place on the roster for their opening two games is Soham ‘valens’ Chowdhury, who is the current coach of the American organization’s CS:GO team. This is the first event that valens has competed at in almost 20 months, with his last competitive appearance taking place in a StarSeries qualifying tournament back in March 2017. While currently coaching, valens is an experienced CS:GO player, having represented organizations such as compLexity and Nihilum Gaming at previous major events. Golden’s status for the rest of the BLAST Pro Series is currently unknown, although fans have already begun sending well wishes to the player, hoping he is able to return to Cloud9’s lineup tomorrow. #C9CSGO’s IGL @goldennCSGO is unable to play at #BLASTProSeries #Copenhagen today due to a medical situation. Our coach, @valens, will be playing in his place. — Cloud9 (@Cloud9) November 2, 2018 Golden joined Cloud9 back in August 2018, after spending a week filling in for the team at the ELEAGUE CS:GO Premier. The IGL left his former team at Fnatic to replace Tarik “tarik” Celik, who went on to join MiBR.

Cloud9’s Flusha provides hilarious response after losing 16-0 to Astralis DreamhackAfter Cloud9’s 16-0 demolition at the hands of Astralis on Wednesday, February 20, Robin ‘flusha’ Rönnquist used Twitter to give his hilarious reaction to their defeat. Cloud9 squared off against Astralis in the second round of the New Legends stage at the IEM Katowice CS:GO Major 2019, with both teams sitting at a 1-0 record after victories over MiBR and compLexity respectively. When the pair finally came head to head in the major, it was Astralis who convincingly swept Cloud9 behind on Train, winning the map without losing a single round in the process. In the aftermath of their loss to Astralis, flusha offered his Twitter followers a glimpse into how he was feeling, giving fans of Cloud9 and CS:GO a laugh with his hilarious attitude in the face of a harrowing defeat. “Any other map, we 16-0 them,” wrote Rönnquist. “GGWP, unlucky timings all rounds.” Any other map we 16-0 them. Ggwp unlucky timing all rounds — Robin Rönnquist (@flusha) February 20, 2019 Flusha had Counter-Strike: Global Offensive fans laughing after their match against MiBR, as a tweet sent by the Cloud9 star after their victory saw Rönnquist take aim at analyst Chad ‘SPUNJ’ Burchill and comments he made prior to the New Legends stage. Almost immediately after Cloud9’s win, flusha went straight to Twitter to post the opening lines of SPUNJ’s rant, taking the chance to use Burchill’s words against him. You Cloud9 fanboy. Give me ONE reason RIGHT NOW you absolute moron of a human being as to why we should not be sleeping on Cloud9 because the fact of the matter is if you watched them perform at that event – if you opened your GODDAMN eyes that your mother you – err… — Robin Rönnquist (@flusha) February 20, 2019 While Astralis may have dominated Cloud9, their tournament is still far from over, you can make sure you keep track of everything that’s going on at the major using our IEM Katowice 2019 CS:GO Major viewing hub. Cloud9 will face off against Team Vitality in Round 3 as they attempt to get their tournament back on track, while Astralis will hope to remain undefeated as they take on Renegades.

Cloud9’s CSGO Major winners back Stewie2k in play of the decade poll ELEAGUECS:GO has been a staple in esports for the entirety of the decade and Cloud9’s Boston Major winning squad have dubbed Jake ‘Stewie2k’ Yip’s Inferno B hold to be the play of the decade. Alongside the likes of Dota 2, League of Legends and Call of Duty, Counter-Strike has long been at the heart of mainstream esports. Having transitioned from Source in 2012, Global Offensive has played host to some incredible moments that will last many a lifetime. From Vincent ‘Happy’ Schopenhauer’s Deagle ace on ‘old’ Inferno, to Olof ‘Olofmeister’ Gustafsson’s infamous Scout boost on Overpass, there is memory there that will resonate with many as we move into the new decade. It is for this reason why the official CS:GO Twitter account have rounded up the eight best plays of the decade, which will be polled in the form of two brackets until a winner is eventually decided. Based on your replies, we have 8 finalists for CS:GO’s play of the decade. Vote on your favorite from each poll. The top 4 vote getters will be in a winner take all poll tomorrow to determine the winner. Each poll will take votes for 24 hours! — CS2 (@CounterStrike) December 30, 2019 Full to the brim of names synonymous with the very best that Counter-Strike has to offer, each play could quite easily hold its own. Eight will be whittled down to four in on December 31, where a winner-takes-all vote will decide the overall winner. By this logic, Cloud9’s Major winning squad have got together for one last ride in a bid to propel Stewie2k’s renowned B-site hold on Inferno during the Grand Final of the Boston Major. Triggered by Tarik ‘tarik’ Celik stating: “You gotta go with Stew at this point,” he was joined by his former teammates in Skadoodle, autimatic and Rush as they rallied together to back Stewie’s iconic play. Even former Cloud9 manager, Tres ‘Stunna’ Saranthus, chipped in. For those unfamiliar with the play, Cloud9 found themselves on the brink of loss. With the series tied at 1-1, the North American roster found themselves 15-14 down against the FaZe’s all-star lineup, led by Finn ‘Karrigan’ Andersen. Karrigan and co. faked an A play and made their way over to the B bombsite with mere seconds on the clock. At this point, Stewie found himself isolated on the bombsite with three FaZe members inbound. With less than 10 seconds and his back against the wall (quite literally), Yip single-handedly defended the bombsite with nothing but an AWP in-hand. This took the map to overtime and transpired to be the pivotal play that would win Cloud9 their first major. Not only did the clutch call for pinpoint accuracy and in-game smarts, but it also required the composure to remain calm when he was up against the legendary trio of GuardiaN, NiKo and rain. Almost two years on from their win, it’s no surprise that tarik is rallying the troops to vote for Stewie’s play — especially considering it bought them another life in the Boston Major.

Cloud9’s autimatic explains Stewie2K’s role in Team Liquid CS:GO ESLCloud9 CS:GO pro Timothy ‘autimatic’ Ta has explained why his former teammate Jake ‘Stewie2K’ Yip is one of the finest entry-fraggers in the game, and why he is so valuable in Team Liquid’s setup. Team Liquid became the first team from North America to be ranked number one worldwide on HLTV’s listing, following their dominant win at DreamHack Masters Dallas. Although their incredible run of form has been boosted by Astralis‘ absence at many events, there’s no denying their ability, proving to be a well-oiled machine no matter who they play. After winning the 2018 Boston Major and leaving Cloud9, it was a turbulent year for Stewie, but he has fared better in 2019 under Liquid – following a largely disappointing stint with MiBR. It was Stewie’s incredible triple kill with the AWP on Inferno that many remember as the most memorable moment from the Boston Major final vs FaZe, which sent the match to overtime before he, autimatic and co. went on to lift the trophy. During his June 3 stream, autimatic discussed how impactful his former teammate can be for any team, thanks to his ability to adapt his offensive pushes “when he realizes teams are catching on to how he’s doing something, he’ll fix it and tell his teammates how he wants to be supported.” Autimatic thinks that while other entry-fraggers, even the very best in that role, have around a 50% chance of successfully securing the entry frag(s), Stewie2K’s percentage rises to 60-70%, thanks to this ability to adapt. The once fan-favorite duo of autimatic and Stewie2K is no more, but the Cloud9 man says he still has lots of respect for his former teammate, stating “he just knows how to win rounds.” The pair will be going head-to-head again in July, when they face off in the group stage at BLAST Pro Series Los Angeles, starting July 12.

Cloud9 to drop CSGO roster after ESL Pro League Season 12 DreamHackNorth American giants Cloud9 have made the decision to drop their CS:GO roster after ESL Pro League Season 12 ends. They picked up the former ATK roster in January 2020, but are parting ways to start “a new phase” in their CS:GO development. Cloud9 are undergoing yet another CS:GO roster shuffle, as they look to drop the former ATK squad after eight months under the org’s banner. The organization announced on September 6 that they are going to drop the South African-US hybrid roster at the end of ESL Pro League Season 12 as they start “a new phase” in their CS:GO development. “We’re entering a new stage in our CS:GO development, and we’re really excited to show our fans and community what we’ve been working on,” CEO Jack Etienne told fans in a blog post. The rebuild will mark their fourth major shuffle in just under three years since they won the 2018 Boston Major. The organization hasn’t found much success over the years, although their run with the ATK roster was their best since their major triumph. They finished fourth in Flashpoint Season 1 and DreamHack Masters Spring, and most recently finished in 5-6th in ESL One Cologne and DreamHack Open Summer. The team won’t be departing immediately, playing out the rest of ESL Pro League Season 12 while Cloud9 looks for a new home for them. “As a result of this new chapter, our front office is working to find our current roster homes with new teams that are good fits and will help them further their careers, and they will continue to play under the C9 banner until these moves are completed,” the org added. The roster shuffle, however, could spell disaster for Cloud9’s major chances. They currently sit on the cusp of making the major at 2900 points. However, FURIA is closing in quickly behind them with 2875 points to fight for the final spot. A roster change this late could see them most of their points if the Rio Major goes ahead. Today we near the end of #C9CSGO’s current chapter as we enter a rebuilding phase. During this process, our current team will continue as Cloud9 while we evaluate new opportunities for them. 📰 Read more: https://t.co/PSXdIlSlep 📺 Watch Full: https://t.co/Zmn61guobc pic.twitter.com/CvEB0piFae— Cloud9 (@Cloud9) September 6, 2020 Could HenryG be joining Cloud9 to help their CS:GO rebuild? Rumors have been flying about former CS:GO caster Henry ‘HenryG’ Greer joining the North American organization to help them lead the rebuild. The commentator announced he was hanging up the mic on September 4 to pursue a new project. Read more: HenryG announces retirement from casting – “I have never been hungrier to conquer my next challenge. You’ll see that I’m not kidding when I say that my next move is going to be a colossal one for the CS:GO community,” he said in his exit interview. Cloud9 have hinted at him joining in a Reddit thread about their roster shuffle with a sly little eyes emoji. Nothing is confirmed yet — although news should be coming out of the HenryG camp on September 7. Cloud9 currently sit at the bottom of the ESL Pro League Season 12 standings with an 0-2 record.

Cloud9’s TenZ demolishes CS:GO Aim Challenge world record CS:GO’s Betway Aim Challenge with an absolutely insane run. TenZ, an 18-year-old from Canada, joined Cloud9’s revamped squad back in July after the traditional North American standard-bearer failed to make the StarLadder America’s Minor. For the past year, the 18-year-old has been touted as one of the rising stars in the competitive scene – lending a helping hand to teams in online tournaments and wrecking opponents with his ridiculous skill. While his Cloud9 LAN debut pitted him against some of the best teams in the world, the Canadian held his own but with the player break now upon him, he’s not sitting idly and wasting his time. Instead, TenZ is breaking records. During his July 25 stream, TenZ had been bouncing from match to match in the Faceit Pro League, taking on his fellow North American players but missed out on one queue for the next set of games. While streamers may jump into matchmaking or even finish up their broadcast, the Candian opted to keep his aim warm with the Aim Challenge map. After viewers started discussing if he could beat the current world record, the Cloud9 pro stepped things up a notch and inched closer and closer to claiming the record for himself. After nearly 20 minutes of trying, he had it in the bag with a time of 28.165 seconds. Despite posting an insane time, TenZ didn’t quit out and look for something else to do. Instead, he tried to break his own record with an even quicker pace. After a few attempts, it became clear that he was going to struggle to do so, and so he turned to having more fun with his chances – as he tried to time out his shots to music, even though that went horribly wrong from the start. While the 18-year-old may have wowed fans with his aim challenge run, they’ll be hoping that he can wow them in tournament action as Cloud9 will look to reclaim a spot amongst the CS:GO elite squads.

CS:GO: Cloud9 reportedly targeting two OpTic Gaming players Adela Sznajder/DreamhackCloud9’s Counter-Strike: Global Offensive roster troubles look set to be coming to an end with reports suggesting they will add OpTic Gaming stars Kristian ‘K0nfig’ Wienecke and Jakob ‘Jugi’ Hansen. The North American organization has had a number of difficulties tying down a roster since Major winners Jacky ‘Stewie2k‘ Yip and Tarik ‘tarik‘ Celik departed. The team opted for a European flavor – adding former Fnatic stars Maikil ‘Golden’ Selim and Robin ‘flusha’ Ronnquist. Medical troubles with Golden meant that the team hasn’t been able to field their full five-man roster with consistency. Following the Major, flusha departed the roster, with reports suggesting that they would be chasing Mousesports Finnish fragger Miika ‘suNny’ Kempa. However, those talks broke down. Former FaZe Clan member Fabien ‘kioShiMa’ Fiey is also set to depart the C9 roster. However, there may be some light at the end of the tunnel in the form of two Danish stars. According to a report from Dust2.DK, on March 18, Cloud9 are lining up moves for OpTic Gaming’s K0nfig and Jugi. K0nfig, the former North star, joined the OpTic roster back in February of 2018, alongside fellow Danes René ‘Cajunb’ Borg and Niklas ‘Gade’ Gade. Jugi replaced North American AWPer Shahzeeb ‘Shazam’ Khan in a double move that saw him join the roster alongside former Heroic in-game leader Marco ‘Snappi’ Pfeffier. https://t.co/PTpvKc79Hy erfarer: k0nfig og JUGi til Cloud9 https://t.co/bfpOlmbaOi — Dust2 (@Dust2dk) March 18, 2019 Just where OpTic’s remaining three players Snappi, Cajunb and Ismail ‘Refrezh’ Ali would stand is uncertain. The team currently holds spots in both the ECS and ESL Pro League, with the ESL season kicking off on April 12. ECS Season 7 has already gotten underway but OpTic are yet to take part due to their previous commitment to the WESG Global Finals. If the reports turn out to be true, Cloud9’s roster would consist of: Timothy ‘autimatic’ Ta – William ‘RUSH’ Wierzba – Maikil ‘Golden’ Selim – Kristian ‘K0nfig’ Wienecke – Jakob ‘Jugi’ Hansen –

Cloud9 signs legendary Fnatic player Flusha for CS:GO squad Adela Sznajder/DreamHackCloud9 have signed former Fnatic star Robin ‘Flusha’ Rönnquist for their CS:GO roster. Flusha will replace Martin ‘STYKO’ Styk, who competed for the team at the recent FaceIt London Major as a stand-in, on loan from Mousesports. Both teams are coming off underwhelming results at the Major, each going out in the Swiss system of the Legends stage. For Flusha, the move marks the end of a long and storied tenure with Fnatic. Over almost five years with the organization, Flusha won three Majors and was part of two of the most successful line-ups in CS:GO history. In a statement regarding the transfer, Flusha acknowledged that he had been unhappy while playing for Fnatic in recent months and apologized to his former team-mates for his resulting negativity. Cloud9 in-game leader Maikil ‘Golden’ Selim described Flusha as Cloud9’s “missing piece” and “one of the greatest minds in the game”. Golden previously competed with Flusha on Fnatic, during which time the team won the IEM World Championship and WESG. We found our missing piece. One of the greatest minds in the game, and to be playing together with him again is a great feeling. I have no doubt that with his mentorship, experience and calmness, it will elevate our team to the next level. Welcome @flusha_csgo to @Cloud9 — Maikil Selim (@goldennCSGO) September 25, 2018 Cloud9 CEO and Owner Jack Etienne also said: “Flusha is an absolute legend, and I’m thrilled we’re getting a chance to work with him. The work ethic he has needed to sustain success at the highest level is going to be a great fit for our roster and organization. Can’t wait to see him in action. Welcome to Cloud9!” In departing the Cloud9 squad, STYKO made an extensive, candid post discussing his time with Cloud9 and his future. Though he was open about some of the difficulties the team had, he took full responsibility for things not working out with him and announced that he is now looking for a new squad. Cloud9’s full roster: Tyler ‘Skadoodle’ Latham – Timothy ‘autimatic’ Ta – Will ‘Rush’ Wierzba – Maikil ‘Golden’ Selim – Robin ‘Flusha’ Rönnquist –

Cloud9 sign NAVI CSGO duo to form superteam for CS2 João Ferreira/DexertoCloud9 has announced the signing of former NAVI duo Ilya ‘Perfecto’ Zalutskiy and Denis ‘electroNic’ Sharipov for its CS:GO roster. Cloud9 has announced the signing of former NAVI players Perfecto and electroNic, confirming Dexerto’s previous reporting. In a Twitter post announcing the roster, the organization also revealed the CS:GO team’s starting lineup of Perfecto, electroNic, Abai ‘HObbit’ Hasenov, Dmitriy ‘sh1ro’ Sokolov and Sergey ‘Ax1Le’ Rykhtorov with Konstantin ‘groove’ Pikiner as the head coach. This means the former NAVI duo are replacing Vladislav ‘nafany’ Gorshkov and Timur ‘buster’ Tulepov on the Cloud9 starting roster. electroNic will presumably take up IGL duties from nafany and Perfecto will continue to play his supportive style. Cloud9 picks up two new players for CS:GO roster The announcement comes two weeks after NAVI announced its new-look roster for the rest of the 2023 season, benching both Perfeto and electroNic. Both teams seem to be building star-studded rosters ahead of the switch from CS:GO to CS2 sometime this summer. Valve has yet to announce the date for when CS2 will officially release or when the esport will switch over to the new title. Cloud9 has not had the best 2023 so far. The team started off hot with a second-place finish at ESL Pro League and a first-place performance at BLAST Premier: Spring European Showdown. But outside of those tournaments, the team hasn’t made much of a dent at top-tier events. The organization is hoping that the former NAVI duo can help shore up their squad for the back half of the year. With NAVI, Perfecto and electroNic won the PGL Stockholm Major in 2021 and placed second at the PGL Antwerp Major in 2022. In 2023, the duo helped NAVI to a top-four placement at IEM Rio and a top-12 showing at the BLAST Paris Major.

Cloud9 reveal they lose millions of dollars on CSGO every year Cloud9 / Jp Valery on UnsplashCloud9 have revealed that they currently lose millions of dollars every year running a CS:GO team. In an interview with DBLTAP, Cloud9 president Dan Fiden revealed just how much it costs to maintain a team in CS:GO. He states that not only do Cloud9 lose over $1 million per year on their CS division, but that he believes this to be the case for any organization operating a top-tier team in the game. “Let’s be clear, Cloud9 loses between $1M and $2M every year on our CS operation, and I would challenge any top 20 team in CS to prove to me that they’re not losing a similar amount.” Meanwhile, he revealed that “Cloud9 makes more money from Rainbow Six than we do from CS right now,” despite Rainbow Six being a smaller esports title. The reason for such a large loss is apparently the disparity between the costs of running a team, including player salaries, support staff, and housing, and the amount that the organization can actually earn from participating in CS leagues and tournaments. Meanwhile, even drawing sponsorships for Counter-Strike can be tough due to the nature of the game. “We received roughly $70K from ESL last year, and that’s the biggest league revenue distribution we’ve received for CS. We spend more than $70K on CS in a single month. On sponsorships, we have, and continue to receive, requests from our partners to be excluded from CS because the content is edgy.” Fiden also explained that the quality of CS:GO as an esport is why Cloud9 is willing to put so much money into the game. “We love CS and believe in CS, which is why we’re not being risk averse about CS. We’re putting millions of our own dollars — Jack’s money, my money, our investors’ money — into doing the harder thing, which is trying to make it work.” Of the biggest esports games, CS:GO has historically had the least oversight from the developers. Titles like League of Legends, Overwatch, and Call of Duty have all now moved to franchised leagues operated by their respective owners, while Valve are still only involved in the bi-annual Majors in Counter-Strike. While the hands-off approach and open circuit has been praised by many viewers, one of the major benefits of franchising is the security and financial benefits it offers to the league and the teams involved. Though CS:GO isn’t going to have developer-controlled franchising any time soon, the coming year will see a move in that direction from major tournament organizers. The new iteration of ESL Pro League, the new BLAST Premier circuit, and the new ‘B Site League’ by FACEIT will all reportedly push for greater commitment from teams in return for guaranteed spots and revenue shares. Cloud9 have reportedly committed to the B Site League.

Cloud9 reportedly settles for one OpTic CS:GO star as talks break down L: DreamHack, R: ESLReports suggest that OpTic Gaming are looking to keep star player Kristian ‘k0nfig’ Wienecket in favor of cutting Marco ‘Snappi’ Pfeiffer. According to a report by Rush B Media, plans for the new line-ups of Cloud9 and OpTic Gaming’s CS:GO rosters have once again changed. It was originally reported by Dust2.DK that Cloud9 were in discussions to acquire OpTic Gaming’s k0nfig and Jakob ‘JUGi’ Hansen. Cloud9 are currently looking to fill the spaces left by the departure of Robin ‘Flusha’ Ronnquist and Fabien ‘kioShiMa’ Fiey. Read more: $100,000 raised for family of former CS pro Atta Elayyan killed in Christchurch mosque shooting – Dexerto subsequently reported that OpTic Gaming were targeting Rogue’s Mathias ‘MSL’ Lauridsen and Nikolaj ‘niko’ Kristensen as replacements for k0nfig and JUGi. According to the Rush B report, JUGi is still in talks with Cloud9, but OpTic may now be holding onto k0nfig and instead removing in-game leader Snappi from their roster. Dexerto haven’t independently verified which of OpTic’s current players will be leaving the team at this time. As Cloud9 in this scenario will only be signing one OpTic Gaming player, Rush B report that they will instead look to retain the services of kioShiMa. This move would also ensure Cloud9 hold onto their spot in the StarLadder Berlin Major, with three players who competed for them in the IEM Katowice Major remaining on the team. Assuming the moves go through as reported by Rush B, the two teams’ rosters would consist of the following players. Cloud9: Fabien ‘kioShiMa’ Fiey – Jakob ‘JUGi’ Hansen – Timothy ‘autimatic’ Ta – Will ‘Rush’ Wierzba – Maikil ‘Golden’ Selim – OpTic Gaming: Mathias ‘MSL’ Lauridsen – Nikolaj ‘niko’ Kristensen – Kristian ‘k0nfig’ Wienecke – Ismail ‘refrezh’ Ali – René ‘cajunb’ Borg –

Cloud9 Reportedly Eyeing Up G2 CS:GO Players as More Roster Changes Loom DreamHack / Adela SznajderIn a shocking turn of events, Cloud9 is reportedly looking to replace their new in-game leader, Pujan ‘FNS’ Mehta, just one month after purchasing him for a staggering price. Cloud9 lost one of their star players, Jake ‘Stewie2K’ Yip, to SK Gaming in March of 2018 despite the fact that they had become the first North American team in history to win a CS:GO Major back in January. To replace him they brought Pujan ‘FNS’ Mehta on board, buying him out of his contract with compLexity that he had signed in January for a staggering $200,000 according to C9 owner Jack Etienne. After an investment like that it is hard to believe that Cloud9 would consider replacing FNS any time soon, but new reports have surfaced which claim that they are doing just that, and that they already have two potential replacements from Europe in mind. Read More: The First Matches for Shroud and n0thing’s New CS:GO Team Went Exactly How Everyone Predicted – With G2 Esports also on the brink of another major roster overhaul, Nathan ‘NBK-’ Schmitt and and Dan ‘apEX’ Madesclaire look set to find themselves ousted from the French team and looking for other options. All the evidence currently points towards Richard ‘shox’ Papillon making a return to the team with a new roster, which won’t feature either of the former Major Champions, but their stock is still high enough that numerous organizations are likely to show interest. FNS joined Cloud9 in April and has attended just two events with them so far. According to industry insider Jarek ‘DeKay’ Lewis, the two Frenchmen are at the top of Cloud9’s most wanted list and a switch could be happening in the next couple of weeks following the conclusion of StarSeries i-League Season 5. “Cloud9 is set to replace Pujan “FNS” Mehta on the active roster after the ECS Season 5 Finals, according to sources close to the team and player. Cloud9 is considering G2 Esports players Dan “apEX” Madesclaire or Nathan “NBK-” Schmitt to replace him.” Many have responded to this news with confusion as the CS:GO community tries to fathom what could have changed in the space of a month to make the organization go from spending $200,000 on a player to wanting to replace him. It seems unlikely that Cloud9 will be able to find another organization willing to come close to matching that price tag so they could find themselves paying FNS to sit on the bench for the next 11 months. There is also the likelihood that both apEX and NBK- have significant buyouts attached to their G2 contracts. If Cloud9 is truly pursuing one, or both, of them, they could find themselves forking out yet more money in the very near future.

Cloud9 leaves CSGO due to “remote training” struggles ELEAGUEAccording to a pair of new reports and an official announcement, Cloud9 are leaving CSGO and disbanding their team due to “financial” and “remote training” struggles, as the organization takes a “pause” from competing in the storied esport. Cloud9 has been a big name in the Counter-Strike esports community for what seems like forever, but the organization will be taking a step back from competition, at least temporarily, according to new reports and an anouncement from C9. According to a report from March 26 by French esports site 1pv, sources obtained by CS/Valorant reporter neL said that following the team’s failure to qualify for the EPL Season 13 playoffs, Cloud9 decided to stop their CSGO “project.” Subsequently, the organization confirmed their temporary disbandment. “The players have all been placed on the bench and Cloud9 could very well stop its involvement in the Counter-Strike scene,” 1pv initially reported. Shortly after 1pv’s report came out, CSGO news site RushB also dropped a scoop of their own. They managed to speak directly to Cloud9 CEO Jack Etienne, who confirmed that the team would be taking a break. Etienne reports ongoing global events have drug on longer than the US-based org thought they would initially, and caused “undue stress and difficulties in providing bootcamps, housing, and the mental health of the players,” according to RushB. It’s certainly not what Cloud9 CSGO fans want to hear, and for fans of the esport it almost seems like an out of season April Fool’s joke from the team that won the $500,000 Boston ELeague Major just in 2018. Cloud9’s CSGO roster at the time news broke is as follows: Alex “ALEX” McMeekin – William “mezii” Merriman – Patrick “es3tag” Hansen – Ricky “floppy” Kemery – Erick “Xeppaa” Bach – If you’ve been keeping tabs on CSGO news of late though, it hasn’t been hard to see the cracks appearing in Cloud9’s infamous “Colossus,” parting ways with Turkish AWPer Özgür ‘woxic’ Eker just three months into his three year contract, and of course the ever-growing popularity of Valorant esports. In the org’s official announcement, they emphasized the inability to assemble together in North America as a decisive factor — professing that goals could not be met given the current global emphasis on “remote training.” While Etienne told RushB that Cloud9 would not be leaving CSGO esports forever and would be back eventually, the chances of the team looking anything like the Colossus are slim to none. The announcement confirms that the C9 “remain passionate about competing in CS:GO,” but that they can’t return to the esport until “conditions allow us to work and train in the ways we know help teams to be successful.” Read More: Top 10 wasted talents in CSGO history – Exactly what will happen to the now-benched players remains to be seen, but they, more than likely, will find homes on other team, or make the jump to Valorant as a lot of their peers have done already.

Cloud9 CSGO terminates woxic’s contract three-months after forming the “Colossus” EPICENTERCloud9 are making another change to their long-term CS:GO “colossus,” reportedly benching Turkish AWPer Özgür ‘woxic’ Eker for ex-Chaos’ Erick ‘Xeppaa’ Bach. The former mousesports star is just three months into his three-year contract. Update on January 18 Cloud9 and woxic mutually agreed to terminate the AWPer’s contract after trying to navigate problems that were “almost insurmountable.” Statement regarding Cloud9 CS:GO & Woxic. Wishing him the very best of luck in the future. More to come in the next couple of days.. pic.twitter.com/SSotR8UDBh — HenryG (@HenryGcsgo) January 18, 2021 CSGO fans are now looking ahead for what may come next as C9 officially look for a replacement AWPer and head coach, as woxic will now plan his next move apart from the org. Original story follows below Cloud9 is undergoing big changes heading into the 2021 season. Turkish star woxic could be on his way out of the colossus just three months into his three-year contract. The star AWPer is reportedly being benched “due to non-performance related issues,” according to Rush B Media, but a person close to the team “did not believe that there was an internal disagreement that took place which would cause [woxic] to be [benched].” The team had mixed results after their late-2020 rebuild, finishing last in Flashpoint Season 2, but third in the BLAST Premier Fall Showdown. W0xic has posted middling results at these recent events, with an average HLTV rating of 1.00 since joining Cloud9. He has struggled to shine like his 2019 peak with mousesports, where he played a part in claiming the European squad a ESL Pro League Season 10 title. First in line to replace woxic is the now teamless Xeppaa. After the disbanding of Chaos, the squad has gone their separate ways, with the likes of Nathan ‘leaf’ Orf and Anthony ‘vanity’ Malaspina swapping to Valorant. The 20-year-old American rifler shone during Chaos’ rise at the end of 2020, helping the squad win IEM Beijing 2020, DreamHack Masters Winter, and secure a podium spot at ESL One Cologne and DreamHack Open Summer. Speculation has also been rife about who else Cloud9 could potentially be signing. Cloud9 General Manager Henry ‘HenryG’ Greer posted a Tweet with four emojis indicating two contracts being signed. With the removal of Kassad at the end of 2020, the second signing could indicate a return of former Assistant Coach Chris ‘Elmapuddy’ Tebbit. The Australian coach has been linked with Cloud9 yet again, less than two months after leaving the squad for Gen.G. Cloud9 are yet to confirm either the benching of woxic, or the signing of Xeppaa. We will update you as more information arises.

Cloud9 owner Jack Etienne trolls Team Liquid for “choking” at the IEM Katowice CS:GO Major The CS:GO community was stunned after Team Liquid fell to ENCE in the IEM Katowice Quarterfinals – but it seems like Cloud9 Owner Jack Etienne recovered quick enough to throw some jabs at the defeated side. Team Liquid were at the cusp of tying up the series 1-1 on their map choice of Inferno, when ENCE rallied all the way down from 8-15 to win it in Overtime. It wasn’t long before esport’s Best Meme-ing Owner Jack applied salt to the fresh wound Team Liquid received moments prior. Wait, how did ENCE win? I turned off when Team Liquid went 15-9 up on the second map. pic.twitter.com/1ITgEIW9Yr — Jack Etienne (@JackEtienne) February 28, 2019 Jack tweeted what most casual CS:GO viewers must have thought, after it seemed like the star-studded lineup of Team Liquid were going to roll toward a tied series. Read more: DeKay CS:GO Major Mailbag, Part 3: Will MLG return and thoughts on new ScreaM and Ex6TenZ lineup – “Wait, how did ENCE win,” Jack asked. “I turned it off when Team Liquid went up 15-9 on the second map.” The burn was immediately followed by a healthy dose of the classic “This is the Universal Sign for Choking” meme, custom made with the Team Liquid logo. A fan warned Jack to be cautious with memes like this since the Internet would remember the jab and remind him when this happens to one of his teams in the future. But the Cloud9 owner cooley met the comment with a very self-aware response. “It’s happened plenty of times in the past to us and it will again,” Jack said. “It’s the nature of the game…” The tweet was met with overwhelming applause, with adding their own meme to the fray. Seems like Jack wasn’t too down to see the fellow North American team go down.

Cloud9’s Mixwell announces return to NA with clean FPL clutch ESLCloud9’s Oscar ‘Mixwell’ Cañellas Colocho showed he’s still got it with an incredibly clean 1v4 clutch after returning to North America. Mixwell is best known for his tenure on OpTic Gaming, having been scouted from relative obscurity playing with Spanish teams. Despite having no experience on so large a stage, Mixwell’s time with the team ultimately produced some of the organization’s best results in Counter-Strike, including their victory at ELeague Season 2. After parting ways with OpTic in February 2018, Mixwell had a stint as a trial player for G2 Esports during a tumultuous period for the roster that ultimately ended with a roster overhaul that included Mixwell’s departure. Since then, Mixwell has been largely absent from the international stage, playing for Spanish squad Movistar Riders. It was recently announced, however, that he would be making his return to North America as part of the new-look Cloud9 roster. When previously competing in NA, Mixwell would frequently pull off incredible plays in the professional pick-up leagues like FPL and ESEA Rank S, and in his return he seems to have hit the ground running as if he’d never left. Mixwell found himself left alone in a 1 vs 4 in an FPL match on Inferno. Trapped on the B bombsite on the final round of the half, there was no point in attempting to save, so Mixwell went to work with a series of clean headshots, spinning back and forth to pick off enemies one at a time. While Mixwell wasn’t streaming himself at the time, the moment was captured through the perspective of his teammate Keiti, who watched as the Spanish star secured a twelve-round T half for the squad. Mixwell’s new Cloud9 squad has yet to make their offline debut, but is set to compete for the first time at BLAST Pro Series Los Angeles on July 13-14, where they will be tested against some of the top squads competing in North America, including world number ones Team Liquid. Cloud9 has had a difficult time in Counter-Strike recently, with a period of roster uncertainty and underwhelming results ultimately leading to this latest rebuild. While there’s a big difference between FPL and real pro matches, Cloud9 fans will likely be encouraged to see Mixwell looking in good form.

Cloud9 Mixwell explains why he’s leaving the CSGO roster On December 19, Óscar ‘mixwell’ Cañellas announced that he would be stepping back from the Cloud9 active CSGO roster, and pursuing opportunities with new organizations. The Spanish star revealed why its time for him to move on. In January 2018, Cloud 9 climbed the highest peak there is to climb in Counter-Strike: capturing victory at Valve-sponsored major. The moment was made even sweeter by winning the ELEAGUE major in thrilling fashion in front of raucous Boston homecrowd. Months later, the core of that Boston roster would be gone, and now, less than two years later, the roster in its entirety is gone, and Cloud 9 is now hitting the reset button. Another piece of the Cloud 9 puzzle is making his way out the door as well, as mixwell announced on December 19 he’d be leaving Cloud 9 and pursuing opportunities elsewhere in 2020. I will no longer represent @Cloud9 in the starting five. They allowed me to seek other options, I am looking to redirect my career and be able to enjoy playing CS again as soon as possible. Contact: mixwell@cloud9.gg pic.twitter.com/sPmqBUu73b — Heretics m1xwell (@Mixwell) December 19, 2019 In a reply on Twitter, Mixwell said that the move to Cloud9 was a risk in his viewpoint, and that the risk “didn’t pay off.” However, he says that he did learn alot from his experience on C9. Thanks, took a risk and didn’t pay off. But I’ve learned a lot. — Heretics m1xwell (@Mixwell) December 19, 2019 In moving to Cloud9 in July of this year, it marked a return to the North American scene in which mixwell established himself as potential star-in-the-making years ago. In April 2016, he joined OpTic Gaming for nearly a two-year campaign, during which he emerged as an extremely talented AWPer with world-class potential. Prior to Cloud9’s Boston major victory, many fans expected that the OpTic roster would be the ones to break through and emerge as the dominant NA team, and results like their ELEAGUE Season 2 win over Astralis pushed that narrative forward. However, consistent shortcomings at majors stalled the team’s momentum, and after the NA members of the roster left or were transferred, the all-European version of OpTic fell apart as quickly as it started. Mixwell joined G2 on trial, but was unable to help G2 improve results, and didn’t secure a starting spot. Mixwell joined C9 after a year with Spanish squad Movistar Riders, but the late-2019 version of the C9 showed almost no signs of growth, failing to qualify for ECS or ESL Pro League finals, and finishing their year in November with a winless showing at BLAST Copenhagen. During his tenure with C9, Mixwell posted a positive KD ratio that led the team alongside Timothy ‘autimatic’ Ta, but the 1.02 rating was his lowest over an extended period of time for him since 2015. In 2016, for example, he averaged a 1.2 KD across the whole year. Cloud9’s future in CSGO is currently a question mark in addition to mixwell’s, having just transferred the core of their roster to Gen.G in December.

Cloud9, MIBR headline confirmed teams for B Site CSGO League Dreamhack / ECSCloud9, MIBR, Dignitas, Gen.G, MAD Lions, and ex-CR4ZY have all joined the B Site CSGO League, according to a report by ESPN, with the North American-based rival to ESL Pro League set to start in March. Some of North America’s most iconic organizations have partnered with FACEIT’s B Site League for 2020 as the race to secure CS:GO top talent steams forward. Brazilian fan-favorites MIBR and the new Cloud9 roster will headline the rival competition to ESL Pro League. Both teams were invited by ESL to play in the league, but declined the offer or didn’t respond to the tournament organizer. A revitalized Dignitas roster featuring Ninjas in Pyjamas veterans Patrik ‘f0rest’ Lindberg, Christopher ‘GeT_RiGhT’ Alesund, and Adam ‘friberg’ Friberg are also one of six teams confirmed for the tournament, according to ESPN. Gen.G, MAD Lions, and ex-CR4ZY (now c0ntact) have also signed on with B Site. The league reportedly has a $2 million franchising fee, giving teams access to the revenue share model, as well as players also receiving a cut of all money earned through the new league. More teams will be drafted through an online qualifier with more than “six figures” on the line, according to a tweet from Duncan ‘Thorin’ Shields. The league will finish up with around 10 to 12 teams, although it’s unclear as to whether more teams are expected to get invited or if remaining slots will be filled by the qualifiers. “”B site”” plans already included an online worldwide qualifier, but in light of the disgraceful betrayal by ESL of players and teams who had qualified for/had EPL slots until today, we’re expanding our system and including additional money for teams who qualify. pic.twitter.com/BhNTEejVjv — Thorin (@Thorin) January 25, 2020 The team announcement comes after a week of controversy between ESL and the B Site organizers. ESL revealed the 24 teams invited to Pro League Season 11 on January 24, with a whole new format alongside it. However, at the time of announcing, none of the teams had officially signed to the league, with Thorin cutting ties with the tournament organizer over slashing half of their originally-planned 48 slots for the big event, leaving some teams hanging to dry. “In light of the unethical and unprofessional behavior of ESL over their EPL dealings I won’t be working with their org under any circumstances until the people responsible are named and fired or leave the company,” he said. Players like Oleksandr ‘s1mple’ Kostyliev have also called out ESL, labelling the late change “pathetic.” B Site League will take place in Los Angeles, starting sometime in March. It will feature some of CS:GO’s most well-respected talent, including Auguste ‘Semmler’ Massonnat and Anders Blume. It will also be Christopher ‘MonteCristo’ Mykles’ first time casting CS:GO.

Cloud9 just jumped 281 CS:GO world ranking spots and some community members are seriously unimpressed Cloud9Notable Counter-Strike: Global Offensive community members have voiced their disappointment with the HLTV ranking system after Cloud9 climb 281 places following BLAST Pro Series Los Angeles. The newest iteration of Cloud9 shot up to rank 20 in the world after BLAST Pro Series LA. The American squad rose an astounding 281 places after winning only one match at the event, a best-of-one against rank six FaZe clan. The controversy began to form around the subject soon after the rankings were first revealed. The main concern seemed to be that many other teams are working hard and consistently playing at mid-tier events, while Cloud9 have only played one event, one that they were invited to. Esports journalist Kevin Hitt was one of the first to comment, stating: “+281 spots for doing what? For winning one map and beating FaZe. Only to turn around and get beat by Renegades?” “Absolute joke that because they get invited to Blast events they get free rankings points. Unbelievable disservice to anybody involved in #CSGO. “Maps – Won: 1 Tied: 2 Loss: 4 sounds like a great argument for jumping 281 spots.” He continued. Teams like GamerLegion, Spirit, and BIG who have been playing at numerous events over the last few months now sit below Cloud9. Absolute joke that because they get invited to Blast events they get free rankings points. Unbelievable disservice to anybody involved in #CSGO. Maps – Won: 1 Tied: 2 Loss: 4 sounds like a great argument for jumping 281 spots. — Kevin Hitt (@Kevin_Hitt) July 15, 2019 Popular Counter-Strike writer neL later joined in on the discussion with a similar opinion. “Truth. C9 go ahead of teams working their asses off for months just because they have invites. And they only won 1 game. No merit.” He said. Truth. C9 go ahead of teams working their asses off for months just because they have invites. And they only won 1 game. No merit. Nothing against C9 but it sucks for those who struggle and have to fight in every single qualifiers. https://t.co/Tj2wIcocLI — neL (@neLendirekt) July 16, 2019 Daniel ‘fRoD’ Montaner, a legendary American Counter-Strike player, also chimed in on the issue, claiming that Cloud9’s new rank is a “complete joke” and a “Big slap in the face to those working hard” Yup, complete fkn joke! Blast should be to blame too for not revoking invite. I wish we got handed a boost like that when all you gotta do is win one map. Then again I’d rather earn it than be handed it. Big slap in the face to those working hard. — Danny Montaner (@OfficialfRoD) July 16, 2019 OpTic Gaming coach Casper ‘ruggah’ Due weighed in on the matter, suggesting that invite only tournaments with best-of-one formats, like the BLAST Pro Series, should not be awarded as many ranking points as the events that many fans would see as more ‘prestigious’. “Still don’t think the invite only tournaments such as BLAST should give that much points,” said the Dane. “C9 basically earned a spot in top20 by one win and two draws in a bo1 format. If you get invited enough times there will be a good run every now and then – to keep an inflated invite rank.” Still don’t think the invite only tournaments such as BLAST should give that much points. C9 basicly earned a spot in top20 by one win and two draws in a bo1 format. If you get invited enough times there will be a good run every now and then – to keep an inflated invite rank — Casper Due (@casdueh) July 15, 2019 In a separate Twitter post, dating back to Febraury 28, ruggah had commented on the same issue, saying: “I like the format and tournament, but there needs to be some sort of (HLTV) ranking evaluation of the points gathered from these close circuit tournaments (also ICE). Teams live and die of rankings (tournaments, closed qualifiers etc) so it’s only reasonable to open a dialogue. NRG coach Chet ‘ImAPet’ Singh had responded to that statement, saying: “My issue is a team like C9 last year, who was ranked decently lower compared to their competition, was getting guaranteed opportunities to play top teams and if they win a couple of those games they could rise the rankings. I’m not sure how that is going interpreted in the ranking.” I like the format and tournament, but there needs to be some sort of (HLTV) ranking evaluation of the points gathered from these close circuit tournaments (also ICE). Teams live and die of rankings (tournaments, closed qualifiers etc) so it’s only reasonable to open a dialogue https://t.co/r3IdJnFp82 — Casper Due (@casdueh) February 27, 2019 My issue is a team like C9 last year, who was ranked decently lower compared to their competition, was getting guaranteed opportunities to play top teams and if they win a couple of those games they could rise the rankings. I’m not sure how that is going interpreted in the rankin — Chet Singh (@ImAPet1) February 28, 2019 Overall, the CS:GO community’s reaction to this ranking is rather negative, with various high profile members stating that Cloud9’s rank is undeserved and unfair to other teams who are working incredibly hard to climb up the rankings. Of course, others have pointed out that the ranking (and any issues with it) should not be a reason for negative opinions about the North American organization or its team – they simply played in the tournament and have no control over how HLTV’s ranking system works. It should also be noted that many HLTV’s ranking system, while usually referred to as the go-to source of ranks in Counter-Strike, cannot work perfectly in every scenario. Whether the company will be looking to reassess the points awarded to BLAST events, or for one-off wins, is currently uncertain, but it seems unlikely that this one questionable result will have any lasting negative impact on the well established and regarded HLTV rankings.

Cloud9 give rare insight into their in-game CSGO communication Cloud9Cloud9 have given Counter-Strike fans a special treat by releasing a video including rarely heard voice comms. CS:GO is a shooter where tactics are key at the highest level. As such, many professional teams tend to keep their in-game communications hidden – not allowing other teams to learn the details behind their strategies. However, Cloud9 have released a short highlight of their run in the Intel Extreme Masters Katowice qualifier and included their team’s voice communication. The video, originally posted on January 14 to the Cloud9 YouTube channel, gives viewers insight into just how things look on the professional level – something that fans rarely get to hear. Read More: Stuchiu: The Two Holes in Na`Vi’s Death Star – Cloud9’s players show just how important communication is, with key calls coming in at perfect times to set up kills and plays. Not only that, but it also gives fans a way to get to know the players more and learn about the dynamic of the team. Normally, fans would only hear a player talk on a stream or during an interview at an event, which may not necessarily be their most comfortable setting. But thanks to this video it’s easy to learn a bit about their personalities and Ian ‘motm’ Hardy has already become a favorite after hilariously demanding more enthusiasm from his team. Not much was revealed about the team’s tactics, but it was easy to see that they’re loving the game and always try to stay positive, as well as celebrate just about every good play with a loud cheer. Fans absolutely loved the video with comments like “I just love listening to team comms, great video” and “I love this team even more because of the enthusiastic shouting” filling a Reddit thread. No doubt many interested in CSGO would love to see more of these kinds of videos as they give a unique view into the inner workings of a team. Hopefully, we will see more from Cloud9, as well as other teams.

Former Cloud9 star Freakazoid teases return to professional CSGO ESLFormer Counter-Strike fans with a potential return to the professional scene, more than three months after his last tournament appearance. Freakazoid first arrived in the Counter-Strike: Source scene in 2010, before bouncing around organizations until the introduction of Global Offensive. It was there that the CSGO veteran really exploded, as part of the Cloud9 squad during 2015-16 that took the world by storm. The now 26-year-old played alongside other North American superstars like Michael ‘shroud’ Grzesiek and Jordan ‘n0thing’ Gilbert, with the C9 roster becoming the first US-based team to win a major championship. Freakazoid last played professional CSGO for Ghost Gaming in June, 2019, after bouncing between teams like Echo Fox, Swole Patrol, and Muffin Lightning. Since his last organization disbanded, Abadir has been pursuing streaming full-time. Read more: Stewie makes bold Belin Major statement – Now, it appears the Cloud9 veteran’s time in the wilderness is over, after he tweeted out a cryptic message to his fans on Twitter – “I’m coming back”. Of course, his fans went wild on social media. Some even suggested Freakazoid could be involved in 100 Thieves founder Matthew ‘Nadeshot‘ Hagg’s new Counter-Strike plans. Others likened it to NBA superstar Michael Jordan’s official press release when confirming he was returning to the game, which simply stated: “I’m back.” Many expressed their interest in seeing Freakazoid reconnect with the former C9 roster from early 2016. Those requests may not be too far off the mark either. While there’s no guarantee CSGO fans will be seeing players like shroud or Sean ‘seang@res’ Gares back on the big stage, n0thing did recently tease a reunion plan for the iconic squad during his stream. Read more: ESL Pro League introducing exclusivity rules – “Okay so we have a WhatsApp group with me, Skadoodle, shroud, Sean, and freakazoid in it and we’re waiting for another online event to happen. We’re gonna play in it if our schedule permits,” revealed Freakazoid’s former teammate. Regardless of whether Freakazoid links up with his old Cloud9 teammates or a new-look roster, the future is bright for the NA star if he truly is returning to the pro scene. Players like Marcelo ‘coldzera’ David, Robin ‘flusha’ Rönnquist, and Aleksi ‘Aleksib’ Virolainen are all free agents at the moment, and if an organization wants to take a chance on bringing them all together, we could see the birth of a new major-focused team soon enough.

Cloud9 finally return to CSGO with former Gambit roster PGLAfter a year without a Counter-Strike roster, Cloud9 have returned to the scene with the acquisition of the former Gambit Esports team that had been playing under the ‘Players’ name. At the end of March 2021, Cloud9 confirmed that they would be leaving the Counter-Strike: Global Offensive esports scene due to “financial” and “remote training” struggles – if only temporarily. As teams had started basing themselves out of Europe for competition, having a North American-focused roster presented challenges, but there has always been a clamor for the organization to return given their storied history within Counter-Strike. Well, after 13 months away from the scene, Cloud9 have signed a powerhouse roster by the way of the former Gambit Esports squad that has just qualified for the PGL Antwerp Major. The North American org announced the news on April 24 after it was confirmed that the squad would be headed to the Legends stage of the upcoming Major. “We finally signed CS:GO Players,” they said in a simple tweet, revealing that they had signed the ‘Players’ team which had formerly played under the Gambit Esports banner. The talented line-up had been banned from competing under the Gambit tag due to the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine, but had been allowed to play under a natural name. Given the ban, the team had been up for sale and have now found a new home, though there is no word on the price tag of the move. As noted, the team has qualified for the upcoming PGL Major in Antwerp and has held a spot in ESL Pro League. They will now be able to compete in those competitions in Cloud9 colors, which is always a welcome sight for CS sticker collectors. Cloud9’s Counter-Strike roster now consists of: Vladislav ‘nafany’ Gorshkov – Dmitry ‘sh1ro’ Sokolov – Abay ‘HObbit’ Khasenov – Sergey ‘Ax1Le’ Rykhtorov – Timofey ‘interz’ Yakushin –

Cloud9 Enters New Partnership With the United States Air Force Cloud9 / YouTubeCloud9 has announced a new partnership between its Counter-Strike: Global Offensive team and the United States Air Force. The new sponsorship will feature content where the team travels to various Air Force bases around the country as well as follow the players’ journey at ELEAGUE Premier 2018. Jack Etienne, the CEO of Cloud9, hopes that the project will raise awareness of the U.S. Air Force’s work among Cloud9’s fan base and states that it will give the organization the chance to deliver amazing new content. “Cloud9 is proud to create awareness of the Air Force for our amazing fan base, “By developing a dynamic partnership with the Air Force, we will be able to deliver extraordinary content that will show fans a totally different side of the team.” Read More: Former OpTic Star Mixwell Creates New Roster With Movistar Riders: “Nothing is going to stop us” – Major Ross McKnight, Chief of National Events Branch at the Air Force Recruiting Service Headquarters, added: “We are very excited to partner with Cloud9’s stellar CS:GO players, who display the same level of discipline, rigor and achievement that we value in our Airmen. The partnership will provide an opportunity to create engaging and relevant content in the esports space and to show Cloud9 fans some of the ways in which they can make a difference in the U.S. Air Force.” This isn’t the only major partnership for the U.S. Air Force in esports. ELEAGUE announced on July 19 that it has expanded its partnership with the aerial and space warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces. The new deal will see the U.S. Air Force sponsor a number of ELEAGUE events, including ELEAGUE CS:GO Premier from July 19 – 29. Seth Ladetsky, Senior Vice President of Sales for Turner Sports, said: “ELEAGUE goes to great lengths to bring on partners that have a natural connection to our fans and that understand that the esports community highly values authentic voices. The Air Force gets it and is a perfect fit; we are excited to be working with them in a deeper way and providing them a platform to articulate how they support the men and women of our country in their time of service.”

Cloud9 drops CSGO roster | Richard Lewis Reacts at ESL Pro League Recorded before Cloud9 parted ways with their CSGO roster, Richard Lewis reacted to the team’s poor Group C showing at ESL Pro League 13. After finishing 5th following wins against oNe & FURIA, Richard explained why C9 was on the precipice of being dropped, right before C9 made the decision to cut ties. For Richard, at any point, building a team is “difficult at the best of times” because you’re throwing together parts in the hopes that they’ll work well together. Back in 2020, though, Aleksandar ‘kassad’ Trifunović left Cloud9 as head coach, adding another spanner into the works, with star AWPer Özgür ‘woxic’ Eker also being removed due to ping problems. Those reshuffles and recasting players in the roster were also going on while the team was being slammed with people “vitriolically attacking them” to a point that Lewis himself had never seen. With a whole lot of pressure applied to the team from outside sources such as social media, Lewis stated that it created “a self-fulfilling prophecy” as they needed to be relaxed and free from distraction to really shine. Predicting what inevitably ended up happening within the scene for the team, he added “maybe, moving forward, there isn’t a Cloud9 CS roster anymore” due to how “catastrophic” it was that the team didn’t make it through. For all CSGO news, stay locked to Dexerto over at our dedicated main page.

Cloud9 drop CSGO players for ‘unacceptable’ contract breaches DreamHackEsports organization Cloud9 have terminated deals with four of their CS:GO roster over breaches of contract, meaning JT, motm, Sonic and coach T.c are now free agents. Cloud9 are one of the world’s premier esports brands, fielding teams in Dota 2, League of Legends, Rainbow Six Siege and Counter Strike: Global Offensive. However, they have experienced issues with discipline when it comes CS:GO rosters, particularly in light of the ongoing global health crisis. Unsurprisingly, the majority of active rosters are prohibited from interacting with people outside of their households, to keep themselves and the organization’s staff safe. This appears to have been what forced the separation between the organization and multiple players, coming to light on October 24. Sources claim that unauthorized guests were invited into the team’s residence, making it the second time a contract breach of this nature has occurred. In response to a request for comment from Rush B Media, Cloud9 CEO Jack Etienne said: “The details that really matter is this was the second offence of unauthorized guests coming into Cloud9 property after being told that this is not all acceptable. And the reason it is not acceptable is because you are putting our staff at risk.” The news was confirmed via Twitter, with the American organization retweeting comments from all those dismissed stating they were now free agents. Similar tweets were made by motm and JT, confirming the news about their time with Cloud9 ending. Notably, Joshua ‘oSee’ Ohm remains a part of Cloud9. He does not reside in the team house, and so has been able to retain his spot and has not been held responsible for the unauthorised interactions with the unknown visitors. Furthermore, Cloud9’s ‘Colossus’ roster remains completely intact. What becomes of oSee, though, remains to be seen. We could well see more players come in to form a new roster, or oSee bide his time as Cloud9 formulate their next moves.

Cloud9 CSGO sign ALEX from Team Vitality in $1.65 million deal StarLadderCloud9 have announced the signing of formerly Vitality in-game leader Alex ‘ALEX’ McMeekin as the first player in their CS:GO roster rebuild. Cloud9 recently revealed that they would be undergoing a complete overhaul of their CS:GO division, bringing in commentator Henry ‘HenryG’ Greer as General Manager of the project, and Aleksandar ‘kassad’ Trifunović as head coach. As part of the new direction, the team announced that they would be finding new homes for their existing line-up, and starting from scratch with a new team. British IGL ALEX is the first new addition for that squad. The 3rd page in #C9CSGO’s new chapter and the head of our Colossus has arrived. A vital 1st addition as the team captain, welcome to Cloud9 @vitality_alex! 📰 (FR) Live interview with @neLendirekt for @1PVcs: https://t.co/56GWlLXwc2 pic.twitter.com/P14c9GnBbg— Cloud9 (@Cloud9) September 10, 2020 New manager HenryG also revealed details of the deal, in a first for CS:GO esports. He confirmed the contract length is three years, and the value of the deal worth $1.65m Cloud9 Unleash the Colossus ☄ 🔹Player: Alex ‘ALEX’ McMeekin 🔹Role: Captain / IGL / Rifler 🔹Contract length: 3 year deal (Starting 09/09/2020) 🔹Deal Value: $1,650,000 🔹Press: https://t.co/Lx8eNsme5l pic.twitter.com/I4FzcLxoem — HenryG (@HenryGcsgo) September 10, 2020 ALEX most recently competed for Vitality, during which time he helped lead them to the world number two ranking, including winning four championships, appearing in six finals, and reaching 11 straight playoffs at events. In March of 2020, however, he stepped down from the team, citing burnout from the travel demands of competing in a top team. The move to Cloud9 will be his first return to competition since playing at IEM Katowice in February 2020. Cloud9 is expected to announce more members of their roster soon, so stay tuned.

Cloud9 CS:GO set to pickup another up-and-comer after Infinite ruled out over racist remarks ELeagueCloud9’s Counter-Strike: Global Offensive roster are set to switch their focus when it comes to finding a stand-in replacement for Swedish in-game leader Maikil ‘Golden’ Kunda Selim ahead of the upcoming IEM Katowice Major. Golden, who has struggled with medical issues, is set to miss the upcoming Major event after missing a number of recent tournaments. Cloud9 have rotated stand-in players when he has been unable to play – with the most recent being young Danish star Ismail ‘refrezh’ Ali. The team had been linked with a move for Gage ‘Infinite’ Green but after it had been discovered that the player made a number of racist comments, the CS:GO community vocally called out the organisation for considering signing him. Now, according to VPEsports’ Jarek ‘DeKay’ Lewis, the team has switched their focus to Swole Patrol’s Jordan ‘Zellsis’ Montemurro to fill-in for Golden. Whilst replacing Golden for the event would see Cloud9 fall foul of the ‘three core players’ rule, the team could use the newly-implemented emergency loan clause that allows teams to make an emergency transfer due to medical or transport issues. With Golden sidelined, Cloud9 would also have to hand over their in-game leader duties to another player – most likely Robin ‘flusha’ Rönnquist. 500Update: Cloud9 have now officially confirmed Zellsis as their fifth player, on a trial period. We are happy to announce that @Zellsis will be joining us on a trial period for #C9CSGO, starting at @iBUYPOWER Masters IV. Welcome to the team, Jordan! #LETSGOC9 Read more: https://t.co/eB9Nmzhqm8 pic.twitter.com/IyUbJxrVX4 — Cloud9 (@Cloud9) December 29, 2018 You can keep up-to-date with all the moves ahead of the upcoming Major event with our dedicated transfer hub.

Cloud9 CS:GO roster change makes them a European team for first time ever North American organization Cloud9 have announced a major roster change to their professional CS:GO lineup, which makes them a predominantly European team for the first time in their history. Cloud9 made history in February 2018, by becoming the first North American team to win a CS:GO major, as they defeated Europeans FaZe Clan in the grand final of ELEAGUE Boston. However, since that remarkable achievement, Cloud9 have experienced continued troubles within their roster, notably with Jacky ‘Stewie2K’ Yip leaving to join SK Gaming, now MiBR. Another of their major champions, Tarik ‘Tarik’ Celic followed Stewie to MiBR, and the major MVP Tyler ‘Skadoodle’ Latham has now retired from professional play. After numerous stand-ins and role switches, Cloud9 is finally beginning to put a more stable roster together, with the recruitment of former FaZe Clan and Envy player Fabien ‘KioShiMa’ Fiey, who recently played with the team at BLAST Pro Series. French player KioShiMa, who has been teamless since Envy released their entire roster in June 2018, brings on a wealth of experience, and is also the third European to join the squad, after Swedish players Maikil ‘Golden’ Selim and Robin ‘flusha’ Rönnquist joined from Fnatic. #C9CSGO have found their missing piece to complete the puzzle. Please join us in welcoming @kiocsgoo to Cloud9!:newspaper: Read: https://t.co/qr3r8lnFgH pic.twitter.com/mgvie01vCR — Cloud9 (@Cloud9) November 17, 2018 It means that Cloud9 is officially a European based team for the first time, with only two North American players – Timothy ‘autimatic’ Ta and Will ‘RUSH’ Wierzba – remaining from the Major winning side. Cloud9 owner Jack Etienne said that they team were happy with KioShiMa’s performances with the team so far. “I’m so proud of the way we’ve built this team and kioShiMa has been a great addition to the C9 family already. We’re all excited to see what the team can do in competition!” It is unclear how this change will affect Cloud9’s status as a North American team in various tournaments for which they are already qualified, but they have the ECS Season 6 Finals upcoming on November 22.

Multiple Cloud9 CS:GO roster changes reportedly coming soon DreamHackCloud9 are reportedly looking to overhaul their CS:GO roster after crashing out of the qualifiers for the StarLadder Berlin Americas Minor. According to a report by Will Land on RushBMedia, Cloud9 have benched trial player Daniel ‘vice’ Kim and in-game leader Maikil ‘Golden’ Selim, and are considering former NRG in-game leader Damian ‘daps’ Steele and Tyson ‘TenZ’ Ngo as their replacements. Daps is just coming off of a two-year tenure at NRG, during which he helped build and lead the team out of the second tier of North American competition to becoming a legitimate contender at the elite level of play, overtaking the incumbent Cloud9 as one of NA’s top two squads alongside Team Liquid. TenZ, meanwhile, is a much less established player, perhaps most notable for competing in ECS Season 7 with Bad News Bears, and more recently standing in for South African squad ATK. The moves would come off the back of the current Cloud9’s worst result yet, falling at the very first hurdle for Major qualification by losing consecutively in the first rounds of the double-elimination closed qualifier to the Americas Minor. While failure to reclaim a Major spot that Cloud9 would have already held if they’d retained three of the players that competed at IEM Katowice might be the final straw, the roster has done little to impress in previous outings. Recent results include a last-place finish at DreamHack Masters Dallas, and failure to reach the playoffs in either the ESL Pro League or ECS. In response to a request for comment, Cloud9 reportedly stated that they have yet to sign any new players, suggesting that at this point these moves are not yet final. Reported Cloud9 roster: Timothy ‘autimatic’ Ta – Will ‘RUSH’ Wierzba – René ‘cajunb’ Borg – Damian ‘daps’ Steele – Tyson ‘TenZ’ Ngo – Current Cloud9 roster: Timothy ‘autimatic’ Ta – Will ‘RUSH’ Wierzba – René ‘cajunb’ Borg – Maikil ‘Golden’ Selim – Daniel ‘vice’ Kim –

Cloud9 CS:GO Makes Another Roster Change Following Subpar Results DreamHack / Adela SznajderThe rumors about Pujan ‘FNS’ Mehta’s stint as the in-game leader for Cloud9 CS:GO coming to a premature end have proven to be true as he has been listed for transfer. FNS joined Cloud9 in April as the replacement for Jake ‘Stewie2K’ Yip, who left the team for a new opportunity with SK Gaming, but the team did not have the instant success that they were hoping for. A 5th – 8th at DreamHack Masters Marseille was followed by a 9th – 12th at the ESL Pro League Season 7 Finals in Dallas and information soon started to leak out about Cloud9 looking to replace him. According to reports, the North American team was looking at G2’s Nathan ‘NBK-’ Schmitt or Dan ‘apEX’ Madesclaire as potential replacements but no official statement about FNS’ future was made until May 26th. Read More: Two Former iBUYPOWER CS:GO Stars Leave Torqued Floundering Just Weeks Before ESL One: Belo Horizonte – Cloud9 confirmed that FNS would be designated as inactive, stating that “the strategic visions we had were not as compatible as we had initially hoped” and that “the differences in philosophies proved to be too great to form the cohesion we needed”. With that said, FNS will still be playing for the team at the ECS Season 5 Finals in London from June 8th – 10th but only as a player as Tarik ‘tarik’ Celic will be returning to the role of in-game leader. Cloud9 announces @FNS to inactive CSGO roster. Details: https://t.co/Ke4fKUHYO9 pic.twitter.com/1RHfZ2YM0q— Cloud9 (@Cloud9) May 26, 2018 No further information has been revealed but it looks like NBK- and apEX are still the frontrunners for the potential replacements should the rumors about them being removed from G2 prove to be true. Community members have pointed out that apEX would be a particularly good addition for the team as he could slot into Stewie2K’s old role well and give the team some more aggression in their T side executes.

Cloud9 CS:GO Adds Two European Players Ahead of ELEAGUE Premier 2018 ELEAGUECloud9 has officially announced its Counter-Strike: Global Offensive lineup for ELEAGUE Premier 2018. The North American organization will use two European players at the million dollar event, both of whom have won premier international tournaments in 2018. Martin ‘STYKO’ Styk, who played for the team at ESL One: Cologne 2018, has been confirmed as the first stand-in, meaning that his stay will extend until the end of July at the earliest. Fnatic’s Maikil ‘Golden’ Selim will also don a Cloud9 jersey at the G-FUEL ELEAGUE Arena after he was benched by the Swedish roster in June. Read More: m0E Makes Surprise Bid to Play for Cloud9 at the FACEIT London Major, Promises to Donate All Earnings to Charity – Cloud9 confirms that STYKO and Golden will only be stand-ins for the million dollar event, so nothing appears to be set in stone regarding the team’s future heading into the remainder of the year. We are pleased to announce that @STYKOcsgo will remain on the team and @goldennCSGO joins us as our 5th player! Both players will be Stand-Ins for #C9CSGO at the @ELEAGUETV Premier 2018. #LETSGOC9 pic.twitter.com/TfXrQH8b5g — Cloud9 (@Cloud9) July 16, 2018 As Tarik ‘tarik’ Celik was acting as Cloud9’s in-game leader before his departure, it seems likely that Golden will take over the role for ELEAGUE Premier, which runs from July 21 – 29. The 24-year-old led Fnatic to two international titles in March before the Swedes gave Richard ‘Xizt’ Landström the title of in-game leader and eventually benched Golden. STYKO, on the other hand, is expected to continue in the role of support player. The Slovakian helped Mousesports to become a permanent top four team in 2017 and 2018, winning a handful of tournaments in the process, but they eventually decided to replace him with Virtus.Pro legend, Janusz ‘Snax’ Pogorzelski. Cloud9’s roster for the FACEIT London Major in September is still undecided.

CS:GO: Shroud’s team of Cloud9 legends are one step closer to IEM Katowice Major @ALEXMAXWELL / TwitterThe iconic Cloud9 summer of 2015 roster have reunited in a bid to qualify for the upcoming IEM Katowice CS:GO Major. Playing under their ‘Old Guys Club’ moniker [OGC], Mike ‘shroud’ Grzesiek was joined by Sean ‘seang@res’ Gares, Jordan ‘n0thing’ Gilbert, Tyler ‘skadoodle’ Latham, and Sam ‘SileNt’ Portillo for the IEM Katowice Major North American Open Qualifier on November 26. The band of former pros, who qualified for Mountain Dew League playoffs during the recent online season, advanced pretty easily through the 99-team single-elimination bracket. Having returned to competitive play in the ESEA Open, a league for amateurs, Shroud’s squad were just playing for fun, even calling themselves the meme team. However, their line-up has changed since then, with Robin ‘Fifflaren’ Johansson and Tomi ‘lurppis’ Kovanen being replaced by Skadoodle and Silent. Now, the only player missing from Cloud9’s popular 2015 roster is Ryan ‘Freakazoid’ Abadir, who is currently a member of Swole Patrol. While they might not have expected to get out of the open qualifier, fans were glued to Twitch to follow their progress. Following a first-round bye, the squad of legendary pros played their way through the 99-team single-elimination bracket, defeating a number of ESEA Advanced, amateur and collegiate teams in a series of one-match games. Having made it through to the next stage on November 28, OGC then had to compete in best-of-three maps. However, it was no problem for the comeback kings as they defeated team Hysteria in the quarter-finals 16-5, and then swept team LiviD 2-0 in the semis to secure their place in the Americas Minor closed qualifier alongside Test Takers, another team made up of former NA pros. The 16-team closed qualifier runs from December 12-14, with six teams advancing to the Americas Minor in Katowice, Poland, which takes place from January 22-26, 2019. The top two teams from the Minor will go through to the IEM Katowice Major, which runs from February 14-March 3, 2019. OGC face a tough task of making it to Poland, however, as top teams such as NRG, Ghost Gaming and Rogue are looking to advance to the Minor.

Cloud9 continues colossal CSGO roster revamp with woxic & mezii via Gamer / Prodigy / Cloud9[jwplayer lb2OBWtT] The new makeup for Cloud9’s CS:GO roster is taking shape as the massive rebuild has now added veteran talent as well as an up-and-coming star to the team. New C9 General Manager Henry ‘HenryG’ Greer has been putting together a ‘Colossus’ by creating the org’s CS:GO team from top-to-bottom. The lineup will now include former mousesports star Özgür ‘woxic’ Eker and young UK rifler William ‘Mezii’ Merriman. C9 signed both players to three-year contracts on September 19, which accompany the deal given to Alex ‘ALEX’ McMeekin’s weeks prior. “There’s also a lot of people who keep supporting me, and I’m really glad about that,” woxic told HLTV. “Whatever happens to me, wherever I go, these people change their profile pictures to support my teams. They just keep supporting me, no matter what, so I’m really happy to have them. I promise to them that I’m going to bring back the real woxic in Cloud9.” Woxic signed a three-year deal valued at $1,650,000 with a $296,000 transfer fee to get him on the team in the first place. Meanwhile, Mezii was bought for $83,000 and a contract worth $426,000 through three years. “Woxic’s talent was integral to mousesports’ run in which they put five trophies into their cabinet and once more established a winning tradition,” HenryG wrote. “A true LAN player at heart, his best has come out on stage, in the important matches and at critical moments that decide the outcome of a contest.” That fills three of the five starting spots for C9. The org is expected to sign at least three more players; two to meet the required number of starters and an“active sixth player,” sometime down the line. I’m beyond excited to join @Cloud9 to build the Colossus alongside @CSGOALEX and @kingmezii ! With such a legendary organisation, we will have everything needed, and I’ll give my very best to succeed and win with the team. Thank you everyone for your support.#c9win — Özgür Eker (@w0xic) September 19, 2020 Meanwhile, HenryG will be injecting UK pride into the lineup with the addition of Mezii. The GM is excited to have the 21-year-old on the team, continuing the C9 tradition of betting on relatively unknown upstarts. “Mezii is a player of rare dedication and possesses an encyclopedic knowledge of utility usage that makes this old colour commentator’s heart swell with pride,” the new GM said. “With this transfer, you can see my clear intention to develop the future of Counter-Strike along with securing the best players of today.” Although Mezii will be the only United Kingdom representative on the team, the org has high hopes for him and will pair him with extensive veteran leadership to build on his skillsets. Along with IGL ALEX and the UK closer, the C9 side already boasts significant firepower that will come together with renowned head coach Aleksandar ‘kassad’ Trifunović leading them into this new era.

Cloud9 confirm Mixwell as part of major CS:GO roster rebuild L: ESL, R: FACEIT/Joe BradyCloud9 have announced a major overhaul to their CS:GO roster, replacing almost the entire line-up. The organization revealed on July 2 that they have brought in four new players to the team, confirming a previous report by Dexerto’s Jarek ‘DeKay’ Lewis. Joining the roster are NRG in-game leader Damian ‘Daps’ Steele, former Ghost Gaming player Kenneth ‘Koosta’ Suen, Tyson ‘TenZ’ Ngo, and Óscar ‘mixwell’ Cañellas Colocho, best known for his time on OpTic Gaming. Of the previous Cloud9 squad, only Timothy ‘autimatic’ Ta remains on the active line-up. The new players replace William ‘Rush’ Wierzba, who will be moved to the bench, Maikil ‘Golden’ Selim Rahim, who is currently on loan to Ninjas in Pyjamas and will play at the StarLadder Berlin Major with them, Daniel ‘vice’ Kim and Rene ‘Cajunb’ Borg, who will be departing the organization entirely. The new line-up is set to make their debut at BLAST Pro Series Los Angeles, taking place on July 13-14, where they will face several of the strongest teams currently competing in North America in Team Liquid, NRG, MiBR, and Renegades, with FaZe Clan rounding out the event’s line-up. The move comes after a gradual decline in Cloud9’s results, with the final nail in the coffin coming as they crashed out of the online qualifier for the Americas Minor with consecutive losses to New Identity and The Quest. The upsets cost Cloud9 any chance of appearing at the StarLadder Berlin Major, despite the fact that the organization would have already held a spot if they’d kept at least three of the players that competed for them at the previous Major, IEM Katowice. In addition to the player changes, Cloud9 also announced that former coach Soham ‘valens’ Chowdhury will be moving to a Data Scientist role and supporting new head coach James ‘JamezIRL’ Macauley, who coached Ghost Gaming prior to the team being disbanded. Cloud9’s new roster: Timothy ‘autimatic’ Ta – Damian ‘daps’ Steele – Kenneth ‘Koosta’ Suen – Tyson ‘TenZ’ Ngo – Óscar ‘mixwell’ Cañellas Colocho –

Cloud9 confirm CS:GO roster for IEM Katowice Major ELEAGUECloud9’s Counter-Strike: Global Offensive roster has been a topic of conversation with fans ever since it became apparent that Maikil ‘Golden’ Kunda Selim could miss the IEM Katowice Major. The now majority European lineup of Golden, Timothy ‘autimatic’ Ta, Will ‘RUSH’ Wierzba, Robin ‘flusha’ Rönnquist and Fabien ‘kioShiMa’ Fiey since BLAST Pro Series Lisbon in November or 2018 due to ongoing health issues for Golden. The Swedish in-game leader was ruled out of a number of events in the second half of the year and seems likely to miss Katowice, too. However, he has been listed as a starting member of the roster for the event. Jordan ‘Zellsis’ Montemurro, the former Swole Patrol player that joined Cloud9 as a trial member and stand-in in December, has been listed as a coach for the $1 million event. According to multiple reports, the 20-year-old will almost certainly be playing at the event in Golden’s place but will be doing so from the coach/substitute role. Presumably, this is due to the roster rules that state three out of five members from the last major (FACEIT London) need to still be on the roster if a team wants to retain its qualification spot. Golden, autimatic and RUSH were members of the C9 squad that finished in 12th – 14th position in London, meaning that all three would need to be listed in order to keep their spot in the Returning Challengers stage of the Katowice major. We’re unsure whether they could have still achieved this with Golden listed as the sixth player/coach. One major ramification from this decision is that Cloud9 will be unable to field a real coach in Poland for any of their matches, meaning that Soham ‘valens’ Chowdhury will not be able to stand behind them and give input during freeze time. Zellsis will also miss out on the opportunity to get his personalized signature stickers in the game. The stickers are a badge of honor for players that have attended a major and can also be a significant source of income. The Cloud9 team that won ELEAGUE Boston in such incredible fashion in January of 2018 is now just a fond memory for fans. Jake ‘Stewie2K’ Yip and Tarik ‘tarik’ Celik left the team for MiBR and Tyler ‘Skadoodle’ Latham eventually retired. The difficulties since that fairy tale Major win have been plentiful and early 2019 looks set to be just as uncertain due to Golden’s prolonged and serious health issues relating to his heart. IEM Katowice will begin on February 13 and run through to March 3. The highly anticipated event will be the 14th Valve sponsored CS:GO Major and the defending champions, Astralis, will come in as heavy favorites.

Cloud9 confirm controversial CSGO team acquisition Cloud9 have announced the signing of a new CS:GO roster with the acquisition of the line-up previously representing ATK. The mixed South African and North American squad has been acquired in its entirety, confirming previous reports about the possibility of the move. The squad doesn’t have too many notable results at top tier events, with their most recent being a 7th-8th finish at the ESL Pro League Finals, during which they claimed best-of-three victories over North and G2 Esports. Meanwhile, the team has also been performing online in North America in recent months, claiming a victory in Week 2 of the ECS Season 8 season and finishing first in the United States Qualifier for WESG 2019. Cloud9 CEO Jack Etienne commented on the acquisition: “I think everyone in the community has been impressed with what these players have accomplished and we’re thrilled to be welcoming them to C9. I can’t wait to see them make even greater strides in the coming year!” Cloud9 have been without an active roster since December 2019, when their squad was disbanded after three players – Kenneth ‘koosta’ Suen, Damian ‘Daps’ Steele, and Timothy ‘autimatic’ Ta – were transferred to Gen.G Esports. After winning the ELeague Boston Major in January 2018, Cloud9’s CS:GO team has largely experienced turmoil in the years since, with high turnover in their roster and few noteworthy results to speak of since their Major victory. The new line-up will make their debut for Cloud9 on January 9, when the team will be playing in the North American Closed Qualifier for IEM Katowice. They will be facing the likes of compLexity, MIBR, and the former Cloud9 players now representing Gen.G for just one available space in Katowice. Cloud9 roster Johnny ‘JT’ Theodosiou – Ian ‘motm’ Hardy – Joshua ‘oSee’ Ohm – Ricky ‘floppy’ Kemery – Aran ‘Sonic’ Groesbeek –

Cloud9 announce the return of Golden following exit from IEM Katowice CS:GO Major Esports powerhouse Cloud9 didn’t waste any time making roster moves after being eliminated from the IEM Katowice CS:GO Major. Less than a week after being knocked out of the Major by FaZe, Cloud9 announced the departure of Robin ‘Flusha’ Rönnquist, and the return of Maikil ‘Golden’ Selim to the organization’s CS:GO squad. “We want to express tremendous gratitude towards Flusha for his exceptional play and leadership over these past few months,” Cloud9 said in a statement. “As he steps away from the game for the time being, we wish him only the best and are grateful to have been a part of his storied, one-of-a-kind career to date.” Cloud9 also announced that Golden had passed all medical checks and has been cleared to play immediately. “Thank you to Cloud9 and my teammates who stuck around for me until I was healthy again, I’m forever grateful,” Golden said in a statement from Cloud9. “I am going to do my best to make this team one of the best in the entire scene with my return.” Despite a disappointing exit from the tournament, it’s clear Cloud9 is excited to welcome the veteran player back to it’s CS:GO team. http://www.twitlonger.com/show/n_1sqqrjj Golden wrote in a Twitlonger he began experiencing medical issues shortly before BLAST Copenhagen in November 2018 that caused him to have to return to Sweden to recover. The player said he came to the conclusion poor sleep, not eating well, and just generally not taking care of his body overall was the main cause of his health problems. Now that he’s back, it will be interesting to see if Golden can help take Cloud9 CS:GO to the next level.

Cloud9 Announce New Fifth Player as Stand In at ESL One Cologne Top North American roster of Cloud9 have announced another stand in player to following the move to swap out Pujan “FNS” Mehta, who had joined the team for recent tournaments. There ambitions with FNS on the roster were high, but could not be met, with disappointing placings at both ESL Pro League S7 finals and the ECS S5 finals. At the conclusion of ECS S5, Will “RUSH” Wierzba made it clear that the team were looking at options and were hoping to find a permanent replacement as opposed to another stand in. Rumors had been circling suggesting a possible reunion of former OpTic players could be on the cards, with Oscar “Mixwell” Cañellas saying he would be available should they need him. The team have now announced their fifth player however, and it is neither the rumored Mixwell nor a permanent addition. Mousesports player Martin “STYKO” Styk will join the roster for at least the upcoming ESL One Cologne starting July 3rd. STYKO was recently moved to an inactive role on mousesports with former Virtus Pro player Janusz “Snax” Pogorzelski filling his spot on the lineup. We are happy to announce that @STYKOcsgo, on loan from @mousesports, will be standing in as our fifth for #C9CSGO at #ESLOne Cologne. Welcome to the team! #LETSGOC9 pic.twitter.com/haT69Q7Z5I — Cloud9 (@Cloud9) June 30, 2018 It doesn’t give Cloud9 a great deal of time to settle in with their new teammate, and despite all of STYKO’s talent many fans will have serious doubts given how little practice they will have as a unit. However, if Cloud9 can put on an impressive showing at Cologne with STYKO in the squad, there is a possibility he could remain for later events also. With so many vital tournaments on the horizon, Cloud9 will want to find some sort of consistency soon, rather than constant stand-ins.

Cloud9 announce departure of another CS:GO player CS:GO pro Jordan ‘Zellsis’ Montemurro on March 4 following the squad’s early exit from the IEM Katowice 2019 Major tournament. Ever since their ELEAGUE Major: Boston 2018 championship, Cloud9 has been through numerous iterations of their starting lineup. The org announced the departure of Robin ‘Flusha’ Rönnquist on March 2, while Maikil ‘Golden’ Selim was set to return. Cloud9’s latest announcement will now see them looking for another fifth member after moving on from the 20-year-old pro. Thank you @Zellsis After standing in for #C9CSGO during their time of need, Zellsis and Cloud9 are parting ways. Thank you for all that you’ve done for the team and we wish you the best of luck in your future endeavors! Read more: https://t.co/uVz8sDIHaR pic.twitter.com/0FxJ2q0sqz — Cloud9 (@Cloud9) March 4, 2019 It seems that Zellsis might be going back to his former team Swole Patrol after learning that Cloud9 had no intention of resigning him following Katowice, according to Rush B Media. Read more: Dupreeh gives emotional interview after winning IEM Katowice CS:GO Major following his father’s passing – Zellsis came onto the squad in late 2018 as a stand-in during the team’s turbulent roster situation. But now Zellsis’s time at the premier club is at its end. “My time with Cloud9 has come to an end,” Zellsis said. “It has been a great experience all around. Even though it had its challenges, this time of my life is something I will always value highly…” Zellsis recently struggled to put up consistent numbers in the recent Major, only recording a 0.86 player rating while having a -25 kill/death differential. Cloud9 shined at times during the previous major, making it out of the Challengers Stage. However the team couldn’t reproduce their success in the Legends Stage, leading to a disappointing exit from the Major. Zellsis is looking to reunite with former teammate Braxton ‘swag’ Pierce. Swag who is currently reforming Swole Patrol since its core players signed with eUnited February 10.

Cloud9 and FaZe Clan Become First Casualties of ELEAGUE Premier 2018 ELEAGUECloud9 and FaZe Clan have become the first teams to be eliminated from ELEAGUE CS:GO Premier 2018. The first match of the day saw MiBR’s Jake ‘Stewie2K’ Yip and Tarik ‘Tarik’ Celik defeat their former Cloud9 teammates The second featured a European showdown between Fantic and FaZe Clan, with the Swedish team coming out on top. MiBR came out swinging against Cloud9, rolling over the North American team with a comfortable 16-5 score on Inferno. Cloud9 managed to fight back on Cache, with Will ‘RUSH’ Wierzba producing a particularly strong performance, but the majority Brazilian roster of MiBR eventually prevailed in overtime, winning 19-17. The loss eliminated Cloud9 in from Group A with a 0-2 record and no map wins. The North American side was using Maikil ‘Golden’ Selim and Martin ‘STYKO’ Styk for the tournament, having still found no permanent replacements for Tarik and Stewie2K. In the second match, Richard ‘Xizt’ Landström led Fnatic against FaZe Clan, the team that he helped to win IEM Sydney 2018 as a stand-in. The match was incredibly close. Fnatic managed to claim the first map, Dust 2, in overtime, winning 19-15 as Freddy ‘KRIMZ’ Johansson topped the scoreboard. Next up was Mirage and, despite some heroics from Nikola ‘NiKo’ Kovač that saw him finish with a score of 38-19, FaZe Clan was once again unable to prevail, losing 16-14 in nail-biting fashion. .@officialxizt goes nuclear with a 4k spray to end Game 1! pic.twitter.com/dFFUnGD4gX — ELEAGUE (@ELEAGUETV) July 24, 2018 ELEAGUE Premier was Olof ‘olofmeister’ Kajbjer’s first tournament back in action for FaZe Clan after a lengthy hiatus due to undisclosed personal reasons. The Swedish legend performed well individually but it was not enough to prevent a 0-2 record in Group B. Despite the losses to Mousesports and Fnatic, FaZe finished with a round differential of just -8. MiBR will face Team Liquid in the Group A decider match, while Fnatic will take on Mousesports in Group B. Both games will take place on July 25.

Cloud9 adds former OpTic Gaming CS:GO pro cajunb to their roster Former OpTic Gaming CS:GO pro Rene ‘cajunb’ Borg has signed with Cloud9, joining their Counter-Strike Global Offensive roster. Cloud9’s CS:GO team just got stronger after adding former OpTic Gaming and 10-year Counter-Strike veteran cajunb to their roster, following the release of KioShiMa. “When you join an organization like Cloud9 there will always be a lot of pressure and expectations,” said cajunb according to Cloud9’s blog post. “I will do my best together with my teammates to make sure we succeed and make the fans proud.“ Please join us in giving a warm welcome to the newest addition to the #C9CSGO squad, René “”@cajunbCS”” Borg! Read: https://t.co/6VFVEgXNfQ pic.twitter.com/oks9e9znXU — Cloud9 (@Cloud9) April 2, 2019 Other accomplishments for cajunb include a championship at DreamHack Open Montreal 2017 and a championship at EPICENTER 2016. He brings a lot to C9’s team and will look to continue his success there. During his Counter-Strike’s competitive career, cajunb has racked up a number of accolades and accomplishments over the years, with the most recent one being a 2nd-place finish at DreamHack Open Summer 2018. The next event Cloud9 has their eyes on for CS:GO is the BLAST Pro Series: Miami 2019 which kicks off on April 12. Reports indicating cajunb would be joining Cloud9 sprinkled out in the days leading up to the signing as multiple sources indicated he was in talks with them after being dropped by OpTic. Before being dropped, cajunb was a member of OpTic’s active lineup before being removed amidst two roster changes. Cloud9 was excited to pick up cajunb after he became available. “It’s rare to see such an extensive esports career as cajunb has, so we’re really pleased about getting a chance to work with him, said Jack Etienne, Cloud9 CEO and Owner in a blog post. “Welcome to Cloud9, cajunb!”

Cloud9 reveal 2019 CS:GO jersey with a brand-new colorway Cloud9North American esports organization Cloud9 have released a new jersey for their 2019 campaign featuring a bold design that replaces one of their iconic colors. Cloud9 has been a premier fixture among numerous esports such as Counter-Strike, League of Legends, Hearthstone, Overwatch, Super Smash Bros., and more for a long time. The organization announced their new design on Twitter with a video that took fans through a brief history of the evolution for their jerseys and merch before debuting the new colors being sported by the org’s CS:GO roster. New Year, New Colors Fresh off the design floor, C9’s 2019 jerseys are mainly black and white with grey camo dispersed on the lighter portions of the shirt. Since this version of the jersey particularly kept the CS:GO team in mind, the new kit brought back the star crest above the C9 logo to honor the org’s famous ELEAGUE Major: Boston 2018 Championship run. Wear the 9 The unique new colorway has an emphasis on a much more prominent “9” with a single black number adorning the front instead of the traditional Cloud9 logo. The org teased the jerseys in an April 9 tweet that used the new slogan “Wear the 9.” Whether this means the North American org will slowly transition the rest of their teams to the fresh look remains to be seen. A similar “9” was used in their White Long Sleeve T-shirt, but is now taking center stage on the new jerseys dressed in black. New Sponsors on the jersey The jersey is fashioned with sponsorship logos from AT&T, Omen, the U.S. Air Force and PUMA on the back, while newly signed sponsors BMW share the right sleeve with the logo from the telecommunications company. The opposite end of the shirt has the wings of the U.S. Air Force prominently featured with HyperX fixed just below it. Read more: Cloud9 adds former OpTic Gaming CS:GO pro cajunb to their roster The left shoulder has the Omen tribal mask logo, while the right shoulder has the RedBull logo charging into the collar. The iconic PUMA emblem is fixed opposite of the famous C9 logo. Fans can pick up the 2019 Cloud9 apparel from their shop now for $60 USD, with an additional $10 charge for a custom name pressed on the back.

Clever CSGO trick on Dust 2 will have your enemies kicking themselves ValveDust 2 doesn’t seem like the best place to kick a football, but one CS:GO player has used it to his advantage, smashing it down into tunnels to act as a ‘wallhack’ for enemies pushing in. Setting up a game of football during a CS:GO battle doesn’t seem like the best idea. Your teammates might get a bit angry with you shooting goals instead of heads. However, with the right setup, you can use your football skills to leave enemies kicking themselves — by revealing their position well before showing themselves on your screen. While holding just outside of Tunnels, Reddit user Rospower kicked a stray football into the entrance. It may seem like a cheeky bit of fun, but this strategy could be one of the most clever ones you could ever look to execute. Regardless of whether you are walking, running, or crouching, walking over the soccer ball will send it flying. When the CT went to flush out T spawn, Rospower was able to see him coming from a mile away as the ball came flying back. They swung out onto the unsuspecting enemy, who was looking to just play a friendly game, and took him down. The play brought the round back from a 4-on-2 to a 2-on-2, with Rospower’s team mate getting another frag across the other side of the map. The best part about this trick is it’s going to be so difficult to just walk past the ball without kicking it. “It’s so tempting to kick a football that’s just lying in your way, that everyone is gonna fall in this trap,” said one Reddit user. Given you make no sound in setting it up, as long as the ball stops rolling before someone swings out on you, you can get an easy frag. The ball does spawn near T spawn, so you’ll need to get it down there in the first place to make the play. Not only that, but now that a play like this is common knowledge, people are going to be aware. While you can pick your side to hold, just be cautious of getting baited yourself if you try to attempt this trick.

Clever CSGO exploit lets players stop Overpass train ValveCS:GO players have been left confused by a strange exploit on the Overpass map that can stop the train completely, making it harder for attacking players to throw grenades at the B bombsite. [jwplayer 299SQ8Vl] Many of the maps that are available in Counter-Strike have been around for years but players are still coming up with creative ways to gain advantages over their opponents. Overpass was one of the first competitive maps in CS:GO to feature a dynamic element, with a train that passes overhead near the sewers, at the entrance to the B bombsite. During offensive rounds, players tend to favor the B site for quick executes, throwing Molotovs and flash grenades over the train tracks, to catch the counter-terrorist side unaware. However, a simple trick to stop the Overpass train and prevent these grenades has been shared, and players just need to throw a single decoy onto the tracks before its arrival. After it was shared by x6tence’s Head Coach Morten ‘zEVES’ Vollan, it kicked off a debate in the CS:GO community, leaving many questioning whether it should be treated as a map feature or as a glitch. Does someone know if it is allowed to stop the train on overpass? You could continuously stop the train with more decoys during a match if you wanted to. @michau9_ @CSGO pic.twitter.com/QPMu9Bo7nH — Morten Vollan Christensen (@zEVEScs) November 6, 2020 It is worth noting that this exploit does not last forever and the train will keep moving once the decoy has blown up, unless another grenade is thrown in its place. While it can be difficult to predict just when this train will arrive on the map, the $50 grenade could be worth purchasing every round for the potential of ruining your opponents’ B take. Similar bugs with the train have been seen before but this one seems to have gone under the radar in recent times, and is only now being discussed if it should be kept in Overpass for future competitions. As of now, it is unclear whether Valve have any intention of fixing this unusual glitch or if players will simply have to work around it in their matches.

CIS Are DOMINANT Force in World CS | Richard Lewis Reacts @ IEM Katowice DexertoAfter CIS team Virtus.pro swept fan favorites Team Liquid aside in a dominant 2-0, fans took to the internet to voice concerns over Liquid’s CS:GO future — and Richard Lewis made his thoughts known. While highlighting that Liquid have made positive adjustments, Lewis argues that Virtus.pro were simply the better team. In particular the much criticised Dzhami ‘Jame’ Ali has proven that despite many believing his rifle abilities aren’t up to par, if his team save and give him an AWP, he’ll dominate the enemy team. 50 kills across two maps is proof of that. Mareks ‘YEKINDAR’ Gaļinskis also took fan’s breaths away. Lewis describes him as a “world talent,” noting that this current Virtus.pro lineup is pretty scary at the moment. Discussion then moves onto the other semifinal between Spirit and Gambit, the former being one of Lewis’ teams of 2021. Citing veteran Abay ‘Hobbit’ Khassenov’s leadership the ace up Gambit’s sleeve as well as the individual talents of the rest of the squad, he concludes that the “CIS region is chock-a-block with talent.” He clarifies that this is because the online era has helped CIS teams secure slots at major events, as well as get over the politics involved in roster building. Noting that this is the “CIS region’s time,” it’s apparent that Lewis is excited for CIS’ CS:GO future.

ChrisJ’s incredible AWP Ace as mousesports win ESL One New York – Final Placements Mousesports were crowned champions of ESL One New York and did it in style, thanks one of the most insane AWP aces ever from Chris ‘chrisJ’ de Jong. After an impressive run through the invitational event, taking down Gambit and Fnatic in the group stage, before overcoming an NRG team that had already beaten FaZe earlier in the event. They faced top North American squad Team Liquid in the finals, who themselves had also impressed on their route to the grand final, NRG, G2 and Gambit. The Grand Final was a nailbiter, forced all the way to a game five which came down to the wire. With the exception of Nuke, which Liquid won 16-7, every other map was won by a margin of only 6 rounds or less. Down 2-1 in the series, mousesports won a tense overtime on Dust2 19-17, which gave everyone what they wanted – a game five on Mirage. It was back and forth, with both teams clearly playing at the very top of their game – showing serious improvement from the London Major. But it was chrisJ’s absolutely ridiculous AWP ace to put mousesports at map point which will be remembered. With this play pushing mousesports to match and championship point, there was no rebounding for Team Liquid, with the Europeans closing it out 16-8. Mousesports netted $125,000 for their first place finish, and Liquid take home $50,000. The two teams were undoubtedly deserved finalists, but ESL One New York will be a big wake up call to some of the teams which badly underperformed. FaZe Clan didn’t put up a fight, and have some serious rethinking to do after finishing 7-8th, as do Fnatic, although they will still be adjusting to the addition of ScreaM. ESL One New York Final Placements

ChrisJ leaves MOUZ CSGO after eight years EPICENTERMOUZ have parted ways with longtime CS:GO player Chris ‘chrisJ’ de Jong, ending an eight-year association with the Dutch veteran. The announcement marks the end of the longest player stint in the CS:GO scene for one organization, with chrisJ having signed for MOUZ in October 2013 alongside the rest of the Party Daddlers lineup. His MOUZ tenure was tumultuous at times, and twice he found himself on the bench, in 2017 and 2019, only to return to the starting lineup a few short weeks later. That history of “+chrisJ -chrisJ” – a popular meme in the CS:GO community – changed in January 2021, when he was moved to the bench for good. He made one final appearance for the team later that year in DreamHack Open November as Aurimas ‘Bymas’ Pipiras was unavailable due to illness. End of an era. 280 characters are not enough to talk about the last 8 years together. Thank you for everything that you did for @mousesports @chrisJcsgo 🙏🙏🙏Please join us for one last -chrisJᶠᵒʳ ⁿᵒʷ pic.twitter.com/ZzeG2yoVrX — MOUZ (@mousesports) January 5, 2022 Jack of all trades During his time with MOUZ, chrisJ continuously reinvented himself, based on his team’s needs. He played multiple roles, from support to in-game leader, over the years. During his final months on the team, he was the main AWPer following the departure of Özgür ‘woxic’ Eker to Cloud9. While never really a star player, chrisJ was the heart of a team that has changed its identity and culture multiple times in the last eight years. He was part of German lineups and also of international rosters alongside players like Nikola ‘NiKo’ Kovač, Robin ‘ropz’ Kool, and Janusz ‘Snax’ Pogorzelski. He often became a target of criticism when things went south, but he was also capable of creating moments of magic. His incredible AWP ace against Team Liquid in the grand final of ESL One New York 2018 was that year’s best highlight, according to HLTV.org. Read more: Who is m0NESY, G2 CSGO’s new AWP prodigy? – ChrisJ has yet to announce his future plans. Since August 2018, he has been a board member of the Counter-Strike Professional Players’ Association (CSPPA), a representative association that aims to “safeguard, protect and promote professional Counter-Strike players’ interests both during and after their active career.”

Chinese CSGO sensation Starry could be forced to retire over anti-addiction rules BLASTLynn Vision player Lizhi ‘Starry’ Ye, who has become an overnight sensation in the CS:GO scene, has revealed that he will most likely have to put his career on hold for the next two years. The 16-year-old went from obscurity to fame on October 13 as he pulled off a stunning 1vs5 clutch on the opening map of his team’s BLAST Premier Fall Showdown series against G2 Esports. Lynn Vision went on to win that map, Vertigo, 16-14 but could not close out the series as G2 rallied from behind to progress in the single-elimination tournament. Even though Lynn Vision are no longer in the Fall Showdown, I think we can all endure one more watch of this insane 1v5 from Starry 🤩#BLASTPremier pic.twitter.com/RqZIFR4cuN — BLAST Premier 💥 (@BLASTPremier) October 14, 2021 Taking a map off the No.5-ranked team in the world was still a significant achievement for Lynn Vision, who stepped in at the last minute. They replaced ViCi Gaming, who withdrew from the tournament to be able to participate in IEM Fall, the final Asian qualifier for PGL Major Stockholm. Starry talks retirement Shortly after the match, Starry took to social media to thank his followers for their support. He also revealed that he may have to put his gaming aspirations on hold until he is 18 due to China’s new anti-addiction rules. On August 30, China’s video game regulator determined that online gamers under the age of 18 can play for only an hour on Fridays, weekends, and holidays. The decision has been widely interpreted as a blow to Chinese esports, with many of the opinion that it will greatly limit the talent pool available in the country in multiple titles. Starry said that his 1v5 clutch against G2 was “the perfect ending”. “I had never had so much praise as today,” he wrote on Bilibili. “I am really happy that we managed to beat G2 on one map and that I was able to show what I can do. “Due to some speechless ban, today’s match was probably my last one in two years. There’s nothing I can do about it.”

Cheaters in Apex Legends and CS:GO have their credit card details stolen Respawn Entertainment / ValveHundreds of cheating players who cut corners to gain a competitive advantage in Apex Legends and CS:GO have reportedly had their details stolen by malware. Respawn Entertainment have been trying to crack down on cheaters in their popular battle royale game for quite some time, introducing a plethora of defense mechanisms to stop them, but it appears that many of them might well have shot themselves in the foot. According to a report from British security firm Sophos, via Kotaku, personal and financial information of people trying to cheat has been taken by a malware called Baldr. This malware is believed to have stolen credit card details as well as login information for websites such as Amazon and PayPal, as well as details about the identities of cheaters. “The distributor can double down on the stolen victim logs, selling stolen credential/card information to earn a little extra,” the report states. You may be wondering just how such a devastating piece of malware found its way onto the devices of the cheaters, and the answer is pretty simple. It was hidden in several cheats that were posted online, with ‘Apex Legends New Cheat 0.2.1’ and ‘CSGO Aimbot+Wallhack’ being stated as examples in the report. These cheats were being advertised in YouTube video descriptions, during live Twitch broadcasts, and reportedly inside Discord servers as well – leading to a peak in popularity during May. A Sophos threat researcher, Albert Zsigovits, suggested that Baldr had the ability to take all of this information in a matter of seconds – after the download took place. The majority of cases being monitored are in the United States, Russia, Brazil, and Indonesia – which they say is around 600 in total. However, this is still an ongoing issue. The cheat “continues to wreak havoc,” according to Zsigovits. “The cybercriminals who bought Baldr before it disappeared can still use the malware, and they are.” If Respawn and Valve were looking for a way to dissuade cheaters from having an impact on matches in the future, this – as well the measures already enforced by the developers – might just do the trick.

CARMAC on ESL Pro League, Louvre agreement & competing with FLASHPOINT ESLThe ESL Pro League’s 11th season is starting in 2020, following the “groundbreaking” ‘Louvre agreement’, but will face competition from other tournament organizers as CS:GO esports enters a new era. ESL’s VP of Pro Gaming, Michal ‘CARMAC’ Blicharz, spoke to Dexerto about their plans. The ESL Pro League will feature a total of 24 teams, 13 of which are guaranteed spots thanks to the Louvre agreement, as it has been dubbed. This agreement sees the top-ranked teams in the world become major stakeholders in the league itself, with a “long-term slot for participation.” It’s not a total franchise system though. The field will be completed by a further 11 teams, qualifying through their world ranking or through the “gateway” competition, the Mountain Dew League. Here’s what CARMAC had to say about the Louvre agreement, upcoming ESL events, and more. FLASHPOINT has publicly stated that its founding teams will face fines if they don’t maintain a top-20 ranked team. How will ESL Pro League incentivize member teams to remain competitive? Blicharz: It is in the best interest of the teams that all the partners deliver value to the ESL Pro League. The arrangement will only be successful if the teams work hard enough. Teams that fail to do that are likely to see their partner status reviewed by the other teams and could face losing their member status. Are these founder teams able to drop out at any point or have they committed to a set number of years? Blicharz: The permanent slot shall be subject to review if one of the partner teams places last in their group in 3 out of 4 seasons. New partner teams can be added by two-thirds majority voting of existing partner teams. Many MDL teams/players have criticized the way that they have seemingly become an afterthought in all of this, will there be any changes to that system? What can you do to get them back onside? Blicharz: We have redesigned the qualification for the ESL Pro League Season 12, giving the teams affected by the reduction of the league extended opportunities to get in. We are also planning to upgrade MDL and bolster its prestige. If the ESL Pro League is a narrowed field of teams, MDL automatically becomes more relevant and we want to amplify that. Read More: IEM Katowice: Groups, schedule, format – How will promotion and relegation work? Blicharz: There will be no relegation to speak of. The two ESL Pro League tournaments will be about five months apart from each other and we think there are better ways to determine which of the non-partner teams should play than based on a single 5-month-old result. We will invite the partner teams to each edition of the ESL Pro League along with the highest-ranked teams in the world who happen to not be members. There are also going to be spots in the league to be won via the Mountain Dew League Global Challenge. This ensures that there’s a very clear and objective route that teams can follow to climb up from ESEA all the way up to the ESL Pro League. Can non-founder teams eventually earn a stake in the league? Blicharz: The idea is to make sure that the world’s best teams can be partners of the league. The list of member teams is dynamic by design and a process for that is installed and depends on the group of the partner teams. Will there be sanctions for teams that decline invites to events? Blicharz: There will not be sanctions for teams, but partner teams are aware that by declining too many invitations to competitions, they are giving up their share of the revenue from the ESL Pro Tour (but not ESL Pro League specifically). Will founding teams be allowed to compete in other leagues like BLAST Premier? Blicharz: There are no restrictions on what tournaments teams play in. Will teams outside of the ESL Pro League still be invited to events like ESL One Cologne or IEM Katowice or will Pro League teams always get priority? Blicharz: There are a number of invitations at every Masters-level tournament in the ESL Pro Tour, but the world’s best teams will still be invited as well. That’s regardless of their participation in the ESL Pro League or not. To clarify: there will be no invitations into ESL One and IEM Katowice’s main competitions. Those are Masters Championships and you get into them via the ESL Pro Tour ranking, so by doing well in Challenger, Masters competitions as well as CSGO Majors. It is clear that the ESL Pro League’s team lineup is currently superior to FLASHPOINT’s but they have made some bold claims about their broadcasting talent and plans for original content. How do you plan on stepping up your production game? Do you have any tricks up your sleeves? Blicharz: Looking at IEM Katowice Major and ESL One it is fair to say that our productions are at the industry standard level and help raise it. We’ve managed to get there by staying curious and hungry and assembling the right team in charge of this topic. Nothing changes in this department – we will keep trying to improve with every event we do. Are there plans to increase the number of Pro League teams in the future? Blicharz: At this stage we will keep the tournament at 24 teams. Let’s see how that works and iterate in the future if it is required. The 11th season of the ESL Pro League will begin on March 16. For full details of how the league will work, where to watch and all the invited teams, head to the Pro League website.

Can you play CSGO after CS2 release? ValveCounter-Strike 2 is the next iteration in the 20-year-long franchise of Counter-Strike, and sequel to the ever-popular Global Offensive. But, if you love CS just as it is, you may be wondering if you can play CS:GO now that CS2 is out. CS2 is now live for all players, for free, as an update to CS:GO. But there are many of players who will yearn for CS:GO; after all, it has been a mainstay in the shooter genre for over 10 years. So, the question is, will CS:GO be playable once Counter-Strike 2 releases and takes its place? Contents Will CS:GO be playable once CS2 is out? Counter-Strike 2 has totally replaced CS:GO, rendering the previous game, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, unplayable on official servers. Your CS:GO game in your Steam library has been renamed to Counter-Strike 2. Valve said, “Counter-Strike 2 arrives this summer as a free upgrade to CS:GO,” – and the limited-test beta was simply launched from the same game in your Steam library. However, it will still be possible to launch the “Legacy CS:GO Version”, for those who are unable to run CS2 on their systems. What is CS:GO Legacy Version? Counter-Strike 2 is exclusively playable on 64-bit Windows and Linux operation systems, meaning players on MacOS, 32-bit Windows or DirectX 9 are unable to play. This is where the Legacy CS:GO Version comes in. You can launch this by using the launch option in CS2 on Steam. How to play Legacy CS:GO Version: Right-click on Counter-Strike 2 in your Steam Library – Go to Properties, then betas – Select ‘Legacy CS:GO Version’ from the betas drop down – The legacy version of CS:GO is a “frozen build” of CS:GO, Valve says. This means that all the features from CS:GO are present, but official matchmaking is not possible, with servers all running CS2 now. Support for the legacy version of CS:GO will end on January 1, 2024, with Valve explaining: “After January 1, 2024 the game will still be available, but certain functionality that relies on compatibility with the Game Coordinator (e.g., access to inventory) may degrade and/or fail.” Will I keep my CS:GO skins and items in CS2? Yes, all CS:GO skins, stickers, weapons, patches, cases, and capsules in your inventory have been transferred over to Counter-Strike 2. You won’t lose anything now that CS:GO is replaced. However, some items look different. Some of this is due to the new lighting and graphics in CS2, which make some skins and stickers look a lot better (and others arguably worse). It is also because some weapon models in CS2, such as the USP-S, Desert Eagle, AK-47, and M4A1-S, have been updated slightly. What about older versions of Counter-Strike? Of course, it is currently possible to still play Counter-Strike 1.6 and Counter-Strike: Source. Although Valve is keen for everyone to move over to CS2, it’s possible that later down the line, a classic version of CS:GO will be released, and nostalgic players may get their wish. There is also the possibility that modders create an imitation version of CS:GO, although whether this would be frowned upon by Valve or not, we don’t know. For more on Counter-Strike 2, check out our guides: What is sub-tick in Counter-Strike 2? | All smoke changes in Counter-Strike 2 | Can you play Counter-Strike 2 on Linux or macOS? | Can banned CS:GO players play Counter-Strike 2? | What will happen to my CSGO skins? | Will Counter-Strike 2 come to Steam Deck? | Everything we know about Counter-Strike 2

Can you play Counter-Strike 2 on console? Is it available on PS5 and Xbox Series X/S? ValveCounter-Strike 2 is finally here, and PC players are eagerly diving into the long-awaited sequel, but console fans are likely wondering if they’ll get a chance to play the game too. So, here’s everything you need to know about whether Counter-Strike 2 is available on consoles, including PS5 and Xbox Series X/S. After a lot of anticipation, Valve has finally released the full version of Counter-Strike 2, and it features a handful of new system improvements, visual upgrades, and gameplay changes for players new and returning players alike to enjoy. The game is currently available on PC, but for those who prefer to game on PlayStation or Xbox, they may want to know if Counter-Strike 2 is available to play on consoles, so we’ve got all the information you need right here. Without further ado, here’s everything you need to know about whether or not you can play Counter-Strike 2 on PS5 and Xbox Series X/S. Can you play Counter-Strike 2 on console? For the time being, no there is no way to play the game on console. This includes PlayStation and Xbox hardware, along with Nintendo systems as well. The game is strictly limited to PC at this point in time. Is Counter-Strike 2 coming to PS5 or Xbox Series X | S? Currently, there’s no indication Counter-Strike 2 will be released on PS5 or Xbox Series X/S anytime soon, if at all. Historically, the franchise has been at home on PC, given the use of mouse and keyboard peripherals rather than a controller. At this stage, Valve has not yet addressed the possibility of porting CS2 over to any other platforms, including PS5 and Xbox Series X | S. So fans not on PC would be wise not to hold their breath in hoping for a release on their platform of choice in the near future. That’s everything we know about CS2 on console! For more content on the game, check out our guides below: What is sub-tick in Counter-Strike 2? | All smoke changes in Counter-Strike 2 | Can you play Counter-Strike 2 on Linux or macOS? | Can banned CS:GO players play Counter-Strike 2? | What will happen to my CSGO skins? | Will Counter-Strike 2 come to Steam Deck? | CS2 console commands | How to play Counter-Strike 2 | Counter-Strike 2 best settings

Can anyone catch S1mple & ZywOo? Best CSGO players of 2020’s online era In a year filled with cheating scandals, player strikes, and an online era, Counter-Strike has endured its most turbulent year-to-date. While some teams benefited more from the shift to online events, Oleksandr ‘s1mple’ Kostyliev & Mathieu ‘ZywOo’ Herbaut remain the frontrunners for CS:GO’s yearly Ballon d’Or. But who else will rub shoulders with the French phenomenon and Ukrainian wonder, and can anyone dethrone the pair as the top two in the world? Below is our ranking of 2020’s top performers. Make sure to listen to check our video on all the information pertaining to our ranked picks: Benjamin ‘blameF’ Bremer – Nicolai ‘dev1ce’ Reedtz – Martin ‘stavn’ Lund – Florian ‘syrsoN’ Rische – Lukas ‘gla1ve’ Rossander – Mathieu ‘ZywOo’ Herbaut – Oleksandr ‘s1mple’ Kostyliev – While it’s no question as to ZyWoo and s1mple giving us a fantastic year of Counter-Strike, the fact of who takes the top spot and reaches that Ballon d’Or is still in question. Both are equally fantastic esports players in differing qualities, yes, which makes the final outcome something that’s hotly debated. As a whole, Na’Vi is phenomenal — something we saw in IEM Katowice — with s1mple picking up the rarest accolade to be handed out in 2020: a LAN MVP award. Fellow competitors from opposing teams are all in opposition over who will be picked, so the MVP of 2020 is still anyone’s game.

Can Anyone Beat Astralis at BLAST Global Finals? The Counter-Strike calendar is kicking off on all cylinders to start 2021, with 8 of the game’s finest professional teams facing off at BLAST Premier’s Global Finals. Astralis has been dominant as of late, so will anyone be able to take them down? Each and every org in attendance will be looking to kickstart 2021 with success at the BLAST Global Finals starting on January 19, but Astralis is a lot of people’s favorite to walk away with the lion’s share of the $1 million dollar prize pool, and rightfully so. You couldn’t ask for a better in-game leader than Lukas ‘gla1ve’ Rossander and there’s no question he brings out the best in Peter ‘dupreeh’ Rasmussen, Nicolai ‘dev1ce’ Reedtz, and Emil ‘Magisk’ Reif round after round. One player to keep an eye on though will be Andreas ‘Xyp9x’ Højsleth, who struggled to get his player average above 1.0 before the end of the year and lately hasn’t seemed to be the same crusader of clutch we’ve come to know and expect. While plenty of teams have had a tumultuous few months leading into the new year, the French squad of Vitality has remained stable and could pose a real challenge to the Danes if Mathieu ‘ZywOo’ Herbaut can provide the spark his team needs. To follow along with the action be sure to check out our BLAST Global Finals hub for all the latest scores, results, and more.

CadiaN’s crazy comeback | Richard Lewis reacts After a monumental best of 5 at the ESL Pro League, Heroic takes home the crown. With fantastic performances all round, it was Casper ‘cadiaN’ Møller that truly stole the show. Initially, Lewis slated Gambit as the likely gang to bring home the bacon, giving Heroic a 30% chance of snatching a win. However, CadiaN clutching the Series 3-2 was one of the most incredible clutches fans are likely to ever see: “I don’t think people really understand the gravity of what’s going on.” In the past, the star earned a reputation for making roster changes “behind people’s backs” and ended up disliked by many players who went in to represent the upper echelon of the tier. At Rogue, Møller started taking his role of IGL incredibly seriously. Earning his first big call up in 2018 at North, he replaced future hall of famer MSL, though this lasted a mere 6 months. Read More: BLAST Premier Spring Showdown 2021 – Eventually heading up a two-week trial with Heroic, the org wasn’t initially set on him. During this time, though, they didn’t lose a single map, and they brought him in full-time. After this, the roster began to slowly creep up the rankings to become a top-tier team, but in late 2020 came the infamous coaching bug scandal with then-coach, Nicolai ‘HUNDEN’ Petersen, which caused their reputation to plummet. Now, though, in 2021, the whole Heroic squad is on an equally matched playing field, and have clawed their way back up the tier. An epic moment for the whole roster after what was undoubtedly a tough route, the team are undoubtedly basking in their glory as they shape up to continue their reign going forward. For all dedicated CSGO news, stay locked to Dexerto over at our dedicated main page.

cadiaN says Heroic were CSGO community’s “main target” in coach bug scandal João Ferreira/DexertoHeroic captain Casper ‘cadiaN’ Møller spoke with Dexerto about the tough times his team endured after being involved in the spectator bug scandal. Heroic’s ESL One Cologne 2020 title celebrations were short-lived as just 24 hours after the tournament came to an end, ESL announced that the team’s coach, Nicolai ‘HUNDEN’ Petersen, had been banned along with two other coaches for abusing a spectator bug earlier that year. It later turned out that the bug abuse was a widespread situation when the Esports Integrity Commission (ESIC) handed out bans to 37 coaches after launching a historical investigation into the problem. HUNDEN returned to coaching in April 2021 after serving out his eight-month ban, but that was not the end of the story. Later that year, after being banned for two years for sharing sensitive information belonging to Heroic with a competitor ahead of IEM Cologne, HUNDEN claimed that some of the players on the team were aware of the bug use. Criticism and abuse aimed at Heroic reached a crescendo after those claims, prompting an emotional video response after ESIC had revealed that it had been “unable to find anywhere near enough evidence” linking cadiaN, René ‘TeSeS’ Madsen, Martin ‘stavn’ Lund, and Johannes ‘b0RUP’ Borup with HUNDEN’s actions. Nikolaj ‘niko’ Kristensen was the only player found complicit in the bug use, but he escaped a suspension because of “special circumstances” due to an ADHD and Asperger’s Syndrome diagnosis. Questioned about how the players dealt with the barrage of abuse aimed at them, cadiaN admitted that it was difficult for his team to be in the eye of the storm. “For me, we’ve been the main target throughout all of this,” he told Dexerto. “I think it’s because when the coach bug was announced, it was the day after Cologne, which we won. “We win [ESL One] Cologne, this is our biggest trophy yet and one of the biggest trophies you can win in Counter-Strike. We wanted to focus on winning, but the other people were focused on the winners, obviously. “We got so much attention from that. I think that was one of the most difficult parts. We were used to being one of the teams that would never draw headlines, and now we were winning and the drama hit.” Major redemption Heroic traveled to Stockholm for the Major with loads of weight on their shoulders after being in the news for the wrong reasons for several weeks. But despite the pressure, Heroic acquitted themselves well and reached the semi-finals of the tournament – a much-needed performance after the tumultuous weeks they had endured in the lead-up to the event. “It was super important,” cadiaN said. “That was also part of why there were some emotional clips, at least with me. It meant a great deal to perform like that at the Major. “There was a lot of negative pressure. People are underestimating the amount of support we’ve been getting. There can be five positive comments, but one guy is telling you to f**k yourself and you focus on that. “We’ve been getting a lot of support. But the HUNDEN case and us not performing on LAN brought negative pressure. So when you go into a LAN and showcase yourself in the way that we did, you make it through the Challengers Stage, the Legends Stage, you win the first game of the Champions Stage and you’re up 15-14 on the third map of a semi-final… I think we played amazingly and the young guys really handled the pressure well.” Heroic are one of the 16 teams competing in the group stage of IEM Katowice, the first big LAN of 2022. After beating OG 2-1 in their first match in Poland, the Danish team will return to action on February 18 against Vitality.

CadiaN: “Lucky… Let’s See What You Got!” BLAST CSGO Interview It took three incredible maps, but Heroic finally took down Liquid at the 2021 BLAST Premier Fall Final. They’ll take on Astralis in the next round, and CadiaN joined Dexerto to talk about the win, and what happened to falleN, who only had single-digit kills against Liquid. Finally, the one man they have to shut down to beat Astralis? CadiaN thinks it will have to be Lucky if they want to win the BLAST CSGO Danish Derby.

CadiaN says Heroic “have no limits” at PGL Stockholm CSGO Major João Ferreira / Dexerto Casper ‘cadiaN’ Møller was impressed with his team after grinding out a tough win at the PGL Stockholm Major against Virtus.Pro. They’ll face tougher competition in the semis but Heroic’s IGL believes his team “have no limits” and will answer the call. Nerves are expected for the first LAN event, let alone Major, in two years. They were in full show at the PGL Stockholm CS:GO Major playoffs, where Virtus.pro and Heroic faced off in the top 8. There were shaky moments by both VP and Heroic on the first half of the opening map, Mirage. But the game would eventually stabilize for both teams into an all-out slugfest. All three maps went over 25 rounds and it quickly became a war of attrition the longer the series dragged on. Heroic, and by extension VP, dug deep into their playbooks to find any edge they could manage. Rounds came down to individual talents having to clutch out bad situations. This persisted through Ancient to the final map of Inferno, and cadiaN wouldn’t have had it any other way. “We’ve seen it from [Ismail ‘refrezh’ Ali],” he told Dexerto after their 2-1 triumph over their CIS quarter-final opponents. “[Martin ‘Stavn’ Lund] as well. Me and him in a two-on-three, two-on-four on Ancient. [René ‘TeSeS’ Madsen] is making magical moments. [Rasmus ‘sjuush’ Beck] is all of them. “You can take any player and YouTube a clutch from them and it’ll be absolutely insane.” Heroic’s clutch gene needed vs VP CadiaN was amazed by his team’s effort. Of all the squads at the Major, few test a group’s resilience like VP. Whether they full-send the team to get a bomb plant or get a pick on-site just to fall back into silence, the former Avangar core — who made the finals in Berlin two years ago — kept Heroic guessing throughout. Mental fortitude and infallible communication were required from the Danes. Read More: PGL Stockholm Major 2021 results – But even in man-disadvantages, the Danes bet on themselves to keep the maps close. Refrezh’s disrespectful 3k on Ancient broke a 5-5 tie and even defied the IGL’s expectations. “Refrezh with the deagle. Holy– I’m about to swear,” he said. “I told him ‘you have an AWP.’ He just keeps the deagle, goes out and gets another one… I don’t think I’ve seen anything like it for quite some time on LAN.” They would go on to lose Ancient off of VP star Dzhami ‘Jame’ Ali’s game-high 28 kills and Timur ‘buster’ Tulepov’s 1.35 performance rating. But Heroic were looking forward to playing on their second-best map of Inferno where a rising star would start to shine. TeSeS became the difference-maker his team needs him to be in this Major. His 1.49 rating outpaced everyone on the server, tacking on 24 kills with 14 headshots. Though VP held its nerve to keep it competitive, Heroic ran away with the last map after warming up to the stage. Heroic have no limits Before the Major, Heroic was a good team that had great players who would break down at the worst times. During the Major, they hit a level of consistency to make them a threat to everyone. Now, in the playoffs, they’re looking to improve their chances with the intangibles that define Major winners at their core. “This team has no limits,” cadiaN said. “The players, individually, are so good. The team vibe is amazing and everyone is pretty goddamn clutch. “I think we exceeded expectations in the way we played and how our communication was. I was so impressed. Very calm, very collected.” Natus Vincere (NAVI) are looked at as the heavy favorites going into Stockholm. Coincidentally, that’s who the 26-year-old IGL wants to face off against the most. If Heroic struggled with VP, then they’re really going to be tested in the semi-finals versus G2. And that’s not to mention NAVI, should they both make it to the Grand Finals. But the Danes know what they need to improve to stare down the world No.1 team. “We need to win the 2v2s, 1v1s, 1v2s [against NAVI],” cadiaN explained. “Because we should’ve beaten them in the last best-of-3 … and [we] lost. “[In the group stage], it was the same. They won like three, four clutches in the end which defined the game. The clutches will be key.” Of the teams still at the PGL Major, Heroic have the most clutches (21) across their starters. Stavn and refrezh lead the way with six each. There’s still a long way to go before the Grand Finals but Heroic have a renewed sense of confidence and are ready to blow everyone’s expectations at Stockholm.

cadiaN explains why he feels “mistreated” after FPX Flashpoint drama Starladder / FunPlus PhoenixFunPlus Phoenix’s Casper ‘cadiaN’ Møller has opened up on the team’s elimination from Flashpoint Season 1 Phase 1, saying he’s never felt so “mistreated” in his career after having to forfeit from the franchised league. FPX’s entry into CSGO has come to a grinding halt, with the organization being eliminated from their first major event just a week after signing their first roster. After Astralis picked up Patrick ‘es3tag’ Hansen as a sixth man, coming into effect on July 1 after his contract expires, the former Heroic squad was taken off the card for Flashpoint. UPDATE: With the recent roster change news, @FPX_Esports will forfeit their match vs Orgless and will be eliminated from Phase 1. We’re changing our start time of todays pre show to 19:30 CET, @HAVUgaming vs @c0ntactCS will start at 20:00 CET. 📺 https://t.co/ui38Qxoo39 pic.twitter.com/J4LLqlQ9N9 — Flashpoint (@Flashpoint) March 22, 2020 The decision, rumored to have been made by FPX themselves, left the squad blindsided. As they were preparing for their game against Orgless on March 22, cadiaN and the rest of the former Heroic line-up were notified they would be eliminated from Phase 1. “Me and my teammates are so gutted,” the Danish AWPer said in a video. “We’ve been fighting through a lot of hard times for the last few months, and finally we see light at the end of the tunnel [only for it to be taken away from us].” Heroic had a spot in the ESL Pro League — a rival tournament to Flashpoint — before making the jump to the smaller franchised league after FPX expressed interest in their lineup. Read more: MIBR set to join ESL Pro League Season 11 – With the promise of backing from the Chinese organization, home to the current League of Legends world champions, things were looking up. https://twitter.com/FPX_Esports/status/1239121883787694080 However, as games were moved online, and then after one of his teammates was shipped off to Astralis, the tides quickly turned for the worse. “Through a global pandemic, we fly across the globe, through a health risk, and everything to play a game for a living while everyone else is on standby,” he said. “We’re out of our homes, out of our comfort zones. I don’t mind, because I’m willing to sacrifice everything it takes to do my best and become the best version that me and my team can be. Read more: Astralis set to acquire es3tag in shock move – “Under whatever circumstances we were given, we kept on fighting to the end. We did our part to make this work, and I don’t know — I’m so gutted, honestly. “The sacrifices being made, to family and friends to try and be the best you can in a video game, and then at the end of the day you aren’t allowed to play this video game — I don’t know. I don’t think I’ve ever been this mistreated in my entire life.” While Astralis were public in outlining details with the trade, in a statement to HLTV, Heroic CEO Erik Askered claimed the Danish team were acting “in bad faith.” “We are making legal preparation,” Askered said. “This is due to the fact that we know and can prove that Astralis has acted in bad faith, and have considerably affected the sale of Heroic to FPX.” Read more: ESL Pro League cancels offline CSGO events – Heroic reportedly asked for $800k for es3tag to break his contract, which Astralis declined. Instead, they waited until he became a free agent in July. Astralis completed the player signing on March 19, before announcing the move on March 22. Facts about Astralis’ signing of Patrick ‘@es3tag’ Hansen, who is signed as of July 1, 2020. Tweetstorm inbound, but also see screenshot: pic.twitter.com/wFKgAdTF8v — Nikolaj Nyholm (@nikolaj) March 22, 2020 An update to my story about @es3tagCSGO’s impending move to @astralisgg with a statement from @heroicgg’s CEO pic.twitter.com/s2yAezoxmn — Luís Mira (@luismmira) March 21, 2020 cadiaN mentioned that he has “no grudge” against es3tag for making the jump to Astralis, but he is just “disappointed” with the situation as a whole. “We, as players, just want to play. Warming up in the studio to play, and then being told you can’t play [is disappointing].” Flashpoint will continue play on March 23 as Phase 1 starts to come to a close. FPX’s participation in Phase 2, which kicks off on March 27, is not yet confirmed.

CadiaN believes Heroic are “the only team” who can beat NAVI João Ferreira/DexertoHeroic captain Casper ‘cadiaN’ Møller discusses the upcoming BLAST Premier Fall Final and building on their PGL Major Stockholm results in an exclusive interview with Dexerto. “I remember,” cadiaN says, laughing, after opening a 2017 picture of him shaking hands with Nicolai ‘HUNDEN’ Petersen. The picture was taken at the very first BLAST event, BLAST Pro Series Copenhagen, held at the Royal Arena — the same venue that will host the upcoming BLAST Premier Fall Final. He attended that event while enjoying a short break from competition to visit family and friends in Denmark after some months in North America with Rogue. So much has changed in cadiaN’s life since then. Four years ago, it looked as if his career had gone stale after stints on teams like mousesports, Copenhagen Wolves and SK Gaming. Now, he is leading the young and vibrant Heroic, the best team in Denmark and one of the best in the world, and fighting for top honors. After years of struggle, the story of cadiaN’s impressive resurgence is still difficult to grasp for many. “Probably a lot of people would be surprised and would not have seen it coming because at that stage I had been playing professionally for three years or so,” he says. “I guess I have found my groove, learned from some mistakes and gotten even stronger in the areas where I can thrive and where I can give a lot to a team. “I’m super thrilled to be at this stage of my career and I’m hoping this is not the top for me.” CadiaN still has some distinct memories of attending that BLAST Pro Series event, recalling how he was “completely stoked” at the atmosphere inside the arena. “I jumped around like some crazy maniac when dupreeh made those two AWP highlights on Mirage,” he said. “You also have in the back of your mind that you’d love to be there yourself playing. “It’s safe to say that it’s a dream come true to play at the Royal Arena in front of the Danish crowd, also because, as many people know, playing at BLAST events as a non-partner is fairly difficult (laughs). It’s not something you can take for granted.” Major expectations and pressure Heroic head to the BLAST event with confidence sky-high after an impressive run at PGL Major Stockholm. They finished 3rd-4th and were just one round away from beating G2 Esports in a keenly-contested semi-final affair. For Heroic, it was a much-needed boost after they had found themselves caught, again, in the spectator bug drama involving former coach HUNDEN. The campaign in Stockholm has also helped to dispel the criticism directed toward their LAN results and how they were a stark contrast to the highs reached by the team in the online era. “I definitely think it was a step in the right direction,” cadiaN says of the Major run. “Being top four has shown a lot of people that we can play on LAN. “Some experts had put a lot of emphasis on that one result in Cologne [Heroic finished 7th-8th at IEM Cologne], which was in a studio environment. “I’m not going to say that because of one result we are a LAN team and we can do it every time, but we have definitely shown that we are capable, right? That’s the first step. “We’ve shown that we have the same potential on LAN and online. Now, I want to make sure we can do it as many times as possible.” But despite the fact that a huge weight has been lifted off their shoulders, cadiaN stresses that the semi-final run in Stockholm has come with its own burden. “I think there’s more pressure, but it’s better pressure,” he explains. “By showing we can do it on LAN we won’t have to hear as much about the whole LAN and online discussion, but people are going to expect you to win tournaments and to make the semi-finals and finals at other events. “Group stage exits and stuff like that are definitely things you will want to avoid. But I think it’s a different pressure because…” There is a brief pause as cadiaN reflects on everything that the team have been through in recent months. And then, he says, “The whole coach storyline and the onliners thing put negative pressure. That’s off our shoulders now, and it’s more like positive pressure now. People are expecting and hoping for good results.” Taking on NAVI There is no question that we are living in a NAVI era. The CIS giants have been the dominant team of 2021 and will have two more chances to add to their trophy cabinet before the end of the year. In an interview with HLTV.org during the Major, Rasmus ‘sjuush’ Beck said that Heroic had lost their best-of-one game against NAVI “to ourselves”, not necessarily because their opponents had been the better team. NAVI looked unbeatable in Stockholm and did not drop a single map throughout their title-winning campaign. How does cadiaN think that a best-of-three final against them would have played out? “Probably more teams think the same way we do, but we believe we are the only team who can beat them,” he says. “I think they know it too, to be honest. “B1ad3 said when he was on ‘HLTV Confirmed’ that we were their biggest rivals, and that was at a time when they were losing online games to Gambit and playing some insanely close best-of-three match-ups with us but were still winning. “With the way our playstyle is and the way their playstyle is… There have been one or two best-of-three series already that they know they should have lost. As sjuush said, we lost that match to ourselves. If we play at our best, they know we can beat them.” Heroic may soon have to put cadiaN’s words to the test. If they beat FaZe in the first round of the BLAST Premier Fall Final and NAVI move past BIG, the two teams will lock horns in the upper bracket semi-finals. CadiaN starts rubbing his hands together, visibly excited about that possibility. “I’d love to meet them, I think it’s going to be a very interesting match-up,” he says. “We saw that the bo1 at the major could have gone either way. “Basically, I think the goal for a lot of teams is to stop them from winning the rest of the tournaments this year. They’ve already started the NAVI era, and it’s about not just beating them but ruining their chances of cementing that kind of place in CS:GO history. “I think it’s well deserved that players of the caliber of s1mple and electronic have finally won a Major. But that doesn’t mean we will go easy on them. We will give our best to beat them.” Breaking Astralis’ hegemony Astralis’ success in the last six years has allowed them to build a massive fan base in Denmark and overshadow their domestic Counter-Strike rivals. CadiaN himself experienced that when he was part of North, an organization that struggled to find their place in the scene and eventually shut down their operations. But that trend is starting to change, according to cadiaN. “The number of Heroic supporters that have come over the last two years has been absolutely insane,” he says. “I am expecting a lot of Heroic jerseys, a lot of Heroic chants [at BLAST]. “Obviously, it’s going to create even more of a rivalry with the Astralis fans. Back with North, Astralis didn’t even have to care about North because they couldn’t compete with them, but we’ve beaten Astralis a lot of times, and it’s hurting the Astralis fans. “I’m definitely expecting a lot of people to cheer for us. That’s also what I could see in Stockholm. The atmosphere in our semi-final against G2, especially in that Inferno comeback, and the chants that I could hear, even though the headsets, were absolutely insane. I’m expecting a good time.” Four years later, cadiaN is about to return to the Royal Arena, this time as a competitor and one of the event’s headliners, his journey to the top as improbable as it gets. The roar of the crowd and the warmth of the fans from that 2017 event have left an indelible mark on him. He’s expecting a similar reception when he steps onto that stage in front of thousands of fans as he and his team look to break down another barrier in a year that has been “good” but “difficult” at the same time. Read more: NIP confirm es3tag signing – He is ready to create new memories. “Our main goal, and one of the important criteria to make 2021 successful, is to win a tournament on LAN,” he says. “We have three chances now until Christmas and New Year’s Eve, and I think that if we just win one of those three, this will have been a very successful year. “If not, it will have been a successful year, but one with a lot of things to improve on. I think the learning curve and the experience that we have gained from the LANs are super valuable and put us in a super good place for 2022.”

cadiaN believes Heroic are not “anywhere near” their peak João Ferreira for PGLIn an exclusive interview with Dexerto ahead of PGL Major Antwerp, Heroic captain Casper ‘cadiaN’ Møller discussed his goals for the event and opened up about the team’s consistency struggles. cadiaN knows that Heroic are not ranked among the favorites to win PGL Major Antwerp, and he’s okay with that. For his teammates, this will be only their second Major, so the added pressure of this being a must-win tournament is something he can do without. But that doesn’t stop him from dreaming big. Heroic’s Stockholm Major run ended in heartbreak, not because they fell short of expectations — quite the contrary — but because at one point they had one foot in the grand final. G2 Esports then came back from 14-15 down on the decider map to win the game in overtime and complete the reverse sweep in the series. Much has been said about the mental fortitude of Heroic, who have remained a top-five team in the post-online era but are yet to win a big LAN trophy. Oftentimes, when the conditions seem perfect for them to break that barrier, they collapse unexpectedly and with no explanation. At the BLAST Premier Fall Final, they lost to an Astralis side playing their first tournament with Benjamin ‘blameF’ Bremer and Kristian ‘k0nfig’ Wienecke that had the crowd on their side. At IEM Katowice, they were eliminated by eventual winners FaZe, who were fielding Justin ‘jks’ Savage as a stand-in. And just last month, they crashed out of ESL Pro League Season 15 in the first round of the playoffs after losing to a struggling Liquid side. cadiaN points out how “difficult” it is to win tournaments in the current landscape, with NAVI, FaZe, G2 and Cloud9 all formidable foes. And while he shies away from the term ‘mental barrier’, he acknowledges that the team loses a bit of focus in high-pressure situations. “It’s not like people are aiming differently or missing grenades,” he told Dexerto before traveling to Antwerp. “It’s a lot about communication. People talk a lot about Heroic having this dynamic style, about making moves and reacting to information about what the opponent is doing. “And if your communication gets stressed, you have fewer opportunities to act upon what your opponent is doing. And you lose a bit of your style. I’d say that’s the 5 percent we normally have as an extra edge.” cadiaN adds that when communication is not on point, his own game tends to take a hit. As the main AWPer, he is expected to unlock rounds and be a difference-maker, but he has come under fire for some lackluster performances that have cost his team (his 0.97 HLTV rating on LAN in the last six months is a team-low). “I definitely want to elevate my own game on LAN,” he said. “There have been a few above-average games but also some series where I haven’t done what I wanted to do.” Heroic were one of the teams that rose to unprecedented exalted heights when tournaments pivoted to an online format due to the global health crisis. In the fall of 2020, the team spent three weeks at No.1 in the world rankings after winning ESL One Cologne and DreamHack Open Fall. But that online success has yet to translate to LAN. cadiaN insists that no one wants to see Heroic win more than the players themselves. And while he is happy that some people have high expectations for the team on LAN, he knows that there’s no substitute for experience, which comes from attending events and facing the strongest opponents. Then it’s all about working hard to cut down on their mistakes. “We are trying our best, but I see in practice that there are still many areas where we can become way better,” he said. “I don’t think we’re anywhere near our peak or that we’re playing perfectly. “There’s a lot of room for improvement, but I also see a lot of situations where I’m just super proud of my young players, who are handling the pressure very well and are constantly learning new things. A lot of things that are working in practice are happening in official games. That’s what matters.” Antwerp Major ambitions Unlike in Stockholm, Heroic begin their Antwerp campaign from the Legends Stage, which gave them an extra few days to prepare for the tournament. It’s sort of a double-edged sword: they have had the chance to examine the teams coming from the Challengers Stage and “steal small gimmicks” from them; but at the same time, they will be coming in cold, their most recent official dating back to April 29, and still have to adapt to the tournament setup. “If you could guarantee that I would move on to the Legends Stage, I would have preferred to play the Challengers Stage,” cadiaN says. “You get used to the setup and you get into the groove. Starting cold against these teams that have played three, four, five matches is going to be difficult. The first day is also so important with the two best-of-ones. “I think the Challengers Stage teams have a small advantage at the beginning of the Legends Stage, but at the same time, if you’re a Challenger team and you reach the playoffs, you will have been on the road for longer and it’s hard to have the same amount of energy going into the last stage of the Major.” When it comes to Heroic’s goals for the Major, cadiaN expects his team to reach the playoffs; what they can do after will depend on the bracket. “Personally, I would like to reach the final,” he says. “That would mean that we improved from last time.” He harbors the dream of lifting the trophy, but he knows that a crowded pack of quality opponents stands in his team’s way. In his opinion, FaZe, the winners of IEM Katowice and ESL Pro League 15, are the team everyone will be looking at in Antwerp. “We’ve scrimmed against them, and I messaged karrigan in-game saying, ‘Congratulations for the Major win, bro.’ They’ve been playing really well,” cadiaN said, laughing. When cadiaN spoke to Dexerto, it had been less than 24 hours since the Esports Integrity Commission (ESIC) provisionally suspended three CS:GO coaches attending the Antwerp Major for the use of the coach bug. For cadiaN, the news brought back memories of the time his own team was at the heart of the scandal in the lead-up to the Stockholm Major because of former coach Nicolai ‘HUNDEN’ Petersen’s actions. In the end, it was determined that Heroic’s players had not been complicit (only former team member Nikolaj ‘niko’ Kristensen, and he received a light punishment), but the buzz and the rumors took a while to die down. It’s major time 💎 #LetTheHeistBegin #PGLMajor @heroicgg @ Antwerpen, Belgium https://t.co/nsi2IGjgUo — cadiaN (@caspercadiaN) May 13, 2022 Looking back, cadiaN is proud of how his players fought together through adversity and forged a stronger bond because of it. With no outside distractions this time around, his only concern is finding a way to realize the team’s full potential, even though this Major might come too soon for that. “We’ve learned how to fight in the storm, but now we’re also learning how to perform when the surroundings are a bit more quiet,” he said. “We still have a lot to learn and I’m just trying to make sure that we do it in time for the Major. But if not, we’ll try to do it later this year.” Heroic will face Team Liquid in the opening match of the Legends stage at PGL Major Antwerp – the NA team overcame their own hurdles, and an 0-2 start, to qualify from Challengers.

When is updated Cache coming to CS:GO matchmaking? Valve/ESLCache, a favorite in the CSGO competitive map pool, is currently being remade, and we now have a rough estimate of when the reworked map is going to be released to the public. On March 29, Cache was removed from the active duty competitive map pool of Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, and replaced with Vertigo. Like many maps before it, Cache was removed so that the original creator could begin the process of re-working it. Earlier this month, it was announced that the reworked Cache was finished would get a spectacular debut, during the showmatch at the upcoming ESL One New York event at the end of September. While fans won’t have the opportunity to play the remade Cache the same day as the tournament, the mapmaker Shawn ‘FMPONE’ Snelling revealed on Twitter that players will be able to get their hands on it very shortly after New York. “We will process feedback from the event first before public release. Release date will be shortly after New York.” he said. No. We will process feedback from the event first before public release. Release date will be shortly after New York — FMPONE (@FMPONE) September 9, 2019 Wisely, it appears that FMPONE is waiting for community feedback from fans and pro players before releasing the reworked map. We can estimate that the new Cache will be released to the public in early October. Cache is the most well-known and played map that FMPONE has created. He’s also contributed to the creation of Season, Santorini, Gwalior, Subzero, and Museum. Cache isn’t the only map to be removed from the active duty map pool only to return after a rework. Train was reworked and reintroduced in December 2014, and returned to active duty in March 2015. Nuke was removed when Train came back, and after some major changes, Nuke returned in February 2016. A year later, Dust II was removed from active duty and came back revamped in October 2017. Following the upcoming Cache rework, Mirage and Overpass will be the only active duty maps that haven’t received a major rework. FMPONE revealed a teaser image of the reworked Cache earlier in September, showcasing a colorful graffiti mural next to a tree. This could potentially be the remade tree room that’s on the CT side entrance to the B bomb site.

Bubzkji replaces Xyp9x on Astralis starting CSGO lineup for BLAST Premier Spring Showdown Astralis / StarLadderIn a surprise move shortly before the start of their match against OG, Astralis have confirmed the substitution of Lucas ‘Bubzkji’ Andersen in place of Andreas ‘Xyp9x’ Højsleth, at BLAST Premier Spring Groups. Coming off the back of a run of results below their very high standards, finishing 5-6th at ESL Pro League Season 13, Astralis found themselves in a bad spot of form, with the crucial BLAST Premier Spring Showdown to play. Having joined Astralis in July 2020, but not yet playing for them, Bubzkji has been sitting on the sidelines, waiting for his opportunity. That came on April 13, when just moments before the team were due to play OG in the round of 16 at BLAST, it was confirmed via the broadcast that Bubzkji would replace Xyp9x, at least for that game. On the broadcast, Pimp said “Interesting, we’ve been having these conversations for a long time, wondering, with Bubzkji, what is the long term goal, how are they going to use him? “To see him in now is very interesting, I don’t know what to make of it. Xyp9x has been struggling lately, to be sure.” On April 9, Astralis founder and chairman Nikolaij Nyholm tweeted “freebubzkji” – clearly a sign of things to come. Astralis fans and rivals alike will be keen to see how the team performs with this change, as the org finally makes use of their six-man setup. As for Xyp9x, it’s uncertain times over his future, but this may just be a temporary measure yet.

Bubzkji reflects on Astralis stint: “Things didn’t pan out the way I wanted or imagined” AstralisLucas ‘Bubzkji’ Andersen sat down with Dexerto to discuss his departure from Astralis and his future plans in the CS:GO scene. Perhaps nothing better sums up Bubzkji’s experience at Astralis than a 12-character tweet posted on April 9, 2021. “#freebubzkji”, read the tweet from Nikolaj Nyholm, Astralis’ founder and chairman of the board, in the aftermath of the team’s quarter-final exit from ESL Pro League Season 13 after a defeat against FURIA. Bubzkji watched that match from the sidelines – a recurring theme during his 18-month tenure with Astralis, which will come to a close on January 31. He has reached an agreement with the organization to terminate his contract early and explore free agency, though it’s unclear – as the tournament season begins and most rosters are locked – when exactly he will take to the servers again. Bubzkji joined Astralis at a time when he was one of the hottest commodities in the CS:GO scene, but he leaves the team a very different man, with his stock at a low point. How did it all go so wrong? Reaching the top Bubzkji was unveiled by Astralis on July 31, 2020, in a transfer from MAD Lions for an undisclosed fee. It seemed like a natural move for the then 22-year-old, who had enjoyed a meteoric rise to prominence in the previous 12 months while playing for Tricked and MAD Lions. For most Danish CS:GO players, representing Astralis is the ultimate goal. The Danish organization set a new standard of excellence with its four-time Major-winning lineup, and fostered a large and devoted fanbase in Denmark. When he got the call from Astralis, Bubzkji knew that the offer could turn out to be a poisoned chalice. The Danish team were in the middle of the worst crisis in their history, with Lukas ’gla1ve’ Rossander and Andreas ‘Xyp9x’ Højsleth both away on leave after showing symptoms of burnout. Results were underwhelming, and there was no telling when – or if – the Astralis of old would come back. Still, he seized the opportunity with both hands. “I was contacted by multiple teams back then, but I went with my gut feeling and joined Astralis,” he told Dexerto. “I was in talks with [head coach] zonic and [director of sports] Kasper Hvidt before joining. “I felt that I had the level so I took the chance, even though I knew there was a chance that I could get benched when gla1ve and Xyp9x returned.” Soon it became clear that Bubzkji would not be set up to succeed at Astralis. An aggressive lurker and entry-fragger by nature, he was put in more supportive roles and had to adapt on the fly, all the while coming to terms with the pressure that came with playing for Astralis. What’s more, the team was at the time led by Emil ‘Magisk’ Reif, who was grappling with in-game leader responsibilities in gla1ve’s absence. Bubzkji’s numbers plummeted. After featuring in all of Astralis’ matches in ESL One Cologne 2020, Bubzkji saw his position come under threat when gla1ve returned from leave. All it took was one defeat — a 0-2 loss to Complexity — for Bubzkji to be pushed to the fringe. He was reduced to a bit-part role for the rest of the year, featuring only on Nuke in place of Xyp9x, who reclaimed a regular starting role following Patrick ‘es3tag’ Hansen’s transfer to Cloud9. Back then, he was able to have some fun at his own expense, taking a light-hearted view of his situation. Dream shattered Bubzkji became a regular feature on Astralis again following the shock transfer of Nicolai ‘dev1ce’ Reedtz to NIP in April 2021. His numbers slightly improved, especially on LAN, where he played an important role in the team’s semi-final appearance at IEM Cologne and the fourth-place finish at IEM Fall — sealing Astralis’ spot at PGL Major Stockholm. Read more: Best CS:GO players of 2021 – And then came the bombshell: Bubzkji would not start at the Major, snubbed in favor of gla1ve, who was returning from paternity leave. Astralis explained that, while their decision “can seem a bit unfair”, they picked the lineup they believed to have “the best chance to go all the way”. No longer in the mood for a self-deprecating joke, Bubzkji admitted that he was “devastated” at being denied the chance to play his first Major after playing a part in the team’s qualifying campaign. “Honestly speaking, I’ve felt very demotivated after missing out on the Major and being benched once again,” he said. “Things had not been great for a long time, but then we finally had this big success moment and things were moving in the right direction individually. “I believe I had the level to compete for Astralis, but not in the system or in the role that I was given. I felt I showed glimpses of ‘greatness’ in some events, but it was never really consistent. After dev1ce left, we actually did decently at IEM Cologne, and when gla1ve/dupreeh went for the AWP, there was a lot more space for me to do what I was good at. “But it wasn’t sustainable for them to AWP, so Astralis brought Lucky into the team. And then we had the issue again with dupreeh, gla1ve, and myself. We were basically competing for the same positions on the CT sides. “When gla1ve was off, my performance again increased at IEM Fall, since there was a better role situation for my playstyle. But gla1ve is one of the best IGLs in the world, and he knew we collided a lot on the CT sides. [Also], he had to return at some point.” Bubzkji watched from home as Astralis crashed out of the Major in 12th-14th place, barely making it past the New Challengers Stage. Despite being announced as part of Astralis’ post-Major lineup — reinforced by the additions of Benjamin ‘blameF’ Bremer and Kristian ‘k0nfig’ Wienecke —, he was nowhere to be seen as the new team arrived at the office for the first practice. He would not feature for Astralis again. Bubzkji’s treatment during his time with Astralis only supports the theory that he was never truly wanted by the team’s core players in the first place and that he was more of a management signing – as supported by Nyholm’s tweet. As a rookie player, he had to take whatever the team gave him – which meant playing roles that weren’t suited to him and never really being given the chance to shine. “I think sometimes the players and Astralis had a different view on how roster changes should be made,” he noted. As he reflected on his Astralis stint, Bubzkji admitted that things “didn’t pan out the way I wanted or imagined.” Still, he insisted that he holds no regrets about joining Astralis and that there were positives about his time there. “I learned more at Astralis than I had in the previous years of my career. I really enjoyed being a part of something bigger and learning a lot of stuff about myself. I definitely improved aspects outside of my game.” Counter-Strike future With most doors closed to him at this stage as teams finalize preparations for the new season, Bubzkji says he is in no rush to return to action. He has turned down a number of offers in recent months as he continues to wait for the right opportunity to emerge. “I know what it takes to play at the highest level, and I didn’t want to sign with a team just for the sake of playing for a salary,” he explained. “When I’m not motivated, it doesn’t make sense. “When you sign a deal, you owe it to the organization and the players to do everything in your power to succeed. I have never played for the money, so I wasn’t tempted to sign anything. My career is purely based on wanting to achieve results, personally and team-wise.” Bubzkji has joined Danish national broadcaster TV2 as a commentator, expanding on a relationship that began at PGL Major Stockholm. The experience, he noted, while brief, left him “hooked”. “I asked TV2 if they were interested in working with me for 2022, and fortunately they were,” he explained. “Many will probably be shocked that I’d rather work as an analyst than play, but right now this feels more right for me. “I don’t want to give the impression that I’m retiring or that I’m never returning to CS competitively. But for the next period of time, I’ll be doing something else. And yes, I’m fully aware of the consequences of going out of form, and of becoming less relevant over time. I’ll still be around the high level. FACEIT, FPL, random qualifiers… “But if I were to return soon, I wouldn’t have an issue with going to a lower-tier team again, I’ve done that before. My whole career has been underdog stories, where you build something out of nothing. The most important thing for me is that there’s a good chemistry role-wise between the type of players you have.” Everyone loves a good what-if story, and the way Bubzkji’s time with Astralis panned out does make one wonder about where he would be if hadn’t gone with his gut feeling. Would he, like his former MAD Lions teammate Rasmus ‘sjuush’ Beck, be playing for Heroic, one of the world’s best teams? Or would he, like Fredrik ‘roeJ’ Jørgensen, another ex-teammate of his, have attended the Major with one of Denmark’s up-and-coming teams? But it’s still way too early to say that Bubzkji’s career will be defined by what he did, or rather didn’t do, at Astralis. His is not yet a story of potential unfulfilled, though he will need to be very careful when choosing his next project. That’s why he is taking things slowly and biding his time instead of jumping at the first opportunity simply to chase an easy paycheck. When his sabbatical ends, he’ll be ready to right the past two years. For when all is said and done, he’ll want the record to show that Astralis were simply the wrong team at the wrong time for him.

Bubzkji joins Astralis CSGO roster as JUGi departs AstralisAstralis have completed the signing of MAD Lions star rifler Lucas ‘Bubzkji’ Andersen as their newest player while also releasing substitute AWPer Jakob ‘JUGi’ Hansen. Astralis are looking at rebuilding their Danish empire in CS:GO. Their original roster, which arguably became CS:GO’s most dominant dynasty in history, have filled up their trophy cabinet with a vast variety of crowns and trophies. However, five players isn’t enough. Astralis picked up Patrick ‘es3tag’ Hansen as not just a sub, but a sixth member in March. Jakob ‘JUGi’ Hansen then became the seventh. Now though, the former OpTic AWPer has found himself on the chopping block as Astralis raid MAD Lions. Following reports that Astralis had reached out to MAD Lions to try to sign Bubzkji, the team has now confirmed that he is joining as their seventh member. The 22-year-old star has even signed a two-year deal with the Danish powerhouse. In an accompanying move, JUGi, who had originally been their second substitute, is departing Astralis and becoming a free agent once again. The former Heroic, OpTic Gaming, and North AWPer admitted that he was “disappointed” by the move but respected the decision and wants to continue on playing. As for Bubzkji, the rifler noted that after hearing of Astralis’ interest, his mind was made up and wanted the move. He revealed that other teams were interested but Astralis is where he wants to play. Welcome @Bubzkji to the Astralis roster. We’re looking forward to play with you. Thank you for everything @JUGiOfficial #ToTheStars — Astralis Counter-Strike (@AstralisCS) July 31, 2020 Bubzkji’s future at MAD Lions had been widely speculated over the player break. There had been reports of Andersen being moved to the bench after the org told fans they were “reviewing our roster to position our team for continued success.” The 22-year-old broke out onto the scene in 2019 under the wing of Nicolai ‘HUNDEN’ Petersen, first with Tricked and then after the lineup moved under the MAD Lions banner. He has averaged a HLTV rating of over 1.10 for most of his time at MAD Lions, and is widely considered one of Denmark’s best talents. Astralis has been vocal about their quest to build a 10-man roster in CS:GO. They intend on building an academy roster to back up their main one to not only help with practice on both ends, but also for ease of substituting players in and out if they take a break. “Ultimately we would like to see across game titles a full 10 player set-up with an academy team like in the pro League of Legends leagues,” Director of Sports Kasper Hvidt told fans on June 2. Astralis stars Lukas ‘gla1ve’ Rossander and Andreas ‘Xyp9x’ Hojsleth are both on break for the time being, with JUGi and previous stand-in Marco ‘Snappi’ Pfeiffer filling the void.

Bubzkji in talks with Astralis over future Stephanie Lieske/ESLAstralis are currently working with unsettled player Lucas ‘Bubzkji’ Andersen to sort out his future, the Danish organization have confirmed to Dexerto. Bubzkji’s Astralis future has become increasingly uncertain since he was left out of the team’s starting lineup for PGL Major Stockholm — a decision that he publicly admitted left him “devastated”. The 23-year-old, who still has over eight months left on the two-year contract that he signed with Astralis in July 2020, was listed on the roster for the BLAST Premier Fall Finals when the Danish organization announced the double signing of Benjamin ‘blameF’ Bremer and Kristian ‘k0nfig’ Wienecke on November 4. However, Bubzkji was nowhere to be seen in the video posted by Astralis on November 9. In it, the two new players are shown around the office and share their thoughts on joining a Danish project after playing for Complexity, an international team. As the team discussed their philosophy and goals for the BLAST event and beyond, the disconnect between the group and Bubzkji became even more clear. Astralis in talks with Bubzkji On October 27, Jaxon reported that Astralis were actively looking to offload Bubzkji and had offered the player during talks with other organizations. Contacted by Dexerto, Kasper Hvidt, Astralis’ Director of Sports, played down suggestions that the organization are keen to sell Bubzkji, who was signed from MAD Lions at a time when Lukas ‘gla1ve’ Rossander and Andreas ‘Xyp9x’ Højsleth were on medical leave. However, he hinted that Astralis are entertaining offers for Bubzkji as the player wishes to find regular action and his situation in the team is unlikely to change. “In general, we don’t comment on rumors, as we could spend all our time talking about what is not going to happen — and never get any real work done,” the Astralis chief told Dexerto. “In regards to Bubzkji, though, it is no secret that we’re working together with him to sort out his future. He has not always been in the best of situations in Astralis, but as the person and professional he is, he has always been there for the team and the organization, and he has always stepped up when needed. “I have huge respect for him as a player and as a person, and his contribution to Astralis cannot be underestimated. Given the fact that his position here is not set to change short term, though, together we are investigating his options. “A player of Bubzkji’s qualities deserves to play, and we are in a healthy dialogue with Bubzkji about his future and wishes.” Astralis will take on NIP in their first match at the BLAST Premier Fall Final, which will be held from November 24-28 in Copenhagen. It remains unclear if the Danish team will be coached at the event by Alexander ‘ave’ Holdt, who is replacing Danny ‘zonic’ Sørensen at the helm of the squad.

Brazilian streamer Gaules apologizes after CSGO “cheating” controversy GaulesBrazilian CS:GO personality Alexandre ‘Gaules’ Borba has issued an apology for his analysis of a CS Summit match, saying “if my attitude generated a negative reaction the made someone upset, I come here to apologize.” Gaules has been criticized for sparking furious backlash against players of Chaos EC, namely 16-year-old American player Nathan ‘leaf’ Orf, after accusations that the player was cheating based on a handful of clips. In an opinion piece, Richard Lewis called into question Gaules’ suitability as a partnered broadcaster for the Portuguese-language streams of official tournaments. Lewis said that Gaules spent “parts of the broadcast watching clips on-air and openly saying that Orf had cheated.” This eventually led to Leaf deactivating his Twitter account after a tirade of abuse from Brazilian fans who were now convinced the player had cheated his way to victory vs MiBR. “15 days ago I analyzed some CS Summit plays with influential people from national CS,” Gaules said. “The intention was to make an analysis of the match, and even reinforcing several times that neither the org nor the player should be pressed, some people went to the players’ social media profiles and said things that should never be said.” “From the moment that physical threats and violence became part of the issue, this means that we must take a stand and show that our community can no longer tolerate this type of attitude so that we can positively have a place within the international community.” Minhas sinceras desculpas. Espero que possamos melhorar juntos nossa comunidade. My sincere apologies. I hope we can improve our community together. pic.twitter.com/ixZblpdagQ — Gaules (@Gaules) July 13, 2020 Concluding his apology, Gaules said: “Today we have a direct channel with the most important people from global CS, so that championships, whether online or offline, can be more and more reliable, competitive, and above all, respectful.” Richard Lewis did note however that Gaules stopped short of apologizing for “accusing the player of cheating repeatedly during a partnered broadcast.” Shortly after this article was released Gaules issued an “apology” for his actions. Except, nowhere does he actually apologise for accusing the player of cheating repeatedly during a partnered broadcast. He criticises those who made threats but not what he did that led to them. pic.twitter.com/t4hYLvBbdY — Richard Lewis (@RLewisReports) July 13, 2020 Gaules has become one of the most popular destinations for fans watching Counter-Strike on Twitch throughout the period of online events due to LAN events being put on hold. His streamer reached peak viewership of 387,000, with his highest peaks always when Brazilian teams are playing. In many cases, his livestream will actually overtake the primary English-speaking broadcast for the given match. With this newfound influence though, comes increased responsibility.

Brazilian org Imperial ordered to pay $74k over death of CSGO player bruttJ ImperialA labor judge in Brazil has ordered esports organization Imperial to pay damages of 400,000 Brazilian reais, or $74,000, to the family of Matheus ‘bruttJ’ Queiroz, a CS:GO player who died in 2019. bruttJ, 19, passed away in a hospital in Rio de Janeiro on December 15, 2019, due to an unspecified central nervous system infection. A week earlier, he had left Imperial’s gaming house, located in São Paulo, after complaining of headaches, returning to Rio de Janeiro to recover near his family. Brazilian labor judge Patricia Almeida Ramos determined that, by failing to fulfill its legal and contractual obligations regarding health, Imperial had “indirectly contributed” to bruttJ’s death. Ramos argued that Imperial failed to create a “healthy, safe and comfortable” work environment and did not provide “any sort of assistance” to bruttJ when his health began to deteriorate. During his brief stay in Imperial’s gaming house, bruttJ was admitted to hospitals on several occasions, where doctors could not diagnose the illness. According to the labor judge, from the moment bruttJ joined Imperial and started living in their gaming house, his health became “a legal and contractual obligation” for the company as there was no separation between his professional activities and his personal life. “The structure of the gaming house left a lot to be desired, to the point that the athlete could not eat healthily or sleep properly,” Ramos wrote in the ruling. “It is obvious that, in this situation, he could not improve physically, which became visible to everyone who was in contact with him, because of the three or four trips to public hospitals in a very short space of time. “All this happened without the participation of Imperial, despite its legal and contractual obligations. Its responsibility, including for what happened, is unquestionable.” bruttJ’s family had sued the player’s former teams, Reapers and Imperial, for negligence, saying that the two organizations should be held responsible for the health of their athletes. In Monday’s ruling, the judge stressed that it is not possible to determine that bruttJ would be alive if Imperial had fulfilled its obligations. “But at the same time, it is not possible to say otherwise,” Ramos stated. “By choosing not to comply with the specific legislation, nor with the terms of the employment contract kept with Mr. Matheus, Imperial assumed the risk of being held responsible in case of eventual damage suffered by the athlete, regardless of having caused it,” the judge added. Imperial to lodge appeal In a statement, José Augusto Rodrigues Jr., the attorney who represented Imperial in this case, said that the organization will appeal against the ruling. According to him, Imperial fulfilled all its obligations and “provided assistance, including to the family”. “The player provided services for approximately 40 days only, and it would not even be reasonable for the company to have been the cause of his illness and death,” he wrote. Founded in 2018 by former CS:GO player Felippe ‘felippe1’ Martins, Imperial made headlines in February 2022 with the signing of Last Dance, a Brazilian CS:GO lineup featuring a trio of two-time Major champions in Gabriel ‘FalleN’ Toledo, Fernando ‘fer’ Alvarenga and Lincoln ‘fnx’ Lau. The team, which has an average age of 28.6 years, went on to qualify for PGL Major Antwerp, where it placed 9th-11th.

Brazilian giants Fluxo enter CSGO with almost half a million spent on players FluxoFluxo, one of the biggest esports organizations in Brazil, spared no expense when it came to getting high-caliber players for their first CS:GO team. With Brazil set to host its first CS:GO Major later this year, Fluxo have expanded into Valve’s first-person shooter with an exciting Brazilian lineup headlined by former SK Gaming player João ‘felps’ Vasconcellos. Fluxo is a Brazilian organization co-founded in 2021 by Lucio ‘Cerol’ dos Santos and Bruno ‘Nobru’ Goes. (The latter was named the MVP of Free Fire World Series 2019 and still competes for Fluxo.) It has attracted a large following in the country, with a social media audience that includes 3.6 million fans on Instagram, 2.2 million on TikTok, and almost 2.8 million on YouTube. In a press conference, Renan Philip, the CEO of 3C Gaming, the company that manages Fluxo, said that the organization spent over 2.5 million Brazilian reais, or $494,000, to assemble the lineup. “There’s a phrase that I like, which is that the ‘price [of something] is what someone is willing to pay,’” Philip is quoted by Dust2.com.br as saying. “We cannot confirm [some of the transfer fees that have been reported], but those are investments that we truly believe to be good and consistent with the level of each player.” According to Dust2.com.br, Fluxo spent €325,000, or $335,000, to sign Lucas ‘Lucaozy’ Neves from Portuguese organization Sharks Esports. Fluxo also had to open their coffers to sign felps from GODSENT and Vinicius ‘vsm’ Moreira from 00NATION. Adriano ‘WOOD7’ Cerato and Lucas ‘lux’ Meneghini were both signed on free transfers. IEM Rio Major in sight Fluxo CEO Gabriel ‘bak’ Lessa said that this “was the right moment” to enter CS:GO, with Rio de Janeiro set to host the Major between October 31 and November 13. The playoff stage of the event will be held in front of a crowd at the Jeunesse Arena, an indoor multi-purpose arena that hosted the 2017 League of Legends Mid-Season Invitational and the 2018 Rainbow Six Siege Season 8 Pro League finals. Fluxo have a long road to the IEM Rio Major ahead of them, starting with the open qualifiers later this month. If they manage to battle their way through one of the three South American qualifiers, they will then have to attend the American RMR, where FURIA, Team Liquid, Imperial Esports and 12 other teams will be lying in wait. “We are here to build something together with the community and to be present in the game,” Philip said. “Today’s goal is the Major, but the real goal is to do everything right and put Brazil back where it used to be in CS.” Fluxo CS:GO roster: João “felps” Vasconcellos – Vinicius “vsm” Moreira – Adriano “WOOD7” Cerato – Lucas “Lucaozy” Neves – Lucas “lux” Meneghini – Willian “Xamp” Caldas (coach) –

Brazilian CSGO team FURIA to replace HEN1 amid FalleN roster rumours DreamHackFURIA, currently one of the top two Brazilian CSGO teams, is reportedly looking for a potential replacement for AWPer Henrique ‘HEN1’ Teles. The Brazilian CSGO scene is preparing itself for a roster shuffle as FURIA is looking to replace HEN1, according to a report by dbltap. The Brazilian squad is reportedly ready to bench the player for “issues outside of the server.” According to Rush B Media, it is likely that the Nike-sponsored organization will recruit Paytyn ‘junior’ Johnson from Triumph. The young AWPer has recently propelled his team to the finals of IEM Beijing-Haidian 2020 after defeating Team Liquid in the semi-finals. The switch to an international roster will mean that FURIA will most likely start communicating in English. HEN1 joined FURIA in September 2019 on a free transfer after the disbandment of the Luminosity Gaming roster. During his tenure, HEN1 helped his team reach multiple top-4 finishes and most recently winning the North American editions of IEM New York, EPL Season 12, and Dreamhack Masters Spring. The Brazilian is reportedly going to remain with the team for IEM Global Challenge, DreamHack Masters Winter, and the upcoming BLAST Premier Fall. Junior has been a shining light in Triumph, bringing them ever closer to the top of NA CSGO, even after the departure of star player Micheal ‘Grim’ Wince to Team Liquid. HEN1’s quality as a sniper will surely interest other Brazilian or international teams looking to upgrade. Gabriel ‘FalleN’ Toledo and Fernando ‘fer’ Alvarenga are currently resting on the bench after MiBR decided to enact a drastic change to their roster. Fallen has confirmed to be in discussions over the assembling of a new Brazilian lineup or even joining the current Godsent core but these ideas are “very far from materializing”. There is also a possibility that HEN1 could join his twin brother Lucas ‘LUCAS1’ Telles at MiBR as currently three of the players currently playing for that roster are on temporary loan contracts.

Brazilian CSGO player bruttJ passes away in hospital aged 19 Imperial Counter-Strike professional player Matheus ‘bruttJ’ Queiroz has passed away in hospital due to health complications. The Brazilian CS:GO player had been playing on the starting roster for Imperial after joining from fellow Brazilian team, Reapers. The 19-year-old won the Up Expo Game under the Reapers banner in July 2019. After facing off against Imperial at the CBCS Season 1 finals in October, he was picked up to join their active roster. Queiroz was recently replaced on the starting lineup by Alef ‘tatazin’ Pereira (from paiN Gaming), after announcing that he had been admitted to hospital in Rio de Janeiro. On December 15, Imperial Esports announced that bruttJ had sadly passed away. In the organization’s Twitlonger, it was unveiled that the 19-year-old had been suffering with headaches beforehand, which led to him leaving the team house in Sao Paulo. The Imperial pro thanked everyone for their support and well wishes, in what was to be his final Tweet. Queiroz was an upcoming talent in the Brazilian CS:GO scene. Serving as both an AWPer and Rifler for Imperial and his former teams, the youngster had a string of accolades to his name. Most recently, bruttJ has led his team to the semi-finals of CBCS Season 1. Following the announcement of bruttJ’s passing, tributes and respects have been flooding in from far and wide on Twitter. We’d like to acknowledge and pay our respects to ?? @bruttzin [bruttJ from @imperialesports] who has passed away. Matheus was known by his teammates as “one of the most talented guys I have ever seen” and we’re very sorry to hear the news. Rest In Peace. pic.twitter.com/VtEcZqqEIJ — ESL Counter-Strike (@ESLCS) December 16, 2019 After hearing the news, fellow teammate Dener ‘KHTEX’ Barchfield tweeted “Today is the worst day of my life!” Shrotly after, Barchfield described bruttJ as “one of the most talented guys I’ve ever seen…” At the time of writing, there is no official information on the cause of death yet according to Imperial Esports’ Twitlonger.

Brazil to reportedly host first CSGO Major of 2020 Reports have surfaced that Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, will be the location of 2020’s first CS:GO Major, with ESL set to host the event. This confirms earlier leaks made by community members and pro players alike. The report from Jarek “DeKay” Lewis shows that ESL, the hosts of some of the world’s largest Counter-Strike: Global Offensive events, will once again be returning to helm the Major. The last Major they hosted at IEM Katowice was one of the competitive highlights of last year in terms of CS:GO events, and has been held up by the community as the gold standard in event hosting. The event will reportedly take place in May, called the “ESL One Rio Major,” marking a return for the brand to Major status. The last ESL One to hold that distinction was ESL One Cologne in 2016. The event will mark their second Major in the past year, but they had a three year hiatus from hosting them previously as they were awarded to other organizers. DeKay’s report confirms earlier leaks, most notably from S1mple, who mentioned the Major, taking place in Brazil on his stream earlier this month. This kickstarted the rumor engine, though the DBLTAP report also mentions that this location had been considered as early as ESL One: New York earlier this year. ESL has hosted several events in Brazil in the past, including the ESL Pro League season four final and an ESL One event in Belo Horizonte. Read More: S1mple leaks location of next CSGO Major – The CS:GO Major system remains one of the more unique major competitions in esports and one of the few in Major esports titles that remains an open format. Many other esports, such as Overwatch, Call of Duty, and League of Legends, have all switched to a franchise-based system. Majors remain the most prestigious on CS:GO’s calendar simply because Valve are involved directly, and teams have the chance to offer stickers for sale in-client, which remains a lucrative opportunity for organizations. Astralis will enter this Major cycle with three back-to-back titles, despite challengers to the throne in Team Liquid and others. Brazil also plays host to popular CS:GO players, such as FalleN, Taco, and other members of MiBR, who will undoubtedly help drive ticket sales to the event.

Boston Major winner RUSH reveals he is “feeling out” Valorant Stephanie Lieske/ESLFormer Cloud9 and Complexity member William ‘RUSH’ Wierzba has said that he is giving Riot Games’ tactical shooter a try as he evaluates his career options. The North American player is currently without a team following his benching by Complexity, who decided to bolster their ranks with the signing of Patrick “es3tag” Hansen. RUSH, who had been in Europe since the start of the global health crisis, “hopping from hotel to hotel”, has found his options limited in North America, where only a few professional teams remain and where there has been an exodus of players from Counter-Strike to Valorant. And in a Twitter post on August 30, RUSH revealed that he too is entertaining the thought of a switch to Riot Games’ tactical shooter. “My future still isn’t set,” he wrote. “But to be transparent, I’ve been feeling out Valorant the last month to see if it’s a viable option for me.” Did a recap on most of my career with @Thorin. My future still isn’t set but to be transparent I’ve been feeling out Valorant the last month to see if it’s a viable option for me. https://t.co/8FhFALf2gB — Will (@RUSH) August 30, 2021 RUSH began his Counter-Strike career in 2013 and has represented a number of top North American organizations over the years, including OpTic, Cloud9, and Complexity. Discover more: What’s Happened To Complexity CSGO? – He was part of the Cloud9 roster that won ELEAGUE Major Boston in 2018 after defeating FaZe Clan in an epic grand final. Two of his then teammates, Tyler ‘Skadoodle’ Latham and Timothy ‘autimatic’ Ta, are currently playing Valorant for T1.

Boombl4: “NAVI Era? Two More Tournaments!” BLAST CSGO Interview S1mple, Boombl4, b1t, Perfecto, and electronic had no trouble against Team Vitality at the 2021 CSGO BLAST Premier Fall Final. NAVI took down ZywOo, apEX, shox, Misutaaa, and Kyojin 2-0 in the type of easy sweep fans have come to expect from the Ukrainian org in 2021. Boombl4 joined Dexerto after the game to discuss whether s1mple or ZywOo is the better CSGO player, why the team’s not afraid of anyone, and if we are truly in the NAVI era.

Boombl4 reveals talks to join G2 CSGO team DexertoFormer Major champion Kirill ‘Boombl4’ Mikhailov confirmed that talks to join G2 Esports’ CSGO team broke down as the Russian pro looks for his next destination after NAVI. After his sudden removal from NAVI back in late May, the 23-year-old has been fielding offers to see who he’ll join for the rest of the 2022 circuit. It wasn’t long after that rumors of a possible move to G2 gave way with the team finding itself in a state of flux. The red-and-black are moving on from IGL Aleksi ‘Aleksib’ Virolainen by letting the Finish pro explore his options for a new home. Now it seems as though there was mutual interest between Boombl4 and G2 Esports to join forces, but the two sides could not reach a deal that would satisfy all parties. Boombl4 move to G2 CSGO breaks down The former NAVI IGL shed more light on his offseason negotiations and revealed that he was indeed in talks with G2 CEO Carlos ‘ocelote’ Rodriguez before coming to an impasse. “There were a lot of conditions with relocation to another country, different taxes, other systems. I’d like to stay in Russia for now,” he said on an Aug 2 stream, translated by escorenews. He continued: “It’s not about my love for some country or something, I just don’t really want to leave my circle. Without that, my morale…You will be burning out really fast, and won’t be able to recover that energy anywhere.” Boombl4 recalled talking to another G2 member about their remote conditions, noting the org previously gave competitors a choice of relocating to play out of Germany, Serbia, France and possibly Andora. These options wouldn’t work with the Russian pro, who has deep roots in his home country with family, those in the local music industry, and more. Boombl4 has previously expressed his desire to continue his music career while competing in CSGO at a high level, and is still on the lookout for a European contender to join.

Bizarre bomb glitch causes CSGO team to lose series Valve / Twitch: KomodoAUAn unfortunate glitch has cost a Counter-Strike team a place at a live tournament after the bomb fell through the map, making it unreachable. CS:GO as a game revolves around the fabled bomb. Terrorists must plant the bomb if they want to win the round, while Counter-Terrorists have to try and weasel their way in and defuse it once it’s down. However, what happens when the bomb just falls out of the map? One Australian team found out over the weekend, and it cost them the entire series. In the qualifiers for eXTREMESLAND 2019, an Asian LAN tournament, Oceanic heavyweights Avant Gaming were up against Ground Zero Gaming. With the series tied at one-a-piece, and the match heading to a close on Nuke, Ground Zero needed to claw back a three-round deficit to get overtime. Read more: NiKo responds to FaZe Coldzera rumors – They mounted a push outside on Nuke to try and shuffle down to B, but were picked apart by Avant AWPer Euan ‘Sterling’ Moore. Down to a 1v4, Callum ‘BURNRUOk’ Henderson looked to rotate and get the bomb – but it was stuck under the map. When Ground Zero had thrown the bomb down as they set up for a play, the bomb had unfortunately bounced underneath the garage door near the main entry. Read more: PashaBiceps takes over desk in skit – The casters couldn’t believe it either, as they were left stunned at Ground Zero’s misfortune. “The bomb’s under the map, what the f***,” said Dion ‘Komodo’ Pirotta. “Are you shitting me?” With the objective unretrievable, BURNRUOk had to find four frags to stay in the game, and he fell short. Ground Zero lost the map 16-12 off the back of that round, and the series, costing them a spot at LAN. While it’s unlikely that BURNRUOk could have won in the clutch situation, stranger things have happened in professional Counter-Strike. However, he was never given a chance to try and keep his team in the game. Be careful of tossing the bomb down too hard on Nuke, as you might be finding yourself fruitlessly scrounging to collect it when you need it.

CS:GO pros slam BLAST for broadcasting FaZe’s tactical discussion BLAST Pro SeriesBLAST Pro Series came under fire from professional CS:GO players after sharing a clip featuring FaZe coach Janko ‘YNk’ Paunovic discussing strategy during a tactical timeout. BLAST Pro Series has faced a lot of criticism over recent months. The tournament organizer came under fire for perceived attempts to move towards a “soft exclusivity” circuit such that many of the top teams would rarely face each other outside of BLAST events, while the best-of-one-heavy format of the BLAST events also came under fire. The Los Angeles event itself also faced issues after the tournament schedule was adjusted and the venue moved to what many considered an inferior location, going from the Galen Center arena to a much smaller venue. Meanwhile, the ticket price to attend the event was nearly quadrupled, from $25 before fees to $99 for a day ticket, and those who had paid the original price initially had their tickets refunded and would have had to buy tickets at the new price in order to attend, although BLAST later revised this policy. With the change in venue, BLAST introduced the “Front Row Experience” that would offer fans a behind-the-scenes look at what goes into making an event, with access to areas like production that are usually hidden. It seems BLAST’s “behind the scenes” approach to the Los Angeles event went a step too far, however, after they broadcast the communication of FaZe Clan coach YNK to his team during a time-out against NRG Esports. The clip, which was also tweeted out by the BLAST Twitter account, saw YNk detailing strategic adjustments for FaZe during his window to speak to the team. Fellow pro players were quick to respond, however, hitting out at BLAST for sharing information that could be tactically relevant to the tournament. While it’s not uncommon for event organizers to use clips from teams’ communications for highlight reels, these are usually limited to the likes of humorous moments, trash talk, or reactions to plays, rather than detailed strategy. Given the responses from the likes of MIBR’s Gabriel ‘FalleN’ Toledo and Team Liquid’s Jonathan ‘ELiGE’ Jablonowski – both of whom were competing at BLAST LA – it doesn’t appear that the teams were warned beforehand that tactical discussions like this might be broadcast.

Vitality win BLAST Paris CSGO Major: Final placements and recap BLASTThe BLAST Paris Major has come to a close, with Vitality winning the trophy after beating GamerLegion in convincing fashion. Here is everything you need to know about the final CS:GO Major, including all the results and the final standings. Vitality win the last CS:GO Major in front of the French fans. – GamerLegion still put up a fight on Nuke but couldn’t take it to a third map. – It’s the fifth Major victory for dupreeh and zonic, the first for ZywOo. – With Counter-Strike 2 set for a summer 2023 release, CS:GO had one final Major before the new game takes over Valve’s competitive circuit in 2024. Ten years after the first CS:GO Major, in Jönköping, BLAST organized in Paris an epic Major that brings the curtain down on an era in the storied FPS franchise. Much like the Major before, the French event was filled with upsets. With heavy favorites like NAVI, G2 Esports and FURIA all missing the playoffs, much of the narrative heading into the playoffs was about the underdogs. The way the bracket was set, with Heroic and Vitality on opposite ends after going 3-0 in the Legends Stage, suggested that a rematch of last month’s IEM Rio was on the cards, but the upsets continued in the playoff stage. GamerLegion beat Heroic in three maps, continuing an unlikely run that began with the team bouncing back from a 0-2 start to the Challengers Stage, while Apeks defeated Team Liquid, making life easier for Vitality in the semi-finals. Vitality, the only French organization represented at the event, didn’t crumble under the weight of the cheering fans and took care of business in the final, beating GamerLegion 2-0. The victory takes a huge weight off the back of the team’s shoulders and finally gives Mathieu ‘ZywOo’ Herbaut the trophy he had been seeking. It also means that Peter ‘dupreeh’ Rasmussen winds up in a category of his own as the only player with five CS:GO Major titles. Below is everything you need to know about the BLAST Paris Major, including the schedule, the latest results and the official stream. BLAST.tv Paris CSGO Major: Prize and standings BLAST.tv Paris CSGO Major: Bracket and results The event took place between May 8 and 21 and followed the three-stage format that was introduced by Valve in 2018. The Accor Arena, an indoor sports arena and concert hall located in the neighborhood of Bercy, hosted the Champions Stage, with over 50,000 fans attending the event during the playoffs. (Bracket by Liquipedia) Champions Stage (May 18 — May 21) Day 1: May 18 Day 2: May 19 Day 3: May 20 Day 4: May 21 Legends Stage (May 13 — May 16) Day 1: May 13 Day 2: May 14 Day 3: May 15 Day 4: May 16 Note: The winner of a match with an asterisk qualifies for the Champions Stage. Challengers Stage (May 8 — May 11) Day 1: May 8 Day 2: May 9 Day 3: May 10 Day 4: May 11 Note: The winner of a match with an asterisk qualifies for the Legends Stage. BLAST.tv Paris CSGO Major: Format The Major began with the Challengers Stage, featuring 16 teams and a Swiss system. The early rounds were played in a best-of-one format before the best-of-three elimination and advancement matches. The top eight teams progressed to the Legends Stage, where they joined the top-ranked teams determined by the Regional Major Qualifiers. This phase featured the same format as the Challengers Stage. Only eight teams made it to the Champions Stage, a single-elimination bracket in which every match was played in a best-of-three format. BLAST.tv Paris CSGO Major: Teams The 24 teams attending the Paris Major were determined by the Regional Major Ranking (RMR) tournaments in Europe, Asia-Pacific and the Americas. These qualifying events took place between April 6 and 15 in Copenhagen (Europe), Monterrey (Americas) and Ulaanbaatar (Asia-Pacific). Legends Stage: Challengers Stage:

BLAST reveals Paris Major trophy design — and CSGO community isn’t happy BLASTBLAST has revealed two design options for the Paris Major trophy, neither of which appears to be to the CS:GO community’s liking. With the BLAST.tv Paris Major being the final Valve-sponsored event for CS:GO before Counter-Strike 2 takes over, the stakes have never been higher. Because of that, BLAST is determined to host an event that will celebrate CS:GO’s history and close a chapter that began ten years ago with the first Major, in Jönköping. And BLAST is seeking the CS:GO community’s help in picking the trophy for the event. It took the triangle trophy that for years has been part of its CS:GO tournaments and covered part of it in a slime-like substance. This organic visual identity is a departure from the design concept with which CS:GO Majors — and BLAST’s own events — have traditionally been associated. “If Majors of the past have gone right, we want to go left,” Faye Marlborough, Head of Creative Solutions at BLAST said in a statement. “We are pivoting away from the hard lines and angles the audience traditionally sees at Majors and moving toward softer lines, curved edges, and playful imagery. It’s going to be really fun.” BLAST has asked the CS:GO community to choose between two color schemes for the trophy, purple or yellow, with fans able to cast their vote on BLAST.tv until March 31 at 5pm BST. The three robots that can be seen in promotional materials — each symbolizing one of the three colors of the French flag — will be a regular presence during the event broadcast, BLAST added. “We’re introducing the BLAST Bots – loveable rogues from the blast.tv universe that act as narrators and guides through the Major broadcast, making the whole experience a more positive playful space,” Marlborough said. CS:GO community reacts to BLAST Paris Major trophy On Twitter and Reddit, many have criticized BLAST’s design choice for a tournament of this stature. “With all due respect that the designer deserves, this is the worst Major trophy I’ve ever seen,” one Twitter user said. “I truly believe that the last Major on CS:GO should have an epic trophy to honor its own history.” “[It] feels more like a Splatoon 3 trophy because of the goo,” one Reddit user wrote. “At least, personally. I don’t hate it, I just don’t know if it suits CS:GO.” The BLAST.tv Paris Major will run between May 8-21, with the playoffs taking place at the Accor Arena in front of a crowd. The 24 teams attending the event will be determined by regional qualifying events that will kick off on April 6.