News Flash #1 - Off-season Rostermania
The Counter Strike scene has been extremely busy in the past week as teams chop and change their squads in preparation for the arrival of CS2.
Multiple roster changes have already been finalized; here’s a concise round-up of the officially announced transfers:
Vitality: -dupreeh +flameZ
Following their Paris Major victory, the Bees decided to ensure the longevity of their squad by replacing their veteran rifler with one of the hottest free agents on the market this player break. Despite dupreeh’s recent upswing in form, replacing him with a young and talented prospect like flameZ is objectively the right move at this moment in time.
Liquid: -nitr0 -EliGE +Rainwaker +Patsi
End of an era for North American CS as EliGE departs Liquid after spending 8 years at the organization. With the NA scene struggling for young talent, Liquid decided to take a leap of faith and recruit two promising EU riflers in Rainwaker and Patsi. This decision could prove to be costly, as the team will now have to compete in the ever-so challenging European RMR in the next Major cycle.
Astralis: -gla1ve -Altekz +Staehr +b0RUP
After a streak of below par performances, a shake up in Astralis’ ranks was imminent. The Danish org opted to remove gla1ve and Altekz from their roster, hence shifting the IGL duties onto blameF, and acquired Staehr and b0RUP to fill their shoes. While Staehr brings an obvious upgrade to the team’s firepower, b0RUP’s level and blameF’s leading capabilities are more of an unknown, and it is unsure as to how the team will function.
Complexity: -FaNg +EliGE
The NA organization decided to stick to their roots and remain a majority-American team, with the acquisition of EliGE from Liquid. The seasoned rifler brings a lot of experience into the roster, which is something that Complexity has been lacking in the past. The NA team is the perfect place for EliGE to reinvent himself and get back to his best.
Falcons: +lauNX +mhL +BOROS
Amidst the player break transfer mayhem, Falcons managed to put together a well-balanced international roster with a mix of experience (NBK and bodyy) and young talent (lauNX, mhL and BOROS). The Saudi org are looking to make an impression in the upcoming season.
BIG: -k1to -faveN -hyped +s1n +prosus +mantuu
BIG carry out a major squad overhaul, keeping only tabseN and Krimbo from their main roster and promoting two players from their academy team. The German org also signed mantuu, who has been a free agent since his departure from OG. As a result of these changes, BIG will get to play in IEM Cologne and showcase their new signings.
FURIA: -drop
The Brazilian shuffle is yet to commence, but FURIA have already announced the benching of drop. The youngster failed to set the world alight, averaging a mere 0.96 rating during his tenure on the roster. FURIA have had a disappointing year as a whole, failing to make deep runs at most of the tournaments they attended - they’ll definitely be looking to make more than just one change.
NIP: -Aleksib +hampus
The Swedish IGL returns to NIP after being out of action since January. With this change, the Ninjas are once again a Swedish-majority roster, one of the few “non-international” squads left in the top 20. As for Aleksib, considering the amount of changes and international rosters coming together in this player break, I’m sure he will have plenty of options to choose from as his next home.
Other news:
IEM comes back to Sydney
ESL have announced that IEM Fall will be held in Sydney, which will be the first tier 1 event held down under since 2019. The event will take place between October 16-22, with 16 teams competing for the share of the $250,000 prize pool. For the first time ever, the event’s play-offs will take place in the Aware Super Theatre at ICC Sydney, which sports a maximum capacity of 9000 spectators.
$600,000 World Championships to be held by Thunderpick
The qualification process for the newly announced tournament is set to begin on the 10th of July, with the 8 qualified teams and 8 invited teams battling it out for the main prize sometime in November this year. As of right now, Evil Geniuses are the only team to already be invited to the main tournament, which may be because Thunderpick is one of the many sponsors of EG’s Counter Strike endeavours.