It’s only natural that PGL Major Stockholm was a milestone for many players and organizations in terms of reshuffles. Today, the CS.MONEY Blog will elaborate on the teams that have already made — or will soon make — replacements after the Major.
Complete disbandment of the “golden” Astralis lineup
Result: drop out of the group with a score of 1-3.
The community had its doubts concerning Astralis even before the tournament. A couple of weeks before the event, ?? Lucas “Bubzkji” Andersen was replaced by the experienced but out-of-practice ?? Lukas “gla1ve” Rossander.
After losing 2 matches to tough Copenhagen Flames and Entropiq in the Challenger stage, the Danes dealt with the Brazilians from GODSENT and paiN, proceeding to annihilate the unconfident Spirit. Yet in the main stage, after their victory over the strong FURIA, they suffered devastating defeats from NIP, Heroic, and — finally — by Vitality.
Due to the unsatisfactory performance, the lineup underwent adjustments. ?? Emil “Magisk” Reif and ?? Peter “dupreeh” Rasmussen left the squad, along with coach ?? Danny “zonic” Sørensen. They were replaced by arguably Denmark’s best free agents: ?? Christian “k0nfig” Winneke and ?? Benjamin “blameF” Bremer. Both came from the disbanded Complexity team, which we’ll talk about a little later. Alexander “ave” Holdt, who used to mentor North, became the coach of the lineup.
Current Astralis lineup:
?? Andreas “Xyp9x” Højsleth
?? Lukas “gla1ve” Rossander
?? Philip “Lucky” Ewald
?? Christian “k0nfig” Winneke
?? Benjamin “blameF” Bremer
Coach: ?? Alexander “ave” Holdt
Spirit’s uncertainty
Result: drop out of the Challenger stage with a score of 2-3.
A loss to FaZe as well as wins over GODSENT and TYLOO provided the club with a good chance of advancing further. But a lost comeback on the third map in the match versus Virtus.pro shook the Dragons’ confidence: in the deciding game against Astralis, the team couldn’t prevail.
There might have been some conflicts going on in the roster. In any event, the final result is the disbandment of the squad and its “reformation” after DreamHack Open November 2021.
Presently the players that have left the club include ?? Nikolay “mir” Bityukov and ?? Leonid “chopper” Vishnyakov. They were replaced by little-known ?? Aleksandr “KaiR0N-” Anashkin and promising ?? Robert “Patsi” Isyanov.
The results of DH November 2021 have become, expectedly, disappointing for the team. Team Spirit lost both of their matches in the group stage. And the last map at the event, Nuke vs. ForZe, they lost 0:16. Viktor “sdy” Orudzhev joined the rulon club with the 0:16 K/D record, and was benched. For now, he is looking for a new team in CIS, EU, or NA regions.
Current Team Spirit lineup:
?? Abdul “degster” Hasanov
?? Boris “magixx” Vorobyev
?? Robert “Patsi” Isyanov
?? Aleksandr “KaiR0N-” Anashkin
Coach: ?? Nikolay “Certus” Poluyanov
Transfers out of Complexity
Result: failure to qualify for PGL Major Stockholm.
The capable Complexity lay claim to high places at IEM Fall 2021 Europe, the most recent RMR tournament. Nevertheless, ii was a complete disaster for them: aside from beating Endpoint, the team was unable to show the level of play they needed at qualifiers. This failure was followed by defeats at two major tournament qualifiers.
The consequences of this performance were deplorable: AWPer ?? Valentin “poizon” Vasilev and ?? Benjamin “blameF” Bremer left the squad. ?? Justin “jks” Savage and ?? Patrick “es3tag” Hansen were transfer-listed. As of right now, only coach ? Luis “peacemaker” Tadeu remains on board the ship. The club’s future remains vague. The team also witnessed the departure of Marcelo “coldzera” David, who is rumored to attend several upcoming tournaments, including iBUYPOWER Mythic Masters Winter 2021, as part of a new lineup.
*UPDATE* As noted by dotesports, es3tag will be joining NiP as a replacement for LNZ. The teams are planning to complete this transfer before the start of the nearest Blast Pro Series event.
Former Complexity lineup:
?? Benjamin “blameF” Bremer
?? Valentin “poizon” Vasilev
?? Justin “jks” Savage
?? Marcelo “coldzera” David
?? Patrick “es3tag” Hansen
FunPlus Phoenix leaving the discipline
Result: failure to qualify for PGL Major Stockholm.
The beginning of the year saw the lineup get signed by a rich Chinese organization. The former GODSENT were considered a promising squad from the top 20 of the hltv world ranking. However, their further performance only served to disappoint FunPlus Phoenix’ management. Failures at major tournaments and only one first place at Snow Sweet Snow 1 were clearly not what the team’s managers had hoped for.
The other day witnessed some breaking news: FunPlus Phoenix are transfer-listing their squad and retiring from CS:GO. The team’s results at IEM Fall 2021 Europe were similar to Complexity’s: a victory over AURA — an obvious outsider — and a sad exit. Afterward, the club failed to qualify for IEM Winter 2021. It seems like a quick end for a once-promising organization. The lineup will probably continue to perform under different tags.
Former FunPlus Phoenix lineup:
?? Jesse “zehN” Linjala
?? Luka “emi” Vuković
?? Pavle “maden” Bošković
?? Asger “farlig” Jensen
Disbandment of previously illustrious Evil Geniuses
Result: drop out of the group stage with a score of 0-3.
Since around the end of September, Evil Geniuses have been represented by the same lineup that came to Stockholm. The results weren’t impressive, but reaching the Legends stage inspired the organization’s hope for a decent play at PGL Major Stockholm.
In reality, however, Evil Geniuses dropped out, much to the delight of most users who selected them as the 0-3 score team in their Pick-em Challenge. They only won one map versus Vitality. About a week after the departure, ?? Peter “stanislaw” Jarguz, ?? Owen “oBo” Schlatter, and ?? Michał “MICHU” Müller abandoned the lineup. It remains to be seen who will complete the lineup, which now only includes coach ?? Damian “daps” Steele and two top players ?? Vincent “Brehze” Cajonte and ?? Tsvetelin “CeRq” Dimitrov.
Current Evil Geniuses lineup:
?? Vincent “Brehze” Cajonte
?? Tsvetelin “CeRq” Dimitrov
Coach: ?? Damian “daps” Steele
Reshuffles in Vitality
Result: drop out of the quarterfinals of the PGL Major Stockholm playoffs.
Shortly before the year’s main tournament, the French team made good progress, finishing second at ESL Pro League S14 and third at IEM Fall 2021 Europe. But then something went wrong right away at PGL Major Stockholm: after losses to Virtus.pro and Heroic, the Bees eked out a playoff spot with a 3-2 score and got beaten by would-be tournament winners NAVI.
Despite the team’s relatively good performance, rumor has it that reshuffles are imminent. Insider neL reported that a reshuffle would happen even if the team won PGL Major Stockholm — and that would correspond with the organization’s will. It seems that the team will part ways with ? Richard “shox” Papillon, ? Jayson “Kyojin” Nguyen Van, and coach ? Rémy “XTQZZZ” Quoniam. Their replacements are ? Peter “dupreeh” Rasmussen and ? Emil “Magisk” Reif, with ? Danny “zonic” Sørensen filling the coach slot.
Possible Vitality lineup::
?? Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut
?? Dan “apEX” Madesclaire
?? Kévin “misutaaa” Rabier
?? Peter “dupreeh” Rasmussen
?? Emil “Magisk” Reif
Coach: ?? Danny “zonic” Sørensen
Liquid’s new life
Result: drop out of the group with a score of 1-3.
Liquid simplified their advance to the Legends stage by an order of magnitude. Nevertheless, after defeating ENCE, the North Americans gave way to more or less tough teams from Europe (FaZe, Entropiq) and direct competitors from FURIA.
It was recently reported that ? Jacky “Stewie2K” Yip and ? Gabriel “FalleN” Toledo would leave the roster at the end of 2021, probably due to the team’s telling results. It’s unknown who will replace the big-name players.
Liquid’s roster after the end of 2021
?? Jonathan “EliGE” Jablonowski
?? Keith “NAF” Markovic
?? Michael “Grim” Wince
Coach: ?? Eric “adreN” Hoag
Virtus.pro’s lineup changes summed up
Result: drop from the quarter-finals of the PGL Major Stockholm playoffs.
Let’s end our story on a positive note. A few days before the year’s main tournament, Virtus.pro made substitutions in the lineup, replacing ?? Sanjar “SANJI” Kuliev from ForZe with ?? Evgeniy “FL1T” Lebedev.
Some analysts expected Virtus.pro to fail due to a lack of serious preparation that was in order for the roster’s new player to fit in. Contrariwise, the outcome pleased the fans. Showing laudable poise and an ability to prepare for big matches, the Bears fought through the Challenger stage with an eventual score of 3-1 and then advanced to the PGL Major Stockholm playoffs by clinching a miraculous victory over the mighty FaZe. In the Champions stage, they lost the third map in an extremely difficult confrontation against Heroic. Still, judging by the two passed stages (Challenger and Legends), the team certainly has prospects. The young fighter FL1T seems to fit in rather well, and the incredibly fast pace which Virtus.pro demonstrate in their preparations for matches suggests that they could become a solid player among the world’s top 5 squads in the hltv ranking.
Current Virtus.pro lineup
?? Timur “buster” Tulepov
?? Alexey “Qikert” Golubev
?? Dzhami “Jame” Ali
?? Evgeniy “FL1T” Lebedev
?? Marex “YEKINDAR” Galinskis
Coach: ?? Dastan “dastan” Aqbaev
So far, these are all the changes related, directly or indirectly, to PGL Major Stockholm. Visit CS.MONEY to keep up with all the latest news from the CS:GO world!
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