Roster changes have been rife in the professional Counter-Strike: Global Offensive scene as of late. Players have been jumping ship to teams that they believe have a better chance of winning than their previous lineups. With the scene rife with changes, it can be hard to keep tracking of the roster shuffles so we thought we’d do the hard work for you to help you stay in the loop!
SK Gaming, Cloud9, Team Liquid, and compLexity
The Brazilian squad SK Gaming caused a major shift in a number of teams when Epitácio “TACO” de Melo decided to step down. There were rumors that Egor “flamie” Vasilyev and Oleksandr “s1mple” Kostylev were set to join “Gabriel “FalleN” Toledo, Fernando “fer” Alvarenga and Marcelo “coldzera” David on the SK Gaming roster, but that never came to fruition.
Instead, Jake “Stewie2k” Yip left Cloud9 to join SK Gaming around the same time that Tyler “Skadoodle” Latham had stepped down from the side to go inactive – reducing the team to three. Since then, Skadoodle decided to return to action and Pujan “FNS” Mehta left compLexity in order to round out the roster.
This, of course, left compLexity looking for a player. They still haven’t found the right piece for their puzzle, but former Cloud9 player Alec “Slemmy” White is filling the gap for the time being. So, where was TACO’s destination? None other than Team Liquid, who decided to replace Lucas “steel” Lopes with the Brazilian star.
FaZe
This move is reportedly only temporary, but it’s undoubtedly big. Richard “Xizt” Landström, who was benched by Ninjas in Pyjamas after a six year tenure with the organisation, has joined FaZe Clan as a stand-in for Olof “olofmeister” Kajbjer. Xizt was replaced by Dennis “dennis” Edman on NiP’s roster in February.
It was long rumored that Xizt was set to replace Maikil “Golden” Selim on Fnatic’s line-up, but that seems like a hoax. Instead, the in-game leader will be looking to prove himself to other teams while he stands in for FaZe Clan.
BIG
It was recently reported that BIG managed to lock down Owen “smooya” Butterfield, a British AWPer. Replacing Niels “luckeRRR” Jasiek, who began trialing for the roster in February, smooya had previously been in contention with his then-organisation, Epsilon eSports.
Não Tem Como
Vito “KNgV-” Giuseppe has been in the center of his fair share of controversy, but he finally found a home in Não Tem Como. Most recently playing for Virtue Gaming after being a part of the now-defunct 100 Thieves CS:GO roster, KNgV- is one of the replacements. This follows Henrique “HEN1” Teles and Lucas “LUCAS1” Teles’s departures from the Brazilian organisation.
Virtus.pro and Team Kinguin
Virtus.pro shockingly parted ways with its long-time player Wiktor “TaZ” Wojtas, and chose young up-and-comer Michał “MICHU” Müller as his replacement. TaZ ended up finding a home in Team Kinguin, where he has formed an all-Polish roster.
At first loaned to Virtus.pro, MICHU was signed permanently by the organisation late in March. Unfortunately, the team’s performance has led many to question as to whether or not TaZ was the problem in the first place.
The Wildcard
Former OpTic Gaming player Kevin “HS” Tarn has teamed up with Ricardo “fox” Pacheco (a currently inactive member of Team Kinguin,) aiming to put together an international roster. The duo are set to be joined by Christian “loWe” Antoran, fox’s former teammate from Team Dignitas. Pawel “innocent” Mocek will also be bulking up the squad, though there’s no word on a fifth at this moment.