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KASSAD about Rostermania: Winners & Losers

Articles
Jan 23
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Winners

Liquid

Back in November, I wrote about how it was time for Liquid to move on from YEKINDAR, and now that moment has finally arrived. Bringing in the Israeli star Guy “NertZ” Iluz from Heroic is a serious upgrade in terms of firepower. This season, NertZ was on the verge of a top 20 finish, boasting an impressive 1.14 average rating compared to YEKINDAR’s 1.02.

Over the past two years, NertZ has been playing at a phenomenal level, with his #14 spot in the 2023 top 20 as proof of that. His natural aggression and ability to rack up multi-kills make him a game-changer.

However, the big question now is how Torbjørn “MithR” Nyborg will fit the pieces together on the T-side. That’s been Liquid’s primary weakness for a while now, and without a traditional entry fragger, it could remain an issue. Then again, in modern Counter-Strike, every player needs to be ready to take on the entry role when the situation demands it; it’s all about adapting to the flow of the round.

Liquid

On the CT side, NertZ only has two role clashes with Twistzz: Mid on Ancient and Yard on Nuke. With YEKINDAR’s departure leaving the cave position on Ancient open, and given that many in-game leaders tend to take that role, it is possible Twistzz could fill that spot. However, this is still uncertain. When it comes to Nuke, it is hard to say anything definitive, and for now, any guesses would be purely speculative.

It’s obvious that Liquid made a solid upgrade, and I truly believe they’ll see much better results, and more consistently.

Faze

FaZe took a big hit with the departure of ropz, who had been a fixture in the top 20 for seven straight seasons. While his form dipped in the second half of the year, losing a player of his caliber was still a blow. To fill the gap, they brought in Jonathan “EliGE” Jablonowski from Complexity. Once again, we’re seeing one of North America’s best players leaving his home region for Europe, where he’ll be surrounded by stronger teammates, face tougher competition, and have better chances to win the game’s most prestigious tournaments.

Faze

This year, EliGE made his way back into the top 20 rankings, landing at #19 after a two-year absence. Considering his stats and the consistency he displayed throughout the year, despite playing on a team that lacked firepower and didn’t get to compete in as many top-tier tournaments as they would’ve liked, it’s clear EliGE still has plenty of potential to climb even higher next season.

Signing EliGE solves several issues for FaZe, especially on the T-side. The previous roster with ropz often struggled with role clashes, but the lineup seems more balanced now. On the T side, EliGE is expected to retain most of the positions he played in Complexity, while frozen will likely take over the roles ropz used to play, ones that suit him naturally. Meanwhile, rain’s versatility means that he will probably adapt to any necessary adjustments. With EliGE’s aggressive playstyle added to the mix, FaZe’s T-side looks well-rounded and much more dynamic.

The real challenge, though, will be on the CT-side. Losing ropz means they no longer have a dedicated hard anchor, and there are still questions about how positions will be distributed. At this stage, it’s hard to speculate, but much will depend on how coach NEO and karrigan decide to shape the lineup. The most likely scenario is that frozen will step into the anchor role, while rain and EliGE share the star roles, with a greater emphasis placed on EliGE.

Falcons

When it comes to Falcons, they’re easily one of the winners of this roster shuffle, mainly because they’ve signed Nikola “NiKo” Kovač, who alone brings more weight to the team than any past roster iteration.

But to be honest, Falcons have sort of been on the losing end in every past roster shuffle, as they never seem to settle on a lineup they truly want. This time is no different, especially after all the speculation around bringing in m0NESY and Jimpphat, which ultimately didn’t happen.

In addition to NiKo, they’ve brought in a strong core from Heroic, including kyxsan, TeSeS, and degster, which has helped them secure 8th place in the Valve Global Rankings. This should earn them invites to some of the biggest tournaments. Damjan ”kyxsan” Stoilkovski, in particular, is a young and flexible IGL who, unlike the typical IGLs, can often deliver high frag numbers and really make an impact in games.

Falcons

That said, there’s a bit of a role clash with NiKo on the T-side on pretty much every map, except for Inferno. So, it’ll be interesting to see how zonic adjusts the roles for Magisk and TeSeS on T-side to make sure NiKo stays in his comfort zone. (The only map where kyxsan clashes with NiKo on T-side is Dust2.)

On the CT-side, things are a bit easier, since there are two maps, Inferno and Nuke, where NiKo doesn’t have any positional clashes. My guess is that TeSeS will be moved around the most from his current positions, both on the CT and T-side.

Vitality

As for Vitality, ropz joined the team after his contract with FaZe ended, stepping in for Spinx, who wanted to explore other options due to dissatisfaction. ropz is a top-tier player, but in the second half of the year, he seemed to go through a bit of a “slump.” That said, it wasn’t as severe as it may have seemed, mainly because we’re so accustomed to his amazing performances. Even with that slump, he still managed to finish in the top 20, ending up in 18th place, marking his seventh consecutive appearance in the top 20.

Vitality

In terms of positions, on the T-side, there are some overlaps with mezii on three maps: Mirage, Anubis, and Ancient. I believe mezii will be moving to new positions, while ropz will be left to do what he does best in his preferred spots, where he’s undoubtedly among the best.

On the CT-side, things are a little more complicated. His positions overlap with flameZ and mezii, except on Mirage, where apEX takes his spot. So, it’ll be interesting to see what the coach, along with apEX, decides to do with positioning.

Virtus.Pro

Virtus.Pro has made three major roster changes, parting ways with n0rb3r7, Jame, and coach Xoma. I’d call this move a step in the right direction, mainly because it puts an end to Jame’s overly passive philosophy and rigid style. It’s the perfect time for Virtus.pro to hit the reset button and embrace a fresh approach.

The team has brought in Timur “FL4MUS” Marev from GamerLegion and sniper Kaisar “ICY” Faiznurov from Cloud9. I recently highlighted both FL4MUS and ICY in an article about the top five young players from the RMR. Timur stood out to me as a hyper-aggressive player with lots of strengths, and he’s been recruited to create space on the T-side. As for Kaisar, the big question is whether he can address the issues I’ve previously mentioned about his game.

Virtus.Pro

Another major question is electroNic‘s ability, as he’s had plenty of opportunities and resources after leaving Na’Vi to create a solid roster, but each time, he’s come up short.

Losers

Heroic

Heroic has undergone a complete roster overhaul after selling their core trio of kyxsan, degster, and TeSeS to Falcons, NertZ to Liquid, and finally releasing sjuush to explore his options on the market. They brought in the trio of LNZ, xfl0ud, and yxngstxr from Sangal to maintain a decent Valve Global Ranking, while maden and SunPayus were acquired as a package deal from Falcons. Additionally, they signed Andrey “tN1R” Tatarinovich from GUN5 and Linus ”nilo” Bergman from Metizport.

Currently, they have seven players on their roster, and we’re yet to see what Eetu “sAw” Saha plans to do with this lineup. They’re entering the new year with a long-term plan, focused on slowly rebuilding the team. It’s clear they’re not in a rush for immediate success but are taking a more gradual approach to raising the team’s level. In the next few months, we’ll likely see if any roster changes are needed or if things will come together and exceed expectations. But even with that, I’m pretty confident that this lineup won’t be able to match the success they had in the past.

From a financial and business perspective, this move seems solid, with rumored earnings being astronomical for the esports scene. However, the trade-off has been a significant drop in roster quality, and it’s evident that Heroic is no longer aiming for dominance at the top tier of global Counter-Strike.

MOUZ

As for MOUZ, I see them as losers because they haven’t made any significant changes. Throughout 2024, they didn’t achieve anything noteworthy, and it wasn’t until the Shanghai Major that they managed to put together a decent run. However, they were completely demolished by Spirit in the semifinals, especially on the second and third map.

MOUZ

On paper, their roster looks solid and strong, but it’s clear something isn’t clicking. They have a young team with a lot of potential, but the big question is whether MOUZ has the luxury of time, hoping everything will eventually fall into place, and they’ll start playing the way people expect of them. A big win for them is securing Jimi “Jimpphat” Salo’s contract extension, as he’s one of the best players in the world in his roles.

G2

G2 is undoubtedly one of the biggest losers in this roster shuffle, mainly because they lost Nikola “NiKo” Kovač, a world-class rifler who is almost impossible to replace. MalbsMd has stepped into NiKo’s roles, while the team brought in Israeli player Nikita “HeavyGod” Martynenko from Cloud9 to cover the positions previously held by the Guatemalan rifler.

G2

While Nikita has made notable progress over the past two years, climbing the ranks from Endpoint to OG and then to Cloud9, comparing him to NiKo feels completely sacrilegious. This year, Nikita has delivered strong performances, maintaining a 1.15 rating with a 1.15 impact and shining during his time with both OG and C9.

A drop in G2’s performance is to be expected, and the real question now is how the Polish duo of Wiktor “TaZ” Wojtas and Janusz “Snax” Pogorzelski will manage to soften the blow of losing NiKo and help G2 find their footing without one of their most iconic players.

We can also turn our attention to m0NESY, who was linked with a potential move to Falcons alongside NiKo. He starts the new year as the second-best player in the world, and now we’ll see how much NiKo’s presence influenced his performance and the team’s overall success.

Complexity

Complexity has definitely come out on the losing side of this roster shuffle, mainly because they lost their star player, EliGE, who’s now with FaZe. Along with him, floppy has been benched after the Major. To replace them, Complexity has decided to bring in two American players, sticking with their NA roots. The new faces are Danny “cxzi” Strzelczyk and Nick “nicx” Lee.

Complexity

Of the two, cxzi is the more familiar name. He’s been around for a while and has an S-tier tournament appearance under his belt, playing at ESL Pro League 2020 with Gen.G. Since then, though, he’s mostly stuck to B-tier events.

As for the other player, there isn’t much information. He doesn’t have much experience and has only played a few NA tournaments, like Fragadelphia. Recently, he trialed with Nouns, but ultimately accepted an offer from Complexity.

It’s tough to say how these two will perform, given that this is their first season at a higher tier. I wouldn’t be surprised if they face challenges adjusting to this level.

SAW

With the departure of ewjerkz and arrozdoce, SAW is trying to rebuild by bringing in Ag1l and Shr. Considering that they’ve lost their two strongest individual players, it’s safe to say we won’t see the same level of performance anytime soon. They’re definitely one of the losers in this roster shuffle. SAW is limited to local players, and while they speak Portuguese, we’ve seen them work with foreign coaches who didn’t speak the language.

SAW

Both new players come from a lower tier and are making a big leap by joining the most successful Portuguese organization. While they might have solid individual skill and raw aim, just like the previous star riflers, there’s still some skepticism about whether they can fill the void left by ewjerkz and arrozdoce. MUTiRiS was the driving force behind SAW’s success, so whether he and the new acquisitions can find the right chemistry will be crucial in determining if they can regain their former form.

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