Esports Player Transfers 2021 – Week 4/5: New Teams in CS:GO and Dota 2

Fa Ze Twistzz
Twistzz has found a new home. (Credit: FaZe Clan via Twitter)

As usual, we will bring you the latest player transfers from the world of Esports every two weeks in 2021. After it was relatively quiet in the Dota scene last year, due to Covid-19, many teams are now coming back.

In CS:GO, whole rosters change teams and the Dota 2 scene continues to get an influx of new teams. The first mixed team from a major organization starts in Valorant, and a CoD legend hangs up the controller.

CS:GI: Old GODSENT Roster Leaves, New Brazilian Project Launches

Cloud9: Woxic Goes, Xeppa Comes

Özgür "woxic" Eker leaves Cloud9, and is replaced by Erick "Xeppa" Bach.

After only three months at Cloud9, Woxic is now looking for a new team again. According to General Manager HenryG, one of the main reasons was Woxic's bad ping, as well as the unfavorable time difference.

He will be replaced by former Chaos player Xeppa in the future.

That Xeppa would go to Cloud9 had been suspected for some time. The signing now allows him to continue pursuing his CS:GO career, while his former teammates Vanity and Leaf try their luck in Valorant.

Ninjas in Pyjamas: Twist on the Bench

Simon “twist” Eliasson has been removed from the active roster and will be replaced by an academy player.

After poor results, and a downward spiral in the team that needed to be interrupted, NiP decided to bench twist. With 17-year-old Erik “ztr” Gustafsson, an academy player moves up to improve the group dynamic again. The first opponent for the new roster is Astralis... A tough debut for the young Swede.

FaZe: Twistzz Replaces Kjaerbye

After Markus "Kjaerbye” Kjærbye was benched, he was replaced by former Team Liquid star Russel "Twistzz” Van Dulken.

Twistzz had announced he was leaving Liquid at the IEM Global Challenge,] right after their loss to Astralis, and had been without a team ever since. Now, he is part of the new FaZe roster, which is currently in transition after NiKo left the team. We are curious to see if the Canadian can continue his old successes at FaZe.

FunPlus Phoenix: GODSENT Roster Taken Over

With Jesse “zehN” Linjala, Pavle “Maden” Bošković, Martin "STYKO" Styk, Asger "Farlig" Jensen and Coach Jonatan "Devilwalk" Lundberg, the Chinese organization takes over the old GODSENT roster.

Temporarily, Chris “chrisJ” de Jong will take over the role of in-game leader, as a player on loan from mousesports.

ChrisJ was recently benched from mousesports to make room for acoR. So, the relaunch of the FunPlus Phoenix CS:GO roster comes at a perfect time for him. The organization announced they want to prove themselves as a top-tier team in 2021.

Mousesports: acoR Is Here

As mentioned just now, Frederik “acoR” Gyldstrand replaces chrisJ, who moved to FPX.

AcoR last played for MAD Lions, and will continue to play the role of AWPer. The organization already announced that they are looking for a replacement for Karrigan, as he does not want to extend his contract. In particular, Renagade's Christopher “dexter” Nong is being discussed.

GODSENT: The Brazil Project

And what does GODSENT do? Right, they finally give a home to the Brazilian project that has been speculated about for months.

The new Brazilian roster is led by Epitacio “TACO” de Melo, and coached by Olavo “chucky” Napoleão. Also joining the team is João "felps" Vasconcellos, and Ricardo "dead" Sinigaglia, two former MIBR players. Dead will take on the role of manager. The remaining players are former Yeah star Eduardo "dumau" Wolkmer, Bruno "b4rtiN" Câmara and Bruno "latto" Rebelatto. All players have signed for at least three years, and we are really excited to see what this experiment has to offer.

Dota 2: Two New Teams Enter The Arena

Tundra Esports: The FIFA Org Starts in Dota

The organization announces its Dota 2 roster with Adrian "Fata" Trinks (captain), Oliver "skiter" Lepko, Leon "Nine" Kirilin, Neta "33" Shapira, Malthe "Biver" Winther and Curtis "Curtis" Coffin (manager).

Tundra Esports previously made a name for themselves primarily in FIFA, but now decided to seek their fortune in Dota 2 as well. Dota 2 has been the focus of the organization for a long time, and now is the right time to get involved. With the team under Fata's leadership, they want to become one of the top teams in Europe.

High Coast Esports: Another Org Takes the Plunge

The Swedish organization takes over the Chicken Fighters roster and thus ventures into the Dota 2 scene.

The team consisting of Charlie “CharlieDota” Arat, Ondrej “Supream ^” Starha, Rasmus "Chessie" Blomdin, Adrian "Era" Kryeziu and Andreas "Xibbe" Regnemalm already qualified for DPC 2021. Originally, the roster was part of NiP, but they parted ways with their Dota roster at the end of 2020. We wish the team luck under the banner of the Swedish organization High Coast Esports.

Evil Geniuses: RAMZES666 Leaves the Team

Roman “RAMZES666” Kushnarav leaves the Dota roster of Evil Geniuses.

RAMZES666 has been a professional Dota player since 2015, and played for Team Spirit, Team Empire and Virtus.pro, among others. He is also the first CIS player, and the fourth player ever to break the magic barrier of 10,000 MMR. Nothing is known about his future plans yet.

League of Legends: Tian Takes Time Off

FunPlus Phoenix: Break for Health Reasons

Gao “Tian” Tian-Liang is taking a break from competitive LoL due to health issues.

The Jungler stated that he has been having motivational problems for quite some time, and he has been feeling sick more and more often due to constant stress. He will therefore take some time off, and seek professional help. During his break, he will be replaced by Zhou “Bo” Yang-Bo.

Valorant: The First Mixed Roster of a Major Organization

Evil Geniuses: 2 Women, Three Men - It's Possible.

With EG Valorant, the organization introduces a mixed roster.

The team consists of Nolan "Temperature" Pepper, Aleksandar "aleksandar" Hinojosa, Ronan "Osias" Javelona, Claudia "Clawdia" Che, and team leader Christine "potter" Chi. The female duo of Clawdia and potter comes from GX3, who made it to the finals in FTW Summer Showdown, where they lost to MAJKL.

Seven-time Counter-Strike World Champion, potter, will take the lead of the EG Valorant roster. Evil Geniuses’ CEO, Nicole LaPointe Jameson, said they watched a large number of players from the beginning, and considered how to create the best possible roster – a mixed roster seemed most promising here.

Call of Duty: A Legend Goes

New York Subliners: ZooMaa Is Calling it Quits

Tommy “ZooMaa” Paparratto announced, just before the start of CDL 2021, that he is ending his professional career.

He cites an injury to his thumb as the reason for his sudden retirement, saying it never healed properly because he never took an extended break. As he could only play in pain due to the injury, and could not reach his full potential, he preferred to step back. However, he also emphasized how difficult the decision was for him, and that his heart is still attached to Call of Duty. He wants to stay loyal to the scene, and is already thinking about how he could do that in the future. Maybe we will see ZooMaa as a coach or content creator in the future, we will see.

FIFA: New Player for SV Wehen

SV Wehen Weisbaden: riedle_gaming Strengthens the Team

Marco “riedle_gaming” Riedle will play for the SV Wehen Wiesbaden Esports team in the future.

The 27-year-old will compete alongside Alexander “bono” Rauch and Sascha "M_ocki” Mockenhaupt in the DFB-ePokal. The player also represents the Esports Friends Gaming organization and, as part of his new contract, will also be a regular on SVWW's Twitch channel, where he streams his FUT Weekend League matches.

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Evan Williams

Australian gamer, musician, and journalist at EarlyGame. Currently living in Germany so no, I don't ride a Kangaroo to work. I am currently hard at work making our CoD and Rocket League pages the best on the internet. Lofty ambitions,...