As every Tuesday evening, you can expect the latest player transfers from the world of esports. This week things are hot in CS:GO.
A CS:GO veteran retires for the time being and there are even more roster changes in the popular shooter. Further down the Dota 2 scene is getting a little more lively.
CS:GO
FaZe Clan
The legendary Olof "olofmeister" Kajbjer announced his intention to retire for the time being.
A statement from @olofmeister. #FaZeUp pic.twitter.com/WnRnxCPk9p
— FaZe Clan (@FaZeClan) May 23, 2020
On Twitter, he posted a statement in which he explains that he has been struggling with motivation problems for quite some time. The player and FaZe came to the conclusion that it would be best if he took some time off to recover and think about his future. We know what you might be thinking: "That's the next one to go to Valorant!". Fear not, Olofmeister assured his fans that he still loves CS:GO and its scene.
It has been speculated for a long time if olofmeister might even be kicked by FaZe, because his performance has been declining significantly lately. He probably got ahead of it now by resigning himself. He will be replaced by 16-year-old Aurimas "Bymas" Pipiras, who will play as a stand-in for the time being.
Today we begin the DreamHack Masters Group Stage. We will be playing with Aurimas "Bymas" Pipiras as our stand-in. Tune in at 5:30 PM CET to watch our first match vs GODSENT! https://t.co/7R2IcipFFA
— #FaZeUp (@FaZeUpdate) May 25, 2020
The fact that FaZe is looking for such a young, unknown player as a stand-in instead of a well-known veteran suggests that they may be planning to sign in Bymas if he does well.
- READ MORE: Olofmeister leaves, FaZe Clan going young
Ninjas in Pyjamas
Hamous "hampus" Poser will be the new in-game leader and Jonas "Lekr0" Olofsson will sit on the bench.
Today we can announce Hampus @hampuscsgo Poser as our newest CS:GO recruit who will be joining Ninjas in Pyjamas towards the end of the month. Hampus joins the active roster as we move Jonas @Lekr0 Olofsson to the bench.Read more at https://t.co/Q01obzEZIF#GONINJAS #CSGO pic.twitter.com/l5Hu86jHmk
— Ninjas in Pyjamas (@NIPGaming) May 19, 2020
Lekr0, who has been with NiP since 2018, was known as the Fragging IGL, but could not bring any trophies to the team, so NiP decided they needed a more conventional IGL. The question is whether hampus can fill the role better, as he is known for not being loyal to any team for more than a few months. We are definitely excited and wish him all the best.
- READ MORE: Ninjas in Pyjamas add hampus as IGL
Made in Brazil
Mibr put Ignacio "meyern" Meyer on the bench and get Alencar "trk" Rossato.
Bem-vindo a familia MIBR @trkcsgo!Ja estreia com o manto sagrado amanha!Welcome to the MIBR family @trkcsgo!Big week for his debut!#SomosMIBR pic.twitter.com/TT9bmHguLo
— MIBR (@mibr) May 19, 2020
Mibr's roster has always been quite unstable outside the solid core of FalleN, fer and TACO. kNgV has now established himself as the fourth man, let's see if trk can do the same. With this change mibr now has a pure brazilian roster again. At the moment mibr plays in the DreamHack Master Spring NA and has finished the group phase on the third place.
- READ MORE: Made in Brazil confirm rumors by signing trk
RED Canids
The Brazilian organization separates from Lincoln "fnx" Lau and Renato "nak" Nakano.
Hoje nos despedimos dessa grande lenda do CSGO. Foram muitos clutchs, headshots e forget exploded. Obrigado por esse tempo com a gente!Boa sorte no seu futuro, @linfnx! #GoRED pic.twitter.com/21rCqAwUVq
— RED Canids Kalunga (@REDCanids) May 20, 2020
O capitao da Matilha se despede dos lobos hoje.Obrigado por tudo, @nakCSGO! Que o seu futuro seja brilhante igual foi com a gente #GoRED pic.twitter.com/RyhisSlkUq
— RED Canids Kalunga (@REDCanids) May 25, 2020
Two-time Major winner fnx leaves the team after nine months in which they recently finished CLUTCH Season 2 in second place. However, their result in the ESL One: Road to Rio - South America was more than disappointing - they lost every single match. With the departure of two relatively old players (30 and 32 years old) RED Canids will probably try to fill the team with younger talents. So far nothing is known about the future plans of fnx and nak.
Salamander
Áron "Aaron" Homoki is put on the bench and replaced by coach Viktor "flashie" Tamás Bea.
Today we announce that we move @csgoAaron to the bench. We have a lot of great memories with him! Transitionally @flashiecsgo will play instead of Aaron.We wish him good luck in the future! #GOSALA #CSGO pic.twitter.com/KKU6r2c2dv
— Salamander (@Salamander_GG) May 24, 2020
The Hungarian organisation has only been active in CS:GO since 2019. Aaron has been in the game from the beginning, but recently he has had a significant drop in performance. After he failed to learn from his mistakes, the decision to replace him came as no surprise.
Chiefs
The Australian organization completes its roster with Charlie "zeph" Dodd, Jay "soju_j" Jeong and Declan "Vexite" Portelli.
Some new Chiefs have arrived Our CSGO roster is complete and it's time to get to work #WeAreChiefs @zephcs @soju_j1 @vexite_ >> https://t.co/xa7zQrWIvK pic.twitter.com/Djspl2BPq1
— The Chiefs (@ChiefsESC) May 22, 2020
Since Vexite is only 15 years old and some tournaments have age restrictions, the Chiefs will probably be forced to play with stand-ins. We are curious how the new team will perform.
GODSENT
Asger "Farlig" Jensen replaces Mikail "Maikelele" Bill, who is now sitting on the bench.
This new GODSENT player is pretty dangerous.Welcome @farligcs Read more: https://t.co/2d0XoiHzhC#GODMODE #CSGO pic.twitter.com/9UINGAH8OU
— GODSENT (@GODSENT) May 22, 2020
The 21-year-old AWPer Farlig last played for the Copenhagen Flames, where he had a very good run in ESL One: Road to Rio. Maikelele announced that he was not very happy about the decision, as his performance had deteriorated but he did not expect to be replaced so quickly.
I learned about this 00.00 CEST thursday and apparently it took 3 hours for everything to happen until they told me I was benched and that they have found a replacement. 3 hours to take away a team that I created and worked extremly hard for since November 2018
Virtus.pro
Timur "buster" Tulepov takes a break and is replaced by Marek "YEKINDAR" Galinskis.
We have some CHANGES in our CS:GO-roster @vpbuster takes a short break from the game and will come back soon@yek1ndar joins our team being transferred from PRO100Alexey "Flatra" Zlobich joins as a second coachMaxim "MaAd' Goncharov joins as analytical psychologist pic.twitter.com/saauHlffR6
— Virtus.pro (@virtuspro) May 23, 2020
In addition to the change of players, it was also announced that Maxim "MaAd" Goncharov will start as the new psychologist and Aleksey "Flatra" Zlobich as the second coach. Since buster will only take a short break, it remains to be seen who he will replace when he returns. Rumors suggest that both Sanjar "SANJI" Kuliev and Dauren "AdreN" Kystaubayev are possible candidates.
Gage "Infinite" Green
Infinite, who has been without a team since April of this year, announced on Twitter that he would end his CS:GO career and switch to Valorant.
Moving On.Read: https://t.co/cWyF4Gp5FS
— Gage Green (@Infinite1csgo) May 19, 2020
Like many players before him, Infinite is dissatisfied with the current state of the CS:GO scene in North America, which makes it impossible for him to make a living from it. With his move to Valorant, he hopes to find an organization and change that. In any case we wish him good luck.
Dota 2
Natus Vincere
The former Team Unique Support Vitaly "so bad" Oshmankevich switches to Natus Vincere and will be on a trial there.
Announcement! Changes in our Dota 2 roster. : https://t.co/gwYqqgzFAh#dota2 #navination pic.twitter.com/n2mTtdD5zv
— NAVI (@natusvincere) May 22, 2020
So bad will replace Semion "CemaTheSlayer" Krivulya, who recently left the team. Although CemaTheSlayer was able to secure a second-place with NaVi at Gamers Without Borders, he left the team shortly afterwards due to communication problems. He said they were going to try out new rosters and strategies in the near future, which is why they wanted to give So bad a chance to prove himself.
business associates
Jimmy "DeMoN" Ho resigns as coach of the business associates and is now aiming to become a caster.
Need caster?
— Jimmy (@DotaDeMoN) May 20, 2020
Not anymore. Took a step back from it
— Jimmy (@DotaDeMoN) May 20, 2020
The former TNC Predator player and former coach asked on a tweet from BLASTDota if they were still looking for casters. Shortly after he revealed that he's no longer the coach for business associates. We will see what the future brings for DeMoN, but in our opinion, it shouldn't be too difficult for the experienced Dota veteran to find a new job.
Alliance
Gambit Esport's Captain Artsiom "fng" Barshak has been playing as a stand-in for quite some time and is now officially loaned to the Swedes for two months.
Give a warm welcome to @Fnggshka!The @GambitEsports captain will help us out for the duration of #Dota2Pushka League!You can catch our debut in the league tonight in the last series of the day estimated to start 19:00 CEST!#LongLiveAlliance #Dota2 pic.twitter.com/rrkG4AyNJY
— Alliance (@theAllianceGG) April 24, 2020
Fng will play his normal hard support role, whether he will also replace Gustav "s4" Magnusson as in-game leader is still unclear. He is still one of the most successful captains in the CIS region and is now playing outside for the first time. We are curious how he will perform with Alliance and wish him all the best.
So much for the weekly esports player transfers. If you missed the last ones, you can catch them up here. For more news and videos, make sure to check out EarlyGame.