Led by coach Aleksandar “kassad” Trifunovi?, the new international Counter-Strike 2 line-up is now finalised and ready for the 2024 season.
BLEED Esports announced its first foray in Counter-Strike in late November 2023 with the addition of Serbian coach kassad, and has, over the next month, slowly started assembling the new roster.
First came the signing of ex-BIG rifler Josef “faveN” Baumann, preceding the addition of Hampus “hampus” Poser, Tsvetelin “CeRq” Dimitrov, and Lauren?iu “lauNX” ?arlea.
With time running out for BLEED Esports to find the fifth member ahead of the PGL Major Copenhagen 2024 Major qualifiers, the Singaporean team didn’t need long to round up the five-man line-up.
CYPHER arrives at BLEED from TSM, whom he joined at the end of August but hasn’t accomplished much outside of winning ESEA Cash Cup: Europe – Autumn 2023 #3 and finishing ESEA Season 47: Advanced Division �C Europe in third place.
The final piece!
Please welcome @cyphercsgo_ to BLEED CS2#GOBLEED
pic.twitter.com/g4YROGkeAd
— BLEED Esports (@ggBleed) January 3, 2024
Before signing for TSM, CYPHER played for Into the Breach, which he helped reach the quarterfinals of BLAST.tv Paris Major 2023.
He has not found much success in bigger events, despite being one of the most consistent performers on the team.
As confirmed by kassad, BLEED initially intended to acquire Ninjas in Pyjamas’ Max “maxster” Jansson.
Unfortunately, the deal fell apart after PGL failed to confirm whether maxster, who is registered as NiP’s substitute, would be able to participate in the European open qualifiers for PGL Major Copenhagen.
BLEED’s approach for Justin “jks” Savage was also unsuccessful.
But despite all the hoops kassad had to jump through to assemble the new Counter-Strike roster, BLEED Esports now fields a promising lineup, which will debut in the upcoming European open qualifiers for PGL Major Copenhagen, set to kick off on January 8, 2024.
BLEED Esports Roster
- Hampus “hampus” Poser
- Tsvetelin “CeRq” Dimitrov
- Josef “faveN” Baumann
- Lauren?iu “lauNX” ?arlea
- Cai “CYPHER” Watson
- Coach: Aleksandar “kassad” Trifunovi?
We are pleased to welcome a familiar face back to the dojo. Welcome back, @es3tag
We have decided to move @hampuscsgo to the bench. We would like to thank him for his efforts on the team and wish him all the best. #GONINJAS pic.twitter.com/TipUfZXHho
— NIP CS (@NIPCS) October 24, 2023
This move follows a period of inconsistent performance and leadership struggles for the team.
The decision to replace hampus with es3tag comes after the appointment of General Manager Bj?rn “THREAT” Pers, who identified leadership as a key issue within the squad.
NiP has faced challenges ever since Nicolai “device” Reedtz left the team late in 2021 when they were at the peak of their performance.
The Swedish organization has undergone several roster changes since then, with fleeting success, including a brief period in mid-2022 when they reached fourth place in the global rankings.
In-game leadership has been a persistent problem, with Aleksi “Aleksib” Virolainen attempting the role from late 2022 to mid-2023 without significant success, and hampus taking on leadership responsibilities since his exit.
Hampus had previously expressed his willingness to serve as the in-game leader when he returned in July, but he did not explicitly state his desire for the position.
THREAT emphasized the team’s need for stronger leadership in an interview conducted by NiP after assuming the role of General Manager.
This roster change is NiP’s second in recent time and follows the departure of Finnish IGL Aleksib after the BLAST Paris Major in May, during which hampus took over as the team’s captain.
Unfortunately, this change did not yield improved results, as NiP struggled at IEM Cologne in July and failed to qualify for the playoffs in ESL Pro League Season 18 in September.
Notably, the team has not yet competed in CS2.
It remains unclear whether NiP will appoint es3tag as the new captain for CS2 or if they will make further adjustments to the roster to secure a new in-game leader.
NiP’s Swedish-Danish line-up is scheduled to make their CS2 debut on October 26 against long-standing rivals Fnatic at the Roobet Cup 2023.
The organization hopes that these changes will help them regain their competitive edge in the Counter-Strike scene.
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