Weekly CS:GO Esport Recap | October 12th, 2020
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IEM New York’s European leg has come and gone, and a sleeping giant seems to have awoken from its slumber. After a group stage that saw Complexity, G2, BIG and Heroic eliminated, FaZe Clan plowed their way through the knockout stage, sweeping Vitality and OG on their way to the first title since Blast Pro Series Copenhagen nearly a year ago.
The addition of Markus “Kjaerbye” Kjaerbye, along with the resurgence in Nikola “NiKo” Kovac’s form have brought the team back to the top-tier of European competition. With Dreamhack Open Fall 2020 starting this weekend, will FaZe use their newfound momentum to their advantage to get some much-needed RMR points? We’ll find out in time.
In sadder news, 100 Thieves have announced that they are exiting CS:GO due to the effects of the coronavirus pandemic and the weakened state it left North American Counter-Strike in. 100 Thieves CEO Matthew “Nadeshot” Haag also cited visa issues and the inability to ensure a functioning infrastructure for the Australian-Norwegian roster in Europe as reasons for the organization leaving the game, and noted that if the circumstances change, a return isn’t out of the question.
It remains to be seen what happens with the current roster, since rumor has it that Complexity was trying to acquire Justin “jks” Savage as a replacement for Owen “oBo” Schlattery who left the team due to the inability to come back home to the US while self-isolating in Europe.
Finally, in other news, Vitality has joined the 6-man roster train by acquiring Nabil “Nivera” Benriltom from Heretics to become their 6th man. If the name sounds familiar, that’s because the Belgian is the younger brother of the legendary one-tap artist Adil “ScreaM” Benriltom. In Finland, HAVU and ENCE have temporarily swapped Elias “Jamppi” Olkkonen with Sami “xseveN” Lassanen on a loan basis. This is due to the fact that Jamppi can’t participate in Valve sanctioned events like DH Open Fall due to a VAC Ban an account connected to him received back when he was 14. The ban itself is the subject of a lawsuit filed against Valve by the Fin, which we’ll keep you updated about.
Moving westward, NIP have announced that Tim “nawwk” Jonasson is back after missing nearly a month of action due to medical reasons. Even further west, Dignitas have signed Norwegian Haris “H4RR3” Hadzic to fill out their roster.
That’s all for another eventful week of CS:GO action! This week is RMR week, with IEM New York NA and CIS offering RMR points up for grabs and Dreamhack Open Fall 2020 doing the same in the EU. Who’ll emerge likely to qualify for the next Major (still no updates on when that is going to happen)? We’ll see!
