The roster lock for the FACEIT CS:GO Major in London has been extended to August 5th. This extension lines up with the start of the player break for this Summer. Also, players that attended Minors but didn’t make it through are eligible to play at the FACEIT London Major. This is a big change from previous majors, where players that hadn’t qualified for the Major could not participate.
FACEIT Major roster lock update 📢
The roster lock date for the FACEIT Major is August 5th! 🔒
Will we see any last-minute roster changes? pic.twitter.com/7plsJ6OMbG
— FACEIT (@FACEIT) July 25, 2018
Many teams are set for their lineups, but there are still some who are looking for members. Major organizations like Virtus.Pro, Danish team North and NA mainstays Cloud9 have their lineups in flux. For example, the 2018 ELEAGUE Premier saw Cloud9 field a team with two stand-ins, Maikil “Golden” Selim and Martin “STYKO” Styk. Although the team had some flashes of greatness, they were far from the team that won the ELEAGUE Major in Boston this past January. They may look to replace one of their stand-ins in an attempt to find success.
After losing their star Janusz “Snax” Pogorzelski, Virtus.Pro was also left in shambles. They haven’t been able to find any success with their current stand-in Piotr “morelz” Taterka. Virtus will also want some help for their CS:GO team this coming Major. Although Danish organization North won the 2018 Dreamhack Open in Valencia, their stand-in Oscar “mixwell” Cañellas is now on new Spanish wonder team Movistar Riders. They too will want to pick up a top-tier talent in the coming two weeks.
Let us look at some of the free agents available, going into the August 5th roster lock date.
Pujan “FNS” Mehta
Cloud9 announces @FNS to inactive CSGO roster.
Details: https://t.co/Ke4fKUHYO9 pic.twitter.com/1RHfZ2YM0q— Cloud9 (@Cloud9) May 26, 2018
Will FNS ever find a chance to prove himself on a top-tier team? His short stint with Cloud9 would end in only two months after placing sixth at DreamHack Masters Marseille and exiting IEM Sydney and the ESL Pro League Season Seven Finals in the group stages. Cloud9 would state that it “became clear that the strategic visions [they] had were not as compatible” with Mehta’s. They would also cite that the “differences in philosophies proved to be too great to form the cohesion [they] needed”. Hopefully, FNS finds a place to show his skills soon and gets a place to grow as a player. However, it is unlikely that he will be picked up by any teams at this stage.
Nathan “NBK” Schmitt and Dan “apEX” Madesclaire
The French duo from G2 Esports would be a great addition to a team looking to make an impact in the next Major. G2 would bench both NBK and apEX for the return of Richard “shox” Papillon and Edouard “SmithZz” Dubourdeaux, who had recently stepped down from his role as G2 coach to play CS:GO competitively again. Their benching stems from poor team performances at DreamHack Masters Marseille and IEM Sydney, with NBK as the in-game leader.
However, the two players could definitely find their form again on a new team, in a new environment. As a two time Major winner, NBK has stated that he is “in need of fresh air” after spending eight years with French teams. A destination for him and apEX could be Cloud9, as we are not sure if they will commit to Golden and STYKO, especially with how they performed at the 2018 ELEAGUE Premier.
NBK and apEX could work well with Tyler “Skadoodle” Latham, Timothy “autimatic” Ta and Will “RUSH” Wierzba, and provide the French duo a clean slate to prove themselves again to the world.
Jorgen “cromen” Robertsen
Cromen is one of the most intriguing free agents, by far. His appearance and rise to fame with FaZe Clan were unexpected but amazing nonetheless. He would help FaZe Clan capture the 2018 ESL One: Belo Horizonte championship, and would also have great performances at ESL One Cologne. He has truly proven himself as a great talent, but with the return of Olof “olofmeister” Kajbjer, that would mean his run with FaZe would come to an end.
I do think that he would be a hot commodity for any teams looking for a highly talented Counter Strike player. He has shown that he is ready for the big stage, and provides the flashy plays to prove it:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wOr9vXf-1Ac
It would be nice to see Cromen on a top-tier team like Cloud9 or North to show off his individual skill once again, and maybe even find a permanent home in the future. He surely deserves it.
What do you think of the free agents available ahead of the next Major? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below! If you want more CS:GO content, check us out here!
Trending
