François “AMANEK” Delaunay has been placed on the sideline on LDLC after less than one year since his arrivial, the organization informs on Twitter.

The reason for the benching of the 29-year-old rifler hasn’t been disclosed yet, however, the French team has stated the following.

- From this day on, Amanek will hold the replacement role within our CS:GO roster. At LDLC OL, we have always prioritized the well-being of our talents, but sometimes, there is no solution other than to make this kind of decision, even against our will, LDLC notes on Twitter.

AMANEK is most known for his lengthy tenure on G2, where he between2019-2022 attended several top-tier tournaments alongside famous teammates such as Nikola “NiKo” Kovac, Kenny “kennyS” Schrub and Nemanja “nexa” Isakovic.

He departed G2 in July last year to join his former team LDLC, which the Frenchmen now seem to leave once again.  

{cflag:FR} Aurélien "⁠afro⁠" Drapier 

{cflag:FR} Filip "⁠Graviti⁠" Brankovic 

{cflag:FR} Arthur "⁠Snobling⁠" Benard 

{cflag:FR} François "⁠AMANEK⁠" Delaunay (benched)

AmaNEk

LDLC

The French CS:GO scene has had many great names throughout the years, from "shox" to "ZywOo". A name that has perhaps been forgotten in recent times is François "AMANEK" Delaunay. The 28-year-old has been in the Counter-Strike scene for seemingly always and has been stable in the previous G2 roster. After being benched for over seven months at the G2 organization, the experienced Frenchman has finally found himself a new place to call home, as he is set to join forces with LDLC for the upcoming future. 

Whilst it will be sad to see "AMANEK" part ways with G2 after three years under the banner, it seems as if it was only a matter of time before a new roster saw the experienced rifler fitting and reached out. "AMANEK", despite moving away from G2, will be rejoining the LDLC organization where he played before being signed by G2 back in 2019. 

Whilst it has been said that the LDLC roster still isn't finalized, with young players such as "Snobling" and "Razzmo" currently said to be on trial at the organization, the current active LDLC line-up looks as follows: 

{cflag:FR} Eythan "unshaark" Solomon (substitute) 

G2 Esports

A major transfer in French CS:GO could be on the rise with Falcons looking to sign the experienced duo of François "AMANEK" Delaunay and Nathan "NBK" Schmitt. It’s the French outlet [link:{"url":"https://www.1pv.fr/news/140850-falcons-in-talks-with-amanek-amp-nbk","isNewTab":true,"text":"1pv.fr"}] who has the story, claiming to have sources telling them that Falcons have put their sights on the former G2 players.

The two players getting replaced will reportedly be Jordan "Python" Munck-Foehrle and the ex-Vitality member Jayson "Kyojin" Nguyen Van.

For AMANEK and NBK’s perspective, there hasn’t been much competitive CS:GO action in 2022 with both players being on the sideline for the majority of the year – AMANEK on G2 following Ilya “m0NESY” Osipov’s arrival, and NBK on MOUZ due to a demotion to make room for Jon “JDC” de Castro.

NBK only managed to play 25 maps over a two-month period for MOUZ before getting axed.

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{cflag:FR} Steeve "Ozstrik3r" Flavigni (Coach)

NBK-

MOUZ

After a minor break after IEM Katowice, there are again tier 1 Counter-Strike on the menu.

ESL Pro League Season 15 starts today with three matches in Group A. G2 are the big favorites in the group, but shortly before the tournament in-game leader Aleksi "Aleksib" Virolainen tested positive for Covid-19 and has been replaced with François "AMANEK" Delaunay in the starting lineup.

G2 will kick off the tournament with a match against the Australians from Looking For Org.

Aleksib

The star-studded G2 side is set to do without their Finnish in-game leader and captain, Aleksi “Aleksib” Virolainen for their initial matches at the upcoming ESL Pro League Season 15.

A positive COVID result has made it impossible for Aleksib to travel to Düsseldorf, which is where the $823.000 LAN is going to be played. G2 has informed that François “AMANEK” Delaunay will replace the former OG player until he gets a negative COVID test.

With AMANEK back on the roster, G2 will kick off their Pro League campaign tomorrow against the Aussies from LookingForOrg. In the following days, they'll square up against the likes of Fnatic, MOUZ, and NIP.

G2 is set to field the following roster at EPL.

{cflag:BA} Nemanja "⁠huNter-⁠" Kovač

{cflag:FR} François "⁠AMANEK⁠" Delaunay

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Watch today's Pley of the Day right here.

If you had the chance to change anything you wanted in CS:GO, what would it be?

In this mini-series, we asked the professional CS:GO players, what they would like to change if they were the big boss of Valve. In the fourth and last episode, you can hear from the French trio of François "AmaNEk" Delaunay, Richard "shox" Papillon, and Dan "apEX" Madesclaire, who among other things shares their thoughts on how the Major should be structured.

This was the last episode of the mini-series. You can see the other three episodes in the links below.

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apEX

shox

Team Vitality

Silly season is getting closer, as the tournament calendar for 2021 is coming to an end.

One of the teams in the pool of rumors is G2, who are both linked with the Russian prodigy Ilya "m0NESY" Osipov and Estonian Robin "ropz" Kool. 

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So what is it like to be on the current G2 roster, while all these rumors are flying around? We asked François "AmaNEk" Delaunay.

- The owner is Carlos, and he saying a lot of stuff on Twitter. But it is competition. There are transfers with new people coming in and people going out. We are living day by day, and we are giving everything we can to make it work, and that is the way it is.

It is still unknown, who will leave G2, if any of the rumors are true, but if it is François "AmaNEk" Delaunay, who gets cut, the Frenchman is definitely not giving up on his CS:GO career.

- I respect this organization, and I would like to represent them in every event I play. But I love CS. I am playing for G2 Esports right now, but I can play for a team like LDLC or Double Poney. It is still Counter-Strike, and you play competitive matches and it is competition. You are here to learn and learn match by match and that is how it is. 

You can see the full interview with the 28-year-old G2 player, who also talks about his role as an AWP'er on the team.

Ilya "m0NESY" Osipov is without a doubt one of the most hyped young players on the CS:GO scene. Today the 16-year-old wonderkid confirmed, that he would be leaving the NAVI academy team and that teased for some upcoming news about his next step in 2022.

One of the rumours about the young AWP player has put him in connection with G2, who has used François "AmaNEk" Delaunay as their main sniper since the benching of Kenny "kennyS" Schrub. At Wednesday's press conference before the Semi-Finals at IEM Winter, Nikola "NiKo" Kovač gave his thoughts on Ilya "m0NESY" Osipov, and what kind of future the young Russian has in store.

- He has the potential and experience to become one of the best players ever. His stats are similar to what ZywOo had before he joined Vitality.

You can see the full answer that NiKo gave about m0NESY in the video below. 

Do you think, he will join G2? Leave your answer in our new comment section below.

m0NESY

NiKo

kennyS

Natus Vincere Junior

The second Group A upper semi-final saw G2 take on the only North American team in Team Liquid.

Vertigo was the first map to be played, chosen by Liquid. A map that neither of the teams had played in an official match in over a month.

The first half started out very evenly with the teams trading a couple of rounds here and there, often determined by who was able to win out in the fight for ramp control. Here we saw a pattern developing almost from the start where star players “EliGE” and “NiKo” would go head-to-head almost every round. These duels often gave a very clear indication of who would win the round, and the two were very close, which meant that the half was close until it came to its conclusion at 8-7 in favor of G2.

The second half was almost a repeat of the first, with the one difference that the Kovač cousins started to completely dominate the server. Team Liquid were very close to G2 for most of the game, but the raw power and amount of multikills coming out of “NiKo” and “huNter-“ were just too much to handle, and G2 took the win at 16-13.

With their map pick G2 chose the legendary Dust2, and how fitting now that they have their legendary AWP’er “kennyS” back as a stand-in for IGL “nexa”.

Team Liquid started the first half with a pistol-round win and a conversion. A good start was important for them since they lost map 1. G2 answered back with a five-round streak, kickstarted by three deagle one-taps by “NiKo”.  Fortunately for the Americans, they were able to snag seven of the last eight rounds and could go to break with their heads held high at 9-6.

The American side was once again the ones to start the half off in the best way as they grabbed the first three and started to build an economy. The money they had amassed did not really get to play that big of a role, as G2, as soon as they were equipped with rifles, reset their economy. Once G2 got their foothold firmly on the map, they pressed the gas pedal as hard as they could. They were able to take eight rounds in a row before Liquid finally answered back with a couple of their own making it 14-14. Unfortunately, it was not enough for the American side as G2 were able to take the last two rounds and close it out at 16-14.

With this result we see G2 moving into the Group A Upper Final vs. Vitality, while Liquid has to do battle versus Astralis in the lower semis.

[twitchClip:esl_csgo/clip/EsteemedBadBoarHeyGirl-PLDpIhvf1sYNJmCK]

NiKo – 1.49 Rating / 31-19 K-D / 104.8 ADR

AmaNEk – 1.38 Rating / 24-17 K-D / 97.9 ADR

IEM Winter 2021 overview – TYLOO vs. OG (0-2)

In the lower bracket of Group A we had an elimination match on our hands. It was TYLOO taking on OG in a battle to stay alive at IEM Winter 2021. The Chinese squad were up against it from the start as OG was just on another level. OG took both maps at 16-10 and move on to meet NIP on the lower semis, while TYLOO is eliminated from IEM Winter 2021.

 {cflag:PL} mantuu – 1.69 Rating / 29-16 K-D / 110.4 ADR

valde – 1.82 Rating / 29-12 K-D / 123.1 ADR

huNter

Team Liquid

In round on Mirage during the group match between G2 and the Swedes from Ninjas in Pyjamas, Audric "JaCkz" Jug and the rest of the French-Balkan managed to outplay NIP completely. The mechanical rifler jumped on the shoulders of AmaNEk to get an elevated position near underpass on Mirage. Something, which completely caught NIP off guard. 

You can watch the play here in our latest edition of Pley of the Day. 

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JaCkz

Ninjas in Pyjamas

It has been everything but a dream start for G2 at ESL Pro League. Dubbed as one of the favorites beforehand, the downfall of the French/Balkan roster has been one of the most surprising turns of events in 2021.

But all hope is not lost yet for the star-studded roster. A win tonight against Complexity will bounce the team back in contention for one of the three playoff spots at the tournament. But there is no doubt, that the team needs their AWP player, [link:{"url":"https://pley.gg/players/amanek","isNewTab":true,"text":"François 'AmaNEk' Delaunay"}] to perform at a higher level if they want to succeed.

And what better day to do it, than your birthday!? AmaNEk turns 28 years old today, and why not take a look at some of the best highlights of his career to see, what we might expect from him tonight. 

AmaNEk and G2 will face Complexity tonight at 20.00 (CEST).

Betway esports are back with an AWP 2v2 from the G2 team. It’s kennyS & huNter facing off against AmaNEk and JaCkz.

The AWP is the most iconic gun in Counter-Strike and the only specific weapon in all of esports to have a position named after it. The AWP isn’t just a sniper rifle. It’s a living, breathing art form. A brush that players have been using to paint, beautiful, bloody portraits for nearly two decades.

Which team do you think can handle the AWP best? 

One of the most iconic AWP'ers is, without any doubt, Kenny "kennyS" Schrub. He is known for wielding his "magic stick" and taking down the toughest of opponents with insane flicks and multi-kills. In a video posted on Betway's Youtube channel he is brought back from the bench at G2 to participate in a 2v2 AWP battle against his friends from G2. 

Does "kennyS" still have what it takes? Or can "AmaNEk" prove himself to be the current best AWP'er at the G2 organization? Take a look at the following video and find out: 

Betway Esports has sat down with Francois “AmaNEk” Delaunay to find out who he would pick if he could create any line-up by his own choice. It’s nice to see he hasn’t just stuck to CS:GO as he picks some legendary players from 1.6 also.

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The man of the hour right now in CS:GO must be the phenomenon Aleksandr "s1mple" Kostyliev from Natus Vincere. The 23-year-old superstar has just led his team to a staggering win at IEM Cologne, after a stellar event campaign where he has posted up an insane 1.51 Rating. 

s1mple is also the man behind our latest Pley of the Day! - Watch the Ukrainian beast bait out an AWP shot from François "AmaNEk" Delaunay by jumping around the corner, just to headshot the Frenchman right after.

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s1mple

Natus Vincere

gla1ve’s troops from Astralis exited IEM Cologne on Saturday following a 2-1 defeat to NiKo and company from G2 in the first semi-final of the day. G2 will take on the winner of NAVI vs. FaZe in the Grand final on Sunday at 16:00 (CET).

MVP: AmaNEk – 1.17 Rating – 75.4 ADR – 61-49 K/D – 66.2% KAST

The action started on Astralis’ map pick of Nuke, where the Danish squad got crushed by the French-Balkan roster. Despite losing the first two rounds, NiKo and company picked themselves up and completely shut down Astralis’ executes and strats for twelve rounds straight, cruising to a 12-2 lead right before halftime. A frustrated Astralis squad managed to get six rounds on the scoreboard before G2 wrapped up their opponent’s map pick, 16-6.

On Dust2, Astralis bounced backed by stealing G2’s map pick with confidence. The Danish squad got off to a flying start and stormed to an 11-3 lead, with gla1ve leading the charge. G2 found their footing on the CT-side as they slowly began to add rounds on the scoreboard. The French-Balkan roster lowered their deficit to two rounds before Astralis closed out Dust2, 16-12.

G2 wrapped up the series on Inferno as they closed out the map 16-14 to book a ticket to the Grand final at the prominent event. The Kovac cousins stepped up huge in the closing rounds and made sure to keep their squad alive in the game. huNter- finished on top of the scoreboard with 23 frags and a rating of 1.12.

Nuke: 16-6 | AmaNEk – 1.82 Rating – 106.3 ADR – 25-9 K/D

Dust2: 12-16 | gla1ve – 1.20 Rating – 74.4 ADR – 20-17 K/D

Inferno: 16-14 | huNter – 1.12 Rating – 71.0 ADR – 23-18 K/D

Astralis

The first Bo3-series of day 5 at IEM Cologne 2021 that wasn’t to avoid elimination from the event was between the side of European G2 and the Russians from Gambit. Gambit is currently regarded as the best team in the entire world due to their dominance in the online era. However, with IEM Cologne 2021 teams are finally back playing at LAN, something that the G2 roster is well versed in. It was also the G2 roster to start the series the strongest after taking their own map pick narrowly. Afterward, however, it was a different Gambit roster. With confidence they answered back the G2 team, however, it was a little too late as G2 clutched up the 2-1 victory at the end.

The first map was the pick of the G2 roster and meant Mirage as the map to start the series with. Despite being the pick of G2 it is by no means a horrid map for the current best team in the world in Gambit. Throughout the last three months of playing Mirage, Gambit has had a win rate of 75% and it showed once the Russians had woken up. With incredibly skilled individuals it was G2 to start Mirage with fierce aggression. Managing a next to perfect T-side, the Europeans could go to halftime with an 11-4 lead. However, as seen many times throughout the event an 11-4 lead is not impossible to comeback from, and whilst Gambit didn’t manage to win Mirage, they posted a valid attempt. Ultimately It was G2 to close out Mirage with a 16-13 victory – a well-deserved victory but, in the end, a narrow one.

The second map was picked by Gambit and was set to take place on Vertigo. Gambit has proven over and over again that Vertigo is one of, if not the strongest map in their arsenal, and with a win rate of 93% over the past three months they are no joke on the second newest map in the official map pool. Starting on the CT-side it was also Gambit to get things going on Vertigo. Another strong performance in the first half was posted as Gambit went to halftime with an 11-4 lead. This time, however, there was no comeback in sight as the Russian Gambit remained cool, calm, and collected and finished what they had started at the scoreline of 16-10. 

The third and final map was to be played on Inferno and would be the deciding map that would prove the stronger team between the two of them. Inferno is, just as Mirage, a map that both teams are tried and tested on and would act as the perfect map for the last chance for each team to prove themselves and take home the victory. This time it was G2 to have the better start and to put Gambit behind at halftime at the scoreline of 9-6 favoring the European G2 roster. The second half saw G2 keep their lead, however, not without a fight from the Gambit boys as they tried their best nullifying the G2 lead. Despite trying their absolute best, it was “NiKo” and the G2 boys to take the narrow 2-1 win in the end after a 16-14 victory on Inferno.

16-13 G2 | huNter- 1.55 Rating / 85.7 ADR / 22-17 K-D

16-10 Gambit | Ax1Le 1.40 Rating / 102.6 ADR / 24-19 K-D

16-14 G2 | AmeNEk 1.51 Rating / 84.9 ADR / 25-15 K-D

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Abay “Hobbit” Khasenov| 1.20 Rating - 63-51 K/D - 78.5 ADR - 74.1% KAST

[image:{"source":"cloudinary","publicId":"Gamle billeder/Hobbit_hyo3nk","originalWidth":1920,"originalHeight":1080,"customWidth":"100%","customHeight":"100%","cloudinaryAssetData":true,"cloudName":"pley-gg","format":"jpg","caption":"Credit: Gambit"}]

IEM Cologne 2021 update – Virtus.pro vs BIG (2-0)

Whilst Gambit and G2 went back and forth exchanging rounds and maps, another Bo3-series was being played at the IEM Cologne 2021 event. The Germans of BIG had the task of taking down Virtus.pro and it proved to be a difficult task. The Latvian prodigy in “YEKINDAR” managed carry his teammates at Virtus.pro to a comfortable 2-0 victory.

[image:{"source":"cloudinary","publicId":"teams/Virtus.pro/virtus_pro_gvhaba","originalWidth":1495,"originalHeight":841,"customWidth":"100%","customHeight":"100%","cloudinaryAssetData":true,"cloudName":"pley-gg","format":"jpg","caption":"Credit: Flashpoint and Virtus-pro"}]

Hobbit

Ax1Le

Gambit Esports

The Ukrainian powerhouse and human highlight reel outdid himself today against G2 at BLAST Premier Spring Final! Situated in, what seemed like an impossible round, Aleksandr "s1mple" Kostyliev managed to turn things around for NAVI and seal the 2-1 victory and the Grand Final spot. 

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In the 1v4 clutch, s1mple outplayed every G2 member who tried to face him, even AmaNEk's quick defuse couldn't rattle the superstar player. Enjoy the outrageous play right here: 

The fierce Grand Final at BLAST Premier Spring Final between Gambit and NAVI is about to go live, being a match you won't miss. You can watch the CIS battle on the following link. 

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AmaNEk delivered a great performance against Complexity, and he was one of the main reasons behind the G2 victory, as he claimed the match MVP after the game.

The French icon played a fantastic map on Nuke, where he delivered a rating of 1.81, with a K/D of 30-14 a perfect example of how to carry your team!

In the video, there are two plays by the French legend, who produced some fantastic plays in the game!

The AWPer has been delivering some great performances in the last month for the G2 roster, where he has played at a rating of 1.07 for the European roster.

	30 days	90 days
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AmaNEk

Player stats

Articles mentioning AmaNEk

AMANEK benched

Former G2 star is picked up by LDLC

French team reportedly targeting AMANEK and NBK

Today in CS:GO - Wednesday 9/3 - 2022

Aleksib to miss the start of ESL Pro League

Pley of the Day: AMANEK with a beautiful 1v4 clutch on Nuke!

A $5M Major? What would you change in CS:GO?

AmaNEK responds to transfer rumors: We are living day by day

NiKo on m0NESY: He has the potential to become one of the best ever

Kovač cousins shine as G2 take down Liquid

Pley of the Day: Innovative Mirage boost by G2

Best of AmaNEk: The versatile Frenchmen

Video: 2v2 AWP | kennyS & huNter vs. JaCkz & AmaNEk

Video: G2 AWP battle - 2v2

AmaNEk picks his all-star Counter-Strike team

Pley of the Day: The perfect bait from s1mple!

G2 are through to the Grand final in IEM Cologne!

G2 best Gambit 2-1 in three-map thriller

Video: S1MPLE WITH AN INSANE MATCH-WINNING 1v4 clutch VS G2!

VIDEO: AmaNEk delivered in G2 victory

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