According to [link:{"url":"https://blix.gg/news/ztr-plopski-godsent","isNewTab":true,"text":"blix.gg"}] and sources close to the situation, GODSENT has acquired a new five-man lineup for the new season. The media outlet state that the iconic organization already has signed contracts with the likes of Nicolas "Plopski" Gonzales Zamora and Erik "ztr" Gustafsson.

The three other players will allegedly be Joel "joel" Holmlund, Alfred "RuStY" Karlsson, and the AWPer William "draken" Sundin.

The most profiled players in this mix are undoubtedly Plopski and draken. Both Swedes have been a part of Ninjas in Pyjamas and played several tier-1 events throughout their careers, with Plopski still being under contract with NIP officially.  

GODSENT's potential lineup will look like this:

{cflag:SE} Nicolas "Plopski" Gonzales Zamora

[slugORMA:{"slug":"banks-denies-godsent-rumor","isNewTab":true}]

Plopski

joelxd

draken

RuStY

Golden

GODSENT

Ninjas in Pyjamas

Yesterday, the battles of Group B at Pinnacle IV were fought, and one of the combatants was the Swedish team Savage who is led by Maikil "Golden" Selim. Savage won their first matchup against Case but were knocked out of the tournament by the Czech squad ECLOT.

The Bo3 versus ECLOT was extremely close, with all three maps going at least thirty rounds. Savage sadly ended up getting eliminated from the tournament, but the former fnatic IGL still managed to get his highlight.

On the first map of Inferno Savage was down 4-0, and that is when "Golden" took matters into his own hands.

The org-less Savage roster has brought in Maikil “Golden” Selim and the head coach Jonatan "⁠Devilwalk⁠" Lundberg to the team, [link:{"url":"https://www.hltv.org/news/33391/golden-tenzki-devilwalk-link-up-on-savage","isNewTab":true,"text":"HLTV "}]has confirmed this Tuesday. The Swedish lineup will also feature the Jesper “TENZKI” Ploughmann, who recently have played Valorant under the banner of Heretics.

The roster will consist of four Swedes and the single Dane in TENZKI. In a comment to HLTV, Golden stated the following.

- We have some language barrier issues which we are hopeful to resolve with time. We have a lot of work ahead of us and even though we are not committed to any organisation, we promised to stay with each other for the upcoming 6 months, the former Fnatic and Cloud9 IGL said. 

{cflag:DK} Jesper "⁠TENZKI⁠" Plougmann

{cflag:SE} Jonatan "⁠Devilwalk⁠" Lundberg (coach)

TENZKI

Savage

Fnatic

Cloud9

The Swedes from Fnatic has officially parted ways with the 27-year-old Maikil "⁠Golden⁠" Selim from this date on. That has been confirmed by the organization this Monday, which concludes Golden’s second tenure at the iconic org.

The former Cloud9 in-game leader has been sidelinded at Fnatic since the start of July this year, due to the team entering a rebuilding phase, where also the legendary Jesper “JW” Wecksell got axed after a long period with mediocre results.

Golden ended his time at Fnatic as the coach of the academy team, Fnatic Rising, which he led to a 3rd place in the first season of WePlay Academy League.

- I'm a free agent today. My time as a coach is over it was a great experience for knowledge and leadership outside the game for me. I´m ready to get back to the IGL role, this break from competitive was needed for me to rethink some aspects of my gameplay, Golden wrote on [link:{"url":"https://twitter.com/goldenmajk/status/1470757539260383234","isNewTab":true,"text":"Twitter"}].

{cflag:SE} Freddy "⁠KRIMZ⁠" Johansson

{cflag:GB} William "⁠mezii⁠" Merriman

{cflag:GB} Owen "⁠smooya⁠" Butterfield

{cflag:GB} Jamie "⁠keita⁠" Hall (coach)

With all the surprise storylines of the tournament so far, we are eager to see, if we will see another huge upset at the tournament, where number 3, 5, and 6 in the world (G2, Virtus.pro, and Astralis) have already been knocked out. 

Together with Gambit, s1mple and his teammates have been the most consistent team in 2021. The inclusion of [link:{"url":"https://pley.gg/players/b1tgod","isNewTab":true,"text":"Valerii 'b1t' Vakhovskyi"}] as a permanent fifth man has been a solid move from the CIS Organization. The young Ukrainian has produced some solid numbers, that helped his team to a great victory at IEM Cologne. The team starts their run at ESL Pro League with a match against Fnatic, where they are huge favorites to take home the three points. We also have them as clear favorites to win the group.

Judged by their individual skills, FaZe ranks as one of the best teams in the world. Their excellent showing at IEM Cologne gave some much-needed hope for the team. The question is, how will FaZe perform back online? The team has had horrible performances online in 2021, so what FaZe team will we get to see at Pro League? We think they will carry on the good form from IEM Cologne and show some of the moves, that made them beat Gambit in their last tournament. 

There is a potential big match coming up in the last round of Group C. mousesports and BIG collides in a battle, that very well could determine who books the last spot in the playoffs. Since the roster move that saw in-game leader [link:{"url":"https://pley.gg/players/karrigan","isNewTab":true,"text":"Finn 'karrigan' Andersen"}] switch to FaZe bringing in Australia's finest [link:{"url":"https://pley.gg/players/dexter","isNewTab":true,"text":"Christopher 'dexter' Nong"}] as his replacement, the trend has been positive for mouz, who has improved throughout 2021 with one exemption. At IEM Cologne the team lost both their opening matches and caused the team to crash out of the main tournament in the last position. We do think, that the team is strong enough to make it out of this group in third.

[image:{"source":"cloudinary","publicId":"players/Copyright_-_Helena-Kristiansson_-_gade_uhuxmk","originalWidth":3840,"originalHeight":2160,"customWidth":"100%","customHeight":"100%","cloudinaryAssetData":true,"cloudName":"pley-gg","format":"jpg","caption":"Credit: Helena Kristiansson ESL","alt":"CS:GO, Counter-Strike, North, Gade"}]

You should never write off the Germans! In reality, BIG could end up anywhere from 1st to 4th in this group, but given the circumstances of them making a late roster move, we have placed them in the bottom of their range. [link:{"url":"https://pley.gg/players/xantares","isNewTab":true,"text":"İsmailсan 'XANTARES' Dörtkardeş"}] and his impressive firepower are gone and replaced by the 26-year-old Dane, [link:{"url":"https://pley.gg/players/gade","isNewTab":true,"text":"Nicklas 'gade' Gade"}], who has some big shoes to fill. The former North player joined the team in the beginning of the month, and it will be interesting to see, how the roster change will affect the team.

A new chapter in the book of Fnatic was written with the signing of the two Englishmen [link:{"url":"https://pley.gg/players/alex-1","isNewTab":true,"text":"Alex 'ALEX' McMeekin"}], and [link:{"url":"https://pley.gg/players/mezii","isNewTab":true,"text":"William 'mezii' Merriman"}]. For the first time in history, the team will not be entirely Swedish. The move that sent [link:{"url":"https://pley.gg/players/golden","isNewTab":true,"text":"Maikil 'Golden' Kunda Selim"}], and [link:{"url":"https://pley.gg/players/jw","isNewTab":true,"text":"Jesper 'JW' Wecksell"}] on the bench is being tested for the first time at ESL Pro League. The team has dropped down to number 65 in the world, their lowest position on the world rankings since August 2016. We have not seen a competitive match from Fnatic in two months, so it is hard to predict, where they will land in this group. One thing is for sure though, they will be pressure tested right away with their opening match against tournament favorites, Natus Vincere.

We predict them to finish last in the group. A dangerous team, however, that can easily win maps from their opponents, if you underestimate them. Polish AWP'er Michał 'MICHU' Müller has been a good addition to the squad, but the team will be severely handicapped by the loss of their in-game leader [link:{"url":"https://pley.gg/players/stanislaw","isNewTab":true,"text":"Peter 'stanislaw' Jarguz"}], who is on medical leave.

[slugORMA:{"slug":"stanislaw-will-compete-esl-pro-league-im-mentally-ready","isNewTab":true}]

Evil Geniuses will be playing with their coach Damian "daps" Steele as a stand-in. A fact that has lowered all expectations for the team in Group B.

s1mple

B1tGOD

gade

karrigan

mezii

XANTARES

ALEX

stanislaw

Evil Geniuses

Natus Vincere

mousesports

FaZe

Fnatic are currently experiencing a transformation in their glorified Counter-Strike division, with the Swedes having brought in Alex “ALEX” McMeekin and William “mezii” Merriman. And yesterday, the iconic organization announced the arrival of a third Brit, in the signing of Jamie “keita” Hall.

keita has been appointed as their new Strategic Coach where his primary task will be the in-game performance by the team. Something, Fnatic hopes will make it easier for Head Coach, Andreas Samuelsson and his work with both CS:GO rosters.

Andreas Samuelsson talks about the addition of keita and what he will bring to the team.

- Once we had elected that the best course of action to rebuild the CS:GO team would be to adopt an international roster, the natural next step following the selection of players was to also assess the management structure. Throughout this complete overhaul of the team, we wanted to ensure that we did our due diligence, and put Fnatic back on track to the path of success.

Locating and appointing a new CS coach was not an easy task, many options were considered and assessed during this time of flux. However, when we identified that Jamie had suddenly become a free agent, we felt that he could potentially be that person to fill the role and subsequently approached him about the opportunity.

[slugORMA:{"slug":"official-fnatic-sign-alex-mezii","isNewTab":true}]

The acquisition of keita comes after Fnatic last week announced a new international roster, after the benching of their loyal servants in Jesper "JW" Wecksell and Maikil "Golden" Selim. The British trio of ALEX, mezii and keita marks a substantial change, as they will be the first non-Swedish players playing under the Fnatic banner. The new-look Fnatic will debut their new roster at ESL Pro League Season 14 later this month.

Jamie "⁠keita⁠" Hall (strategic coach)

[slugORMA:{"slug":"fnatic-bench-two-time-major-winner-after-strugglesome-period","isNewTab":true}]

[slugORMA:{"slug":"golden-benched-fnatic-seek-rebuild-roster","isNewTab":true}]

compLexity Gaming

fnatic have just released an official statement regarding their newest roster change. The organization has chosen to bench the In-game leader Maikil "Golden" Selim as the first part of their "rebuilding phase". Since the start of the 2021 season fnatic have not hit the mark and the results that the Swedish side have produced have been lackluster, to say the least.

fnatic's head coach Andreas "Samuelsson" Samuelsson explains the decision in a statement regarding the news: 

"Maikil is certainly the friendliest and best teammate in the scene, but the recent results have not lived up to the standards we expect from the team," He carries on by saying: "That's why we're looking to turn the page and begin our rebuilding process with new in-game leadership. You can expect more news from the Fnatic camp in the near future to bring us back where we belong."

The decision to bench "Golden comes after a disappointing performance from the Swedish roster at the IEM Summer event where they finished in the last place. More news regarding fnatic's roster rebuild will follow soon. The current fnatic roster looks as follows: 

Jack "Jackinho" Ström Mattsson {cflag:SE}

Maikil "Golden" Selim (BENCHED) {cflag:SE}

Peppe "Peppzor" Borak (SUBSTITUTE) {cflag:SE}

On Thursday, Virtus.pro and fnatic clashed in the opening round at IEM Summer to find out which team will advance to the upper semi-finals. The Swedish squad from fnatic, who have had a poor season so far and are close to falling out of the top 30 world ranking, were no match for YEKINDAR and company from Virtus.pro in the bo1.

But although fnatic lost, their Swedish rifler Maikil “Golden” Selim displayed a stellar 1v4 clutch, which is enough for our #POTD.

Virtus.pro

Anonymo has just released an official statement regarding the technical errors in their latest match against NiP. The match between NiP and Anonymo was claimed to have been concluded under unplayable conditions by the NiP players. 

After the Bo3-series the newly signed star player Nicolai "device" Reedtz was very vocal about the conditions he and his teammates were made to play under. He tweeted the following after the 2-1 loss to Anonymo: 

[slugORMA:{"slug":"dev1ce-nip-left-disbelief-after-shitty-conditions-flashpoint-3","isNewTab":true}]

The aftermath of the match has sparked many discussions amongst players, experts, and organizations and it has meant a forced rematch between the two rosters. In their statement Anonymo explains the current demands from Flashpoint and NiP as the following: 

"There's is not enough time to properly respond, let alone prepare for the match. We are being forced to play BO1 (last map) today or the full BO3 on Tuesday (18.05). It's just ridiculous". 

The statement also explains how Anonymo viewed the situation as it took place, stating that they did everything to help the side of NiP in the heat of the moment: 

"We wanted to do everything in the competitive spirit of fair play. NiP does not seem to care that at all." 

Flashpoint has since confirmed in an official statement that the rematch will in fact take place. At first, the rematch was set to take place on May 16 at 21:00 (CEST). Due to outrage from the CS:GO community, however, Flashpoint has now announced that the rematch will be rescheduled to a later date. 

Is the forced rematch the right decision? Many different professional players and CS:GO experts have already given their take on the situation and the forced rematch between the two rosters. 

device

gla1ve

cadiaN

Anonymo

The iconic team of fnatic has been an essential part of the CS:GO history, with the dominant Swedes having racked up multiple Major titles and other huge trophies throughout their lifetime. However, that’s all in the past.

Because the glory days at fnatic, and the Swedish Counter-Strike scene in general, are long gone. Despite possessing a strong lineup with the likes of Freddy “KRIMZ” Johansson, Ludvig “Brollan” Brolin, and Jesper “JW” Wecksell, the Swedes have dropped down the rankings in the last couple of years, especially in the ongoing online era.

[link:{"url":"https://pley.gg/news/brollan-extends-contract-with-fnatic/","text":"Read more: Brollan extends contract with Fnatic"}]

fnatic Head Coach Andreas "Samuelsson" Samuelsson reflects on the disappointing year by explaining that they haven’t managed to cope with the online era.

 - We´re not happy with our performance lately. Covid had a bigger impact than we anticipated. We´ve had a rough time adapting to the online era but we have started the evaluation process to make the adjustments required. With hard work and dedication, we will prevail the hardships.

Jackinho

Brollan

KRIMZ

The Swedish top team will not participate in the prestigious main event at IEM Katowice, as they suffered two crucial defeats at the Play-in stage. Today, the iconic Scandinavians were placed in a tough one-or-done situation in the elimination match against MIBR, which eventually ended with a crushing 0-2 loss. 

fnatic’s captain and in-game leader, Maikil "Golden" Selim has afterwards touched on the exit, where the 27-year old Swede explains that they have to “go back to the drawing board and just practise more”

Hear Golden react to the exit and the loss to the Brazilians from MIBR

[twitchClip:CrepuscularViscousLorisShadyLulu-V9XVLzgzJfG61NUB]

[twitchClip:DifficultDoubtfulAdminTriHard-F7cz1kkBAZDqMvlf]

In this series, we take a look at the teams that finished 2020 in the Top 20 rankings. Today we take a look at number 14.

When you think of fnatic, you think of this enormous organization that always has been on the top of CS:GO, a team with endless history and a team with multiple Major Championships. However, the 2020 edition of fnatic has been no more than one big antithesis to these glory days, even though their core roster has been untouched for years.

In: Maikil “Golden” Selim (Permanent contract)

ESL Pro League Season 11 - $110.000 prize earning

Fnatic’s peak of 2020 was their impressive victory at ESL Pro League 11 back in April. The Swede had throughout the tournament taken down strong teams like Astralis, NAVI, and FaZe, concluding the event with an exciting Grand Final against a well-playing ropz and the rest of mousesports.

After three maps, fnatic looked done and dusted. The Swedes were 2-1 behind in maps and needed a win on both mousesports map pick of Nuke and the decider on Mirage. However, a reawaken fnatic side led by KRIMZ managed to complete the comeback, through two monster performances in the last two maps, including a 16-1 victory on Nuke.  

fnatic have, as earlier mentioned, had a horrible 2020 season, with the trophy at ESL Pro League as the only accolade of the entire year. The Swedish team didn’t manage to display the same level of CS for the remaining of the year, looking like a team without synergy and motivation, both lacking both consistency and individual quality. Golden and company did only manage to make it to one sole Grand Final appearance, for the entire year, with 6 Grand Finals by comparison in 2019.

The collapse culminated with two early exits at both ESL Pro League Season 12 and IEM Beijing-Haidian.

[image:{"source":"cloudinary","publicId":"players/Copyright_-_Helena-Kristiansson_-_Golden_Fnatic_wflist","originalWidth":3840,"originalHeight":2160,"cloudinaryAssetData":true,"cloudName":"pley-gg","format":"jpg","caption":"Credit: Helena Kristiansson_ESL","alt":"Golden, fnatic"}]

fnatic doesn’t hold a particularly young roster, in fact, their average player age of 25.1 is rather high, compared to other promising and up-and-coming teams. However, the experienced trio of flusha, JW, KRIMZ have proved that their A-game belongs at the very top of CS:GO, and mixed with the huge prospect of Brollan, proves that fnatic still can be a contender for 2021.

A report by multiple sources emerged in mid-December that the Swedish giants were looking to acquire the young Swede Jack “Jackinho” Ström Mattson to their roster, either as a replacement or as 6th. The transfer hasn’t been yet, but it will be exciting to see if fnatic will join Astralis, Vitality and NAVI and form a 6-man roster.

Read more: "fnatic eyeing Swedish talent"

[link:{"url":"https://pley.gg/news/media-fnatic-eyes-swedish-talent/"}]

20: GODSENT [link:{"url":"https://pley.gg/news/spotlight-top-20-godsent/"}]

19: Spirit [link:{"url":"https://pley.gg/news/spotlight-top-20-spirit/"}]

18: CHAOS [link:{"url":"https://pley.gg/news/spotlight-top-20-chaos/"}]

17: Ninjas in Pyjamas [link:{"url":"https://pley.gg/news/spotlight-top-20-ninjas-pyjamas/"}]

16: Evil Geniuses [link:{"url":"https://pley.gg/news/spotlight-top-20-evil-geniuses/"}]

15: Gambit [link:{"url":"https://pley.gg/news/spotlight-top-20-gambit/"}]

flusha

Swedish CS will always be one of the cornerstones of professional Counter-Strike. They have always been on the top regarding both players, teams and organizations. Ninjas in Pyjamas and fnatic is undoubtedly the equivalence of Swedish CS, by having four major championships in total and by producing countless of great and legendary players in its lifetime.

However, the state of Swedish CS isn’t on the same level anymore, and it's something Fnatic IGL Maikil "Golden" Selim give his perception in an interview with HLTC Confirmed. In the interview, Golden says that fnatic and the Swedish scene need initiatives and programmes like their rivals from Ninjas in Pyjmas, who recently announced the launch of a new academy to find the biggest Swedish talents.

“We need a structure; we need an academy like NiP is doing. What they are doing now is perfect, I really like that.”

[twitchClip:TrappedTriumphantAnacondaBrokeBack]

Read more. "The Path of a Ninja: Swedish team introduces new talent program"

[link:{"url":"https://pley.gg/news/path-ninja-swedish-team-introduces-new-talent-program/"}]

You can watch the entire HLTV Confirmed episode featuring Golden here.

[link:{"url":"https://www.twitch.tv/videos/829085455"}]

In the Consolidation final in group A at Flashpoint, fnatic dominated the server. On Dust2 Maikil “Golden” Selim and the rest of the fnatic roster steamrolled Dignitas, who lost 16-6. All of the fnatic players ended with a positive k/d-ratio after the first map.

On Inferno, Dignitas managed to provide a little more resistance, but could not, in the end, prevent a loss. Again it was the entire fnatic roster who showed up. A promising sign for the Swedes, who are now qualified for the playoffs at Flashpoint 2. Dignitas will have a last chance to qualify on Sunday.

Team Dignitas

Golden is pressured from two Astralis players positioned at banana and determines to go for the escape by throwing a smoke in front of him. Before falling back, Golden decides to spray through the smoke in what seems like a random spray, but nonetheless do one of his bullets connect with gla1ve’s head. A kill that must have felt very confusing and frustrating for gla1ve.

[twitchVideo:dreamhackcs/clip/IcyRudeWrenchMVGame]

	30 days	90 days
Fixture count	0	0
Maps count	0	0

Golden

Player stats

Articles mentioning Golden

Is this GODSENT’s new lineup?

Highlight: A shining "Golden" takes the ACE

Golden and Devilwalk join new team together

Golden officially leaves Fnatic

Preview Group C: Who will join NAVI in the playoffs?

Fnatic add keita as their new Strategic Coach

Golden benched - fnatic seek to rebuild roster

Pley of the Day: Golden keeps fnatic alive!

Forced rematch between NiP and Anonymo

fnatic head coach: We´ve had a rough time adapting to the online era

Golden after IEM Katowice exit: It’s back to the drawing board

Spotlight on the Top 20: fnatic

Fnatic IGL praises NiP’s new talent program

Fnatic wins Swedish Derby in Flashpoint

Video: Do we have a new “smoke criminal”?

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