Nabil "Nivera" Benrlitom is back in Counter-Strike after three years away from the game. The Belgian switched to Valorant in 2021, but will now return to Counter-Strike under the Revenant banner. The Indian Organization made the announcement on Twitter today.

Two-time Major winner Nathan "NBK-" Schmitt spearheads the lineup that consists of Laurențiu "⁠lauNX⁠" Țârlea, Kamil "⁠reiko⁠" Cegiełko, and Adelin "⁠adeX⁠" Nica.

- I am very, very proud and super excited to announce that we have a brand new roster, that is going to be playing under Revenant, and I’m really excited to play with such a talented group of people. They are really, really skilled players, and I am really looking forward to what we are going to accomplish together. I’m super invested and really love spending every day with the guys, so I’m looking forward to see what’s going to happen, NBK- explains in the announcement video.

Revenant made their debut in Counter-Strike in July 2023, and played their last game in November with an all-Indian lineup.

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{cflag:JO} Mohammad "⁠BOROS⁠" Malhas, {cflag:RO} Laurențiu "⁠lauNX⁠" Țârlea, and {cflag:PL} Miłosz "⁠mhL⁠" Knasiak have just been announced as new Falcons players.

The three players join the team from Monte, Sprout, and Endpoint. Falcons, A Saudi-Arabian esports organization made the decision earlier this year to sway away from an all-French roster, where Kenny "kennyS" Schrub was part of the lineup, that failed to qualify for the BLAST.tv Paris Major.

{cflag:FR} Alexandre "⁠bodyy⁠" Pianaro, and {cflag:FR} Nathan "NBK-" Schmitt will continue on the team, where they will guarantee experience and leadership qualities, according to HLTV, who has talked with the organization following the announcement.

- The goal of our teams has always been about qualifying to, and then performing at, a Major. This year ahead will be no different and our sights are set on producing some results at Copenhagen next spring. We’ve also looked to design this team with CS2 in mind. We think there’s a smart balance of creativity and aggression, but also discipline and work rate that we believe will be the necessary attributes to start off strong in CS2. We’ll have to see if that pays off, the organization of Falcons told HLTV.

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Aaron “AZR” Ward is finally back in competitive CS:GO following a lengthy break on the sideline. With the transfer to Sprout, the Aussie veteran once again got the chance to lead a team to lead as we have seen him do at Renegades, 100 Thieves and EXTREMUM.

510 days to be exact had passed before we again saw him again compete in the higher tiers of Counter-Strike. A hiatus he’s used to visiting relatives and family down under and preparing for his long-awaited comeback.

- While it was nice to have a breather and reground myself, I’m really happy to be playing again, AZR says to Pley and continues:

- The break gave me a lot of opportunities to visit family in Australia for a longer period of time compared to the usual 1-2 weeks back home. I also spent quite a bit of time working on my mental health which was rewarding. So, after all this time, I’m definitely feeling motivated and ready to get back into the game.

On Sprout, AZR joins a super young squad embodied in the promising teenage trio of lauNX (17), Staehr (18), and Zyphon (18) with the Romanian AWPer XELLOW (22) rounding off the roster. Despite the age difference for the 30-year-old IGL, he still believes he has a thing or two to learn.

- It's a breath of fresh air that's for sure. They are all young, skilled and highly motivated which motivates me even more. I definitely think the potential is great within the team and with hard work and motivation I think we can take it very far… I almost feel like a youthful student of the game again which is quite reinvigorating.

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AZR explains in the interview with us that the deal between him and Sprout was decided after only a couple of practice days and a meeting with the team. Here all parties felt a good connection and “luckily we all wanted to move forward together”, he describes.

But he also notes that it’s a different task that awaits him now compared to his previous tenures at Renegades, 100 Thieves, and EXTREMUM.

- I first stepped into the role of IGL when I played on Renegades - A team that I had been playing with for years at that time. So, when I started in- game leading I had the advantage of knowing the players very well. I knew their strengths and weaknesses which is a key to being a good IGL in my book. This is the first time in my career that I’m faced with a new challenge of leading a new team who I need to get to know. I need to know how they play in order to lead most efficiently.

- This is also the first time I’m on an international team so I need to get used to the communication. All in all, excited to see what the future holds.

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Where he previously has had the comfort of leading a majority of Oceanic players, AZR now has to navigate between having a couple of Danes and Romanians each in his arsenal (Staehr at PGL Major Antwerp RMR)

We also asked him about his own individual level and how he has kept an eye on the CS:GO meta while being back.

- Watching cs and playing cs are two vastly different things. While I have been able to watch and learn about the meta now, I need to be able to play it. I'm currently putting in a lot of hours playing and watching Counter-Strike. Also getting a lot of input from BERRY who is catching me up on the meta a lot. I definitely think I can learn a lot from the team and its players… it’s been interesting to see how the meta has shifted in just the last 18 months.

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The Germans from Sprout have this year managed to put together an extremely promising but also successful roster.

Led by the former Heroic rifler Ismail “refrezh” Ali, Sprout fields a talented trio of Rasmus Zyphon” Nordfoss, Victor “Staehr” Staehr, and Laurențiu “lauNX” Țârlea – with especially the two latter players having drawn a lot of interest from the CS:GO elite. Reportedly, Astralis has kept a close eye on Staehr to round off their roster while lauNX previously has been on ENCE's radar earlier this year. 

In the newest episode of HLTV Confirmed, Sprout’s IGL refrezh talks about potentially losing some of his youngsters to bigger organizations and what that will mean for the team. 

You can watch the entire HLTV Confirmed episode with refrezh down below. 

{cflag:DK} Staehr (18 years old) – 1.13 Rating

{cflag:RO} lauNX (17 years old)  – 1.12 Rating

{cflag:DK} Zyphon (18 years old)  – 1.08 Rating

{cflag:DE} slaxz- (24 years old)  - 1.03 Rating

{cflag:DK} refrezh (24 years old)  – 0.99 Rating

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To get recognized and praised by one of your heroes is not something many get to experience in their lifetime. However, that’s not the case for the 17-year-old Laurențiu "lauNX" Țârlea.

Right before yesterday’s match at IEM Rio between Sprout and Spirit, lauNX was presented with “a little gift” from his CS:GO idol Lincoln “fnx” Lau, in what was a personal video message from the two-timer Major winner.

Here fnx expressed his gratitude for the young Romanian picking his nickname “lauNX” because of him, also offering some wisdom and advice for the promising rifler. Something which clearly made lauNX emotional. You can watch the wholesome moment down below.

Unfortunately for lauNX and Sprout, the motivational speech from fnx wasn't enough for the young team to take the victory against Spirit yesterday at IEM Rio. The 2-0 loss against the Russian squad meant that Sprout was eliminated from the event with a 1-3 score after having lost to BIG and Liquid before hand. 

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The future of competitive Counter-Strike is looking bright – very bright. The increased focus and huge investment in talent and academy teams throughout the entire CS:GO circuit in recent times has made it much easier to not only discover the new up-and-coming players, but it has also made it much easier to climb the ranks as a youngster.  

In this article, we’ve taken a look at the best performing teenagers in top-tier CS:GO by listing the 10 highest-rated under-20 players in 2022 so far. And it comes with little surprise that NAVI's Valeriy 'b1t' Vakhovskiy is to be found at the very top, with the promising Ukrainian having made a lightning entry onto the scene after his debut last year. His former NAVI Junior teammate Ilya "m0NESY" Osipov is doing his best to catch up with him as the AWPer is placed right behind him.

1. {cflag:RU} m0nesy (G2) | 1.12 rating / 70.8 ADR / 1.10 Impact rating

2. {cflag:UA} b1t (NAVI) | 1.11 rating / 75.4 ADR / 1.11 Impact rating

3. {cflag:IL} flameZ (OG) | 1.11 rating / 77.5 ADR / 1.17 Impact rating

4. {cflag:RU} Patsi (Spirit) | 1.09 rating / 82.2 / 1.25 Impact rating

5. {cflag:RO} lauNX (Sprout) | 1.09 rating / 79.2 ADR / 1.17 Impact rating

6. {cflag:BR} dumau (00Nation) | 1.09 rating / 78.4 ADR / 1.09 ADR

7. {cflag:RU} fame (Outsiders) | 1.07 rating 73.5 ADR / 1.05 Impact rating

8. {cflag:DK} jabbi (Heroic) | 1.06 rating / 75.7 ADR / 1.08 Impact rating

9. {cflag:LT} bymas (MOUZ) | 1.04 rating / 71.9 ADR / 0.92 Impact rating

10. {cflag:DK} Zyphon (Sprout) | 1.03 rating / 72.5 ADR | 0.97 Impact rating

(Stats are from Top 30 matches - Minimum 30 maps played)

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Laurentiu "lauNX" Tarlea will be joining the Sprout roster as the fifth man. The 17-year-old has spent the last year with the Romanian squad Nexus where he in 2022 has been the highest-rated performer with a 1.15 rating.

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Player stats

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refrezh on potentially losing the likes of lauNX and Staehr: There’s a big chance they will get poached

Young Sprout talent in tears after personal message from CS:GO legend

Here are the best teenagers in top-tier CS:GO right now

lauNX completes Sprout!

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