Can they do it again? Copenhagen Flames has been a fairytale story with their two impressive runs at PGL Stockholm and Antwerp, where the Danish underdogs made it all the way to the playoffs at the latest Major in Belgium. Since then the team has been picked apart by the likes of Heroic and Fnatic, while in-game leader Rasmus "HooXi" Nielsen is the favorite to take over the reigns at G2. But can the Flames manage to gather another team and take them to the top?

CEO and co-owner of Copenhagen Flames, Steffen Thomsen finds himself in familiar territory, where a new roster has to be put together from scratch. But unlike before, the starting point is not anything near zero.

“We are at another place than before. Our success in the past year has elevated us to a new place both in terms of economy and reputation”.

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The signing of Iulian "regali" Harjău underlines the statement.

“We have found a player, that we believe we can turn into a superstar,” Steffen Thomsen explains and calls the transfer “the perhaps biggest in the history of Copenhagen Flames”.

With the addition of Rasmus "raalz" Steensborg, Thomas "birdfromsky" Due Frederiksen, Johannes "b0RUP" Borup, and Thomas "TMB" Bundsbæk, the experience of the roster is definitely far beyond any previous Copenhagen Flames lineups.

Professionalization on and off the server

Version 3 of Copenhagen Flames will also mark the beginning of a new era for the Organization. Money will be invested into creating the perfect setup for the team to succeed in the future.

“We will make sure, that all the players have the right plan made for them to be able to perform the best way possible. We will also have a bigger focus on data, and how we can utilize this. We will also look to improve our tech department, where we aim to be among the best.”

There will also be changes in the coaching staff. Daniel "Vorborg" Vorborg switched to Evil Geniuses earlier this summer, and while Steffen Thomsen initially thought, that he would take over the position as head coach, he quickly felt it necessary to find a replacement.

“We have signed Benjamin "Cube" Stabell from Fnatic Rising as a coach for the team. He is one of the most exciting prospects on the Danish coaching scene, so we see this as a very good solution”.

With the improved setup and the promising lineup in mind, the expectations from the management of Copenhagen Flames could be sky high. But like in the past, Steffen Thomsen and the rest of Copenhagen Flames have patience with the project.

“We don’t have any deadlines of when the team is supposed to peak. We hope to qualify for IEM Rio, but it might be a little bit too soon. In general, the most important thing is, that we work according to the plan that we made.”

{cflag:DK} Thomas "birdfromsky" Due Frederiksen

regali

raalz

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Copenhagen Flames

After a year of great success, Copenhagen Flames is now ready to announce their new lineup for the future.

To replace the likes of roeJ, Jabbi, and nicoodoz, Copenhagen Flames has once again set their eyes on the Danish CS:GO scene. This time though with a little twist. As we here on Pley.gg could reveal yesterday, 19-year-old Iulian "regali" Harjău will also feature in the new lineup. The Romanian has lived in Denmark since 2015 and will be able to communicate with his new teammates in Danish.

Alongside him Rasmus "raalz" Steensborg, Thomas "birdfromsky" Due Frederiksen, Johannes "b0RUP" Borup, and Thomas "TMB" Bundsbæk were also announced as part of the new Copenhagen Flames project. Consistent for all of them is that they have gathered experience from other teams such as Sprout, Mad Lions, Heroic, and ECSTATIC before joining Copenhagen Flames.

Later today you can read an interview with CEO and co-owner of Copenhagen Flames Steffen Thomsen, who talks about the new lineup, and what version 3 of Copenhagen Flames will entail.

After a year with the squad Sprout has officially announced the departure of in-game leader Rasmus "raalz" Steensborg. This is the second change that Sporut announced this week, following the departure of Timo "Spiidi" Richter. Sprout is left with just three players on the active lineup. They are still yet to announce their 2 new players coming up in the starting five. 

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The 27-year-old in-game leader transferred to Sprout from Lyngby Vikings back in August 2021. Rasmus "raalz" Steensborg led Sporut through some notable events such as the play-ins for IEM Katowice 2022 and IEM Cologne 2022. The Danish IGL also claimed several regional trophies during his tenure. 

In the video below you can watch one of Rasmus "raalz" Steensborg's best clutches against the Russian team Forze.

The benching of raalz leaves Sprout with these three players.

Spiidi

Sprout

forZe

After starting the day with two major upsets, the craziness has been laid to rest as it was the favorites that took home the victories in the last matches of Swiss round 1. 

After a solid start for Spirit, ENCE completely took over and ended the first half on a nine-round winstreak. Spirit did a better job in the second half, but it was still not enough to hold down "dycha" and the rest of ENCE.

Spirit – ENCE 0-1 | PGL Major Antwerp Europe RMR B

11-16 (Mirage) | {cflag:PL} dycha – 1.46 Rating / 26-16 K-D / 91.9 ADR

On the other stream, we saw an almost exact replica. Sprout started off great but ended up being down by seven rounds at the half, and from there it was too hard for them to recover.

Copenhagen Flames - Sprout 1-0 | PGL Major Antwerp Europe RMR B

16-11 (Ancient) | {cflag:DK} raalz – 1.24 Rating / 23-19 K-D / 82.7 ADR

dycha

Spirit

ENCE

Being up against four fierce Vitality players, led by ZywOo, in a 1v4 situation with the bomb yet to be planted, should be a completely impossible round to win. However, sometimes things just aren't reasonable or rational. 

Something, Sprout's Rasmus "raalz" Steensborg proved with this magnificent clutch against Vitality in today's ESL Pro League Season 15 matchup. 

[twitchClip:TolerantSleepyFishDancingBaby-UA8FfsJqNutIpnU6]

Sprout ended up losing the match 2-0, despite posting a stellar performance on Inferno where they forced the map into two OT's. 

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ZywOo

Team Vitality

ESL Pro League Group B started with a matchup between Team Vitality and Sprout with the latter team as the big underdogs.

On Dust2, Vitality kicked off their tournament with an excellent T-side, where the Danish duo of Emil "Magisk" Reif and Peter "dupreeh" Rasmussen stole the show with two inspiring performances. It was not until round 11 before Magisk died the first time in a superb half from Vitality, who took an 11-4 lead with them to the break. Vitality won Sprout's map pick in safe style.

While the Danes dominated on Dust2, Mathieu "ZywOo" Herbaut woke up on Inferno. The French superstar turned the heat up on Sprout, who in turn was much more competitive than on their own map pick. Fritz 'slaxz-' Dietrich was the Sprout player to get things done for the Germans, who in the end forced the match to overtime. It was Rasmus "raalz" Steensborg who made it possible with a nice clutch, and in the overtime, he made it even better with a beautiful 1vs4 clutch.

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Despite the effort from raalz and the rest of the Sprout team, it was Team Vitality who came out as winners with a 22-20 win. A solid start from the French/Danes who are now 1-0 up in the Group Stage at ESL Pro League.

Team Vitality – Sprout 2-0 | ESL Pro League Season 15 (Group A)

16-7 (Dust2) | {cflag:DK} Magisk – 1.74

22-20 (Inferno) | {cflag:FR} ZywOo – 1.46 Rating / 38-21 K-D / 87.6 ADR

MVP:  {cflag:DK} Emil "Magisk" Reif – 1.46 Rating / 54-34 K-D / 88.1 ADR

dupreeh

Magisk

slaxz-

" Baumann who made his departure from Sprout, today another player leaves the team.

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20-year-old Kamil "⁠KEi⁠" Pietkun has said his goodbyes to his now-former teammates on Sprout, after expressing his desire to join a new project in his home country Poland.

The roster changes for Sprout come after a successful end to 2021, where the German Organization qualified for the upcoming ESL Pro League Conference League with a win at ESEA Premier Season 39.

{cflag:DK} Rasmus "⁠raalz⁠" Steensborg

Sprout has decided to go for an international roster, with the German organization bringing in Rasmus "raalz" Steensborg from Lyngby Vikings. The Danish rifler fills the void from Denis “denis” Howell, who was benched in late July this year, making raalz the only non-German player on the team.

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raalz brings in a lot of experience to the profiled Germans, with him having played competitive CS:GO since the very beginning of the game. The experienced Dane also adds some strong firepower to the team, which his strong 1.10 Rating in the last 3 months, is clear evidence of.

- I am super happy about this opportunity given to me and I won't let anyone down, that's for sure. I will work my ass off every day, and still, keep up the hunger for even more. Now I am just ready to get the season started with the boys and put up some good results

My goal is for sure to grind to the top with Sprout and show people what we can do together as a team, said in a statement to HLTV.org. 

{cflag:DE} Marko "⁠kressy⁠" Đorđević

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denis

2021 has been a year of transfers on the Lyngby Vikings roster. With the new additions to the squad a total of ten players have represented the Organization this year.

Yesterday three new Danish players were announced to join the active roster, and today the Organization has released their three foreign players.

Out: {cflag:NL} FASHR, {cflag:IL} anarkez, {cflag:SE} hns

The three Danes join Thomas "birdfromsky" Due Frederiksen and Rasmus 'raalz' Steensborg on the new all Danish roster.

FASHR

anarkez

Daffu

J3nsyy

Lyngby Vikings

Lyngby Vikings are ready for the Grand Final at Shadow League Season 1, following their impressive comeback win against HellRaisers in the first of two semifinals. 

Lyngby Vikings, who have the profiled loanee Niels Christian “NaToSaphiX” Sillassen on their current roster, has done well since the start of 2021, continued their solid momentum as they take down HellRaisers in a thrilling 2-1 victory. 

It looked like Lyngby Vikings were done and dusted, with the Danes being down 10-5 in the decider on Inferno, just having lost an OT-thriller on Dust2. However, NaToSaphiX and company showed great character and persistence by putting up a strong fight at the end, and when things mattered the most. Something, which ended up as an impressive 16-13 victory, and therefore also a Grand Final ticket.

Lyngby Vikings - HellRaisers (2-1) | Shadow League Season 1

16-12 (Nuke) | raalz – 1.42 Rating / 25-19 K-D / 87.8 ADR

18-22 (Dust2) | FASHR –  1.52 Rating / 38-25 K-D / 107.2 ADR

16-13 (Inferno) | ProbLeM - 1.26 Rating / 19-19 K-D / 84.0 ADR

Lyngby Vikings will either meet Sinners or Sangal in the Grand Final, which is set to start at 19:00 (CET) this evening. 

	30 days	90 days
Fixture count	15	31
Maps count	34	72

raalz

Player stats

Articles mentioning raalz

Flames version 3: We are on another level than before

Copenhagen Flames announce new roster

Sprout announce its second change of the off-season

ENCE and Copenhagen Flames win in opening matches

Video: raalz rips Vitality apart in superb 1v4 clutch!

Vitality won opening match at ESL Pro League against Sprout

Sprout loses another player

Sprout go international with the signing of Danish rifler

Danish Vikings release three international players

Lyngby Vikings are through to the Grand Final after impressive comeback

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