Teams have been adjusting their rosters, leaving some of the game's top talent available for signing. Here's an in-depth look at the key figures currently in transition:

Perfecto

El1an

STYKO

NEOFRAG

Jerry

It didn’t take long for Martin "STYKO" Styk to find himself a new home after the Apeks roster dissolved at the start of this month. The 28-year-old rifler was announced as the first replacement for the two departing players Viktor "sdy" Orudzhev and Alexander "br0" Bro.

A couple of hours later, Monte announced Ali "hAdji" Haïnouss as a stand-in for the upcoming tournaments.

The Frenchman has been rumored to be in the run of being a permanent fifth player on the squad alongside the former Fnatic player Fredrik "roeJ" Røj Christensen. Now the Frenchman will get a chance to prove himself at IEM Dallas.

Monte

Group A of the European RMR starts tomorrow. We have taken a look at some of the storylines and tried to predict the event down below.

16 teams are slotted into group A, where eight teams will advance to the BLAST.tv Paris Major. Teams placed from 9th-11th will play in a last chance stage against the teams in the same position in group B. The six teams will fight for the 17th European spot for the Major.

The group will be played out in the Swiss format. This means that you will always play against a team with a similar score. If you win your first game, you will face another winner from the opening round and so on.

The group is significantly weaker than group B. The average world ranking is 29 for group A, while the number for group B is 19!

 as the two teams who are predicted to go 3-0 in the group. The number two and four on the world ranking should be able to qualify without any problems.

. The reigning Major champions are also expected to ease through the group. The team might be a little rusty having only played one competitive match in the last month, which they lost 2-0 to forZe.

 should also be able to go through with a 3-1 or 3-2 score. Fnatic is probably the team hardest to predict with their recent results in mind. A weak map pool could be a problem in the bo1 matches.

[image:{"source":"cloudinary","publicId":"players/Bad_News_Eagles_wbzmvr","originalWidth":3840,"originalHeight":2160,"customWidth":"100%","customHeight":"100%","cloudinaryAssetData":true,"cloudName":"pley-gg","format":"jpg","caption":"Credit: PGL"}]

 have qualified for the last two Majors but outside of the biggest tournament in CS:GO, the team almost seems to go into hibernation. The team has not won any of the smaller tournaments that they have attended since the IEM Rio Major. Their opening match against 1WIN will be a very good indication of the form.

 is somewhat in the same category. The team has mostly played against lower-tier opponents since they were knocked out of the IEM Rio Major. Their last match was against a bunch of Germans called EPIC DUDES, where GL actually lost. So, what can we expect from them?

The former NAVI in-game leader Kirill "Boombl4" Mikhaylov leads 

, who has been inconsistent in the past months. They seem to belong in the contenders' group alongside 

. They could all have the chance to go 3-2, but are probably most likely to be among the teams, that have to play against the teams from group B for the 17th and last European ticket to the Major. 

[image:{"source":"cloudinary","publicId":"players/_Boombl4_uolcvo","originalWidth":4096,"originalHeight":2304,"customWidth":"100%","customHeight":"100%","cloudinaryAssetData":true,"cloudName":"pley-gg","format":"jpg","caption":"Credit: PGL"}]

Boombl4 is back. If things pan out, he could face his former teammates for the first time since he was benched on NAVI.

It will especially be interesting to follow Falcons, who are fighting for the right to play on home turf in Paris. The team has had some okay results lately, but they need to see a stronger performance from their legendary AWP’er Kenny "kennyS" Schrub, if they are going to make it. kennyS is rated 0.92 on 12 maps in the last month.

 are to be considered the clear underdogs in this event. Sprout has been playing poorly lately with only a 26.9% win rate during the last three months. Into the Breach will for the first time in its history face a team placed within the top 30 of the world ranking. They start out with NAVI.

Viperio has not been able to follow up on their fine results at the closed qualifiers. The Irish/English team has lost 13 matches in a row against the likes of ENCE Academy, Iron Branch, Partizan etc. They are currently placed 80th on the world ranking. If they make it to Paris, it will be one of the all-time biggest upsets.

That leaves us with Apeks. The Norwegian-owned team has some fine players in Martin "STYKO" Styk and Joakim "jkaem" Myrbostad, but the roster seems to be stuck in the tier-2 scene at the moment. They have recently won against BIG, which gives some promise.

Here is our prediction for group A of the European RMR:

5th-8th: Fnatic, OG, Falcons, and Bad News Eagles.

12th-16th: Apeks, Sprout, Into the Branch, and Viperio

The tournament is played on location in Copenhagen and will last from Thursday to Sunday.

kennyS

jkaem

Boombl4

The most played map within the professional Counter-Strike scene is, you guessed it, Mirage. Having been played far more than some of the maps in the official map pool throughout the years it has been active, it has become a map that every professional player will, at some point in their career, need to learn how to play to perfection. 

Whilst the professional players are probably all familiar with all the tips and tricks on Mirage, there is no one stopping you from elevating your Mirage game with the help of a professional. In a Youtube video on his own challenge, Apeks player Martin "STYKO" Styk gives you all the tips and tricks needed for you to go full ninja mode the next time you enter the server. 

Nothing can be more frustrating than making a clever and sneaky play, only to be hindered by the sound you make whilst edging in on your opponents. Well, it doesn't have to ruin your brilliant lurks and creative executes. Take a look at some of the ways you can maneuver around on Mirage without letting your position be known to every opponent

Apeks have announced that Martin "STYKO" Styk will be their new IGL moving forward in the project. This decision came days after Justinas "jL" Lekavicius was signed by the team as a replacement for chawzyyy and AcilioN who were both benched at the start of July. The positional change of STYKO is a new start for Slovakians.

STYKO started his Apeks journey back in January when he joined the team alongside jkaem. However, they had a poor showing in the first half of the year, as they failed to qualify for big events. STYKO will hope to make those results better as he takes the IGL role from now on. Apeks next big goal is to make it to the IEM Rio Major in November. 

Apeks

What is intuition? What is instinct? What is the difference between the two, and why is it important? Professional CS:GO player Martin "STYKO" Styk answers all these questions and more in his latest video. He also talks about how you train your intuition, and when to trust it.

So if you want to learn how to become a more intuitive player from a long-time CS:GO pro, watch the video below:

In early January this year, Martin “STYKO” Styk was announced as the fifth member of Apeks, joining the likes of Joakim “jkaem” Myrbostad and the former NIP AWPer, Tim “nawwk” Jonasson.

We got the opportunity to link up with STYKO for an interview, here nearly three months after his transfer to the Norwegian side. 

Talking about the Apeks roster, the former FunPlus Phoenix rifler was very pleased with his new teammates, where he highlighted the lack of a star player. Something, the Slovakian rifler doesn’t see as a liability.

- I have been playing for quite some time now, and I have always been on a team where there’s been a certain star, but here it’s more of a teamplay team, STYKO said and continued:

- We will try to improve our communication, which will be vital for us to grow. I know it's 100% doable to have a great team without a star player. We just have to find our own way of working, which is comfortable for the five of us – then we can do wonders. 

[slugORMA:{"slug":"styko-lashes-esic-they-have-been-transparent","isNewTab":true}]

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

Apeks anno 2022: STYKO, jkaem, AcilioN, chawzyyy, and nawwk

STYKO left it no secret, which Apeks teammate he wanted to work with the most. And that was the talented 16-year-old, Hugo “chawzyyy “ Günther.

- When I saw the names on the lineup, I got especially hyped over Chawzyyy (…) the guy is ultimately really good in pretty much every aspect of the game – if it’s entering, if it’s clutching, if’s gameplay and nades. What we are trying to develop with him is his communication, initiation, and overall being more assertive on the server.

You can find the entire interview with STYKO down below.

chawzyyy

Ten days ago, Martin ”STYKO” Styk posted a rather cryptic [link:{"url":"https://twitter.com/STYKOcsgo/status/1503100597888860160","isNewTab":true,"text":"Tweet"}].

“Competitive integrity above all. That’s the tweet that will make more sense in few weeks”, the Apeks player wrote, leaving the entire CS:GO scene completely in the dark of what he was referring to. Was it about match fixing, a new cheating incident or something else?

We got the opportunity to sit down with STYKO himself for an interview, where the Slovakian rifler and CSPPA member elaborated his thoughts on the above-mentioned Tweet.

In the interview, he questions ESIC’s investigation of the famous “coaching bug” after it was known last month by [link:{"url":"https://www.dexerto.com/csgo/exclusive-ex-cloud9-csgo-coach-valens-used-spectator-bug-in-official-games-1758425/","isNewTab":true,"text":"Dexerto"}] that the former Cloud9 coach, Soham "valens" Chowdhury had gone under the radar, despite using it on several occasions.

You can watch the entire interview down below.

Our interview took place one hour after the publication of [link:{"url":"https://twitter.com/RLewisReports","isNewTab":true,"text":"Richard Lewis"}]’ interview with STYKO, which is the one we are referring to in our video. You can watch the interview with the experienced journalist and STYKO right [link:{"url":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qDWwmk_EpSo","isNewTab":true,"text":"here"}].

The Norwegians from Apeks has finalized their new roster with the fresh signing of Martin “STYKO” Styk, the organization announced Sunday evening. The former FunPlus Phoenix player will be the only non-Scandinavian on the team sheet, which is led by the Danish in-game leader Asger "⁠AcilioN⁠" Larsen.

After having sealed all five players for Apeks 2.0, Head of Esports, Anders Kjær has high goals for the which is starred by Joakim "⁠jkaem⁠" Myrbostad and Tim "⁠nawwk⁠" Jonasson.

- With this team, I have one big goal, and that is reaching the Majors. We have never had a team as good as this, and we know they can do even more than they have done before. With the final addition of STYKO we are now ready to take on any challenge 2022 will bring us, Kjær said and continued:

- Martin with his experience and knowledge of the game is a master of CS. He will bring the stability and know-how that we need in this new lineup.» «STYKO will be a big resource to the team. He knows so much about the game, and he has experience from several international lineups.

[slugORMA:{"slug":"norwegians-raise-3-5-million-investment-want-compete-biggest-stage-cs-go","isNewTab":true}]

[slugORMA:{"slug":"jkaem-reignites-old-apeks-flame","isNewTab":true}]

STYKO is beginning to be an experienced veteran on the CS:GO scene, with the 25-year-old Slovakian having played for several big organizations in the past as HellRaisers, mousesports, Cloud9 and most recently FunPlus Phoenix. At Apeks, he will once play in an international lineup, where especially one individual has caught his eye.  

-The most important points for me were definitely the vision of the project as well as the line-up that I will be working with. Despite having a lot of known and proven players around me, I’m most excited about working with our young-gun chawzyyy.

- He is the talent I would like to work with and help him develop into a star. And that is partly what I will bring to the team. Guidance, experience, and general approach are all something I can aid the team with. Let’s make it all work and steadily grow as a team to challenge the higher ranks, STYKO stated in an official [link:{"url":"https://apeks.gg/welcome-to-apeks-styko/","isNewTab":true,"text":"statement"}].

{cflag:NO} Joakim "⁠jkaem⁠" Myrbostad

{cflag:SE} Hugo "⁠chawzyyy⁠" Günther

{cflag:NO} Pål "⁠Polly⁠" Kammen (coach)

[slugORMA:{"slug":"nawwk-returns-activity#","isNewTab":true}]

[slugORMA:{"slug":"apeks-sign-chawzyyy","isNewTab":true}]

AcilioN

nawwk

FunPlus Phoenix

Martin "STYKO" Styk has posted a statement on his [link:{"url":"https://www.stykolife.com/farewell-phoenix/","isNewTab":true,"text":"blog"}], and uploaded a [link:{"url":"https://youtu.be/rWLJoiHyz84","isNewTab":true,"text":"youtube video"}] about the recent news with FPX and his future plans.

In his blog post, he shares his time with FPX and what it meant to all of them when they were signed. He also admits that they did indeed fail to live up to what was expected from them.

STYKO says that they put all their focus on making it to the major. But when the time came for the final RMR event IEM Fall, they flopped, and that was "the beginning of the end" for them. 

Additionally, he explained that apart from their troubles in tournaments, they also had struggles with finding the right In-Game Leader for the team. He believes the project would have looked differently had they signed chrisJ earlier in the year. 

For his future, STYKO stated that he does plan on staying in CS:GO, and that his goal is to compete in Tier 1 tournaments. Safe to say STYKO and CS:GO fans, there's no need to worry about him leaving for another game any time soon.

You can find his full [link:{"url":"https://www.stykolife.com/farewell-phoenix/","isNewTab":true,"text":"blog post here"}].

In his youtube video, he shares that he and his teammates are still under contract and are not free agents. This means it will be harder for them to find opportunities, as they will have to be bought out of their contract first.   

If you want to work with STYKO you can email him at STYKO@prodigy-agency.gg or DM him on [link:{"url":"https://twitter.com/STYKOcsgo","isNewTab":true,"text":"Twitter"}].

In just 10 months since acquiring the previous GODSENT CS:GO roster, FPX have pulled out of the CS:GO esports scene completely, stating "limitations and difficulties during their remote management" as one reason for their decision. In those 10 months, FPX have had several ups and downs but ultimately failed to find any footing of success in the tournaments they played in. 

Their best result was a 9th-12th place finish in ESL Pro League Season 13 which netted them $25,000 USD.  Inspecting their other results, they are a mix of different looks in qualifiers, too few games and too many disappointing finishes in vital tournaments. 

This is now the second time that FPX have joined and left the CS:GO scene. Their first time was in 2020 when their signing of then Heroic would fail to materialize. 

It was confirmed in a [link:{"url":"https://youtu.be/rWLJoiHyz84","isNewTab":true,"text":"youtube video"}] uploaded by STYKO that the players are still under contract, but it is possible that one of them may already be on the way out as a report from [link:{"url":"https://draft5.gg/noticia/astralis-tem-interesse-em-farlig-awper-da-funplus-phoenix","isNewTab":true,"text":"Draft5"}] indicates that Astralis may be exploring the possibility of acquiring the 22-year-old Dane, Asger “Farlig” Jensen to their lineup.

You can find their full statement below. 

zehN

Farlig

Maden

The Counter-Strike Professional Players' Association, known as the CSPPA, has joined forces with a Danish online mental health company called We.Care. After having cooperated with the North roster for a two-months-period, they are now expanding their mental health program to include all CS:GO professional players. 

FunPlus Phoenix player Martin "STYKO" Styk explains in a statement regarding the news, how CS:GO players are exposed to a lot of stress due to the current professional environment: 

"When it comes to mental health issues, CS:GO players are particularly exposed to such issues because of the stress of our busy tournament and practice schedules,"

[image{"source":"cloudinary","publicId":"players/Styko_xvg9fd","originalWidth":1200,"originalHeight":675,"cloudinaryAssetData":true,"cloudName":"pley-gg","format":"jpg","caption":"Credit: Berlin Minor"}]

The new program will feature the possibility for professional players to get sufficient help in pressed and difficult situations. CEO and Founder of We.Care, Linisha Palm, explains that the company is more than ready to help the players with the needed tools and guidance: 

"Our therapists have an elite sports background making them able to truly understand what kind of pressure CS:GO players are under. At the same time though, CS:GO is a very unique discipline with rigorous training programs that can take a toll on anyone."

North

STYKO is left alone with three opponents after having killed one earlier in the round, and as the T side had planted the bomb, the situation seemed unbelievably hard to win anything from.

But STYKO took a leap of faith and tried to make the impossible possible and he did with a fantastic clutch play!

The FPX player has played well lately at a rating of 1.07 in the last three months and with a rating of 1.13 in the last month, it seems like he feels better at home after four months on the roster after joining from GODSENT in January.

[twitchClip:RudeSourLatteFutureMan-j6lky1H7i6czrBSc]

The rifler is in play again tonight against Sprout at 21:00 in the 9th to 12th place decider upper bracket final of the Flashpoint 3, follow the page for more later on.

compLexity Gaming

HYENAS, a new full-Danish CS:GO roster, got their official debut yesterday when they at Flashpoint 3 took on the profiled FunPlus Phoenix. The Danes who are led by the former North trio in Markus “Kjaerbye” Kjærbye, Nicklas “gade” Gade, and Philip “aizy” Aistrup, did not get off to a strong start, as they suffered a crushing 2-0 defeat.

[slugORMA:{"slug":"funplus-phoenix-ease-past-new-danish-roster-flashpoint-3","isNewTab":true}]

Following the defeat, the FPX player Martin “STYKO” Styk talked with the desk, where he uttered some heavy criticism towards HYENAS for using an alleged “loophole” to get invited to the event.

STYKO explains how HYENAS has used a recent Valve regulation to get an invite in front of other teams, by subbing in Rene “cajunb” Borg just to get enough points to get invited.

Hear the Slovakian touch on HYENAS in the post-match interview.

[twitchClip:FrailDifferentChimpanzeeTwitchRaid-pvf4qm-wAMzTUfDM]

HYENAS

Ever wondered how some pros go about playing and executing different aspects of a given map? In a collaboration video with CS:GO commentator and expert Launders, the 25-year-old FunPlus Phoenix player Martin "STYKO" Styk gives his take on how to play Nuke and shows off some of his tips and tricks on the famous map. 

Launders and "STYKO" go through a demo from a Bo3-Series against FURIA. "STYKO" has the responsibility of B-ramp in the game against FURIA, a position that can either win or lose rounds in an instant if played poorly. There is a thin line determining whether you should take the battle against the T-sided players or if you should instead fall back down lower and await backup from your teammates. In the Youtube video "STYKO" explains exactly how and when he determines if the situation is favorable for him or not. 

Take a look at the video to learn more about how pro players, such as "STYKO" navigate on such a tactically demanding map as Nuke. You can watch the entire breakdown right here: 

FURIA

The first playoff matchup at the prominent ESL Pro League has just been concluded, with FURIA taking the win against FunPlus Phoenix in a thrilling elimination match. The strong Brazilians managed to advance through to the second round, despite losing the first map on Nuke, where FPX looked very strong.

FunPlus Phoenix and especially Martin “STYKO” Styk may have dominated the start of the match, however, the last two maps on Vertigo and Inferno belonged to FURIA. Andri “arT” Piovezan and his troops showed great character by coming back from the tough loss on Nuke, as they cruised through FPX on the last two maps.

FURIA’s next match at ESL Pro League will be against the winner of G2 vs. Liquid, while FPX has to head home empty-handed.

FURIA - FunPlus Phoenix (2-1) | ESL Pro League

14-16 (Nuke) | STYKO – 1.36 Rating / 25-17 K-D / 84.8 ADR

16-7 (Vertigo) | KSCERATO – 1.74 Rating / 27-12 K-D / 111.3 ADR

16-11 (Inferno) | VINI - 1.54 Rating / 25-15 K-D / 87.6 ADR

[twitchClip:SpikyOilyQueleaMikeHogu-v5PyfChx7yis29pH]

KSCERATO

FunPlus Phoenix looked done and dusted on the first map on Nuke, being down 14-11 against the dominant Brazilians from FURIA. However, the FPX-side didn't surrender at any point, as they fought back and secured the win on the first map in the playoff at ESL Pro League.

The comeback was initiated with this insane 4k by Martin "STYKO" Styk, who showed FURIA no mercy with his Desert Eagle. 

You can watch the thrilling playoff game between FPX and FURIA on the following link. 

[link:{"url":"https://pley.gg/news/live-furia-vs-funplus-phoenix/","text":"Live: FURIA vs FunPlus Phoenix"}]

The Slovakian rifler thinks that chrisJ can replace sunNy on a permanent agreement, he has been on loan from mousesports, but according to STYKO he won’t be anymore, because they will sign him permanently.

In an interview with HLTV confirmed STYKO stated the following.

-We want to return to the negotiations with Chris if everything works out. The contract isn’t signed yet, but the situation looks way better than for a couple of months ago, where the deal got canceled. We want to play with each other because he fits in our game plan and is a great in-game leader. ChrisJ is cheering us up in the games, which is important for our team, and I think that he has learned a lot from karrigan.

sunNy replaced ChrisJ in the roster from march 1st, and with him, in the roster, the organization secured a place in the playoffs of ESL Pro League after a third place in Group A

chrisJ

suNny

mousesports

FunPlus Phoenix rifler Martin ”STYKO” Styk wants some changes in the map pool before the majors. Maybe not a whole new map, but some small changes could be interesting.

Just the small changes could mean the world for a team, for example where they need to throw the smoke to come clear from the view of the opposition, or a new object in the map could create new opportunities for the teams to discover.

The former G2 player Ex6TenZ agrees with the Slovakian rifler and states

New maps on CS:GO would be so refreshing for so many reasons. Underrated Topic!

With a small number of competitive maps, it can be too much of the same for the players, therefore a change now and then could spice up the gameplay.

Yesterday, FunPlus Phoenix took the title at Snow Sweet Snow 1 after the newly founded team took down the Russian youngsters from Gambit, in the Grand Final. The title was FPX's first-ever, as the team only have been excited for a couple of weeks. The impressive win was sealed through stellar plays like this by the Slovakian rifler.  

[twitchClip:FreezingEnchantingDuckTTours]

[link:{"url":"https://pley.gg/news/fpx-grab-first-ever-title-after-beating-russian-youngsters/","text":"Read more: FPX grab their first title by beating Russian youngsters"}]

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

STYKO

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