2023 has given us many memorable moments, including countless roster changes in professional CS2 teams. But as this year ends, it's time to highlight the top 5 most successful roster changes in Counter-Strike for 2023.
It's worth noting that Valve introduced Counter-Strike 2 on September 27, but we won't separate the reshuffles in CS:GO from CS2. It’s all about Counter-Strike, folks. Now, let's get to the point.
#5 — Twistzz comes back to Liquid
On December 7, 2023, it became known that Canadian rifler Russel "Twistzz" Van Dulken joined the North American organization Team Liquid. Of course, one could argue that the team hasn't played a single match on the professional scene in Counter-Strike 2 yet, and without results, this reshuffle can't be considered successful.
This is a valid point. However, it's an ideal transition for the player himself. As Twistzz has stated, he has long dreamt of returning home to his family, especially since he has spent most of his time in Europe since January 2021, as FaZe Clan is based there.
Recall that Twistzz already played for Team Liquid from April 2017 to December 2020. Truth be told, the team achieved significant success during this time, such as:
- ESL Pro League Season 9 - Finals
- Intel Grand Slam Season 2
Over his career, Twistzz has won $1,686,289 in prize money. Hence, his move to Team Liquid was clearly not for the salary or anything similar. He simply wanted to return home. Moreover, the team has already assembled a strong lineup, which we will see in action in January next year at BLAST Premier: Spring Groups 2024.
#4 — EliGE opens a new chapter for Complexity Gaming
In June this year, it was announced that American rifler Jonathan "EliGE" Jablonowski joined Complexity Gaming. At that time, he left the sinking ship called Team Liquid, and it was not in vain.
In over half a year of playing with Complexity Gaming, EliGE participated in 11 championships and won a total of $160,000 in prize money. While it might not seem much, Complexity is gradually returning to the tier-1 level with steady steps.
Notable achievements include reaching the finals at Intel Extreme Masters Sydney 2023 and winning BLAST Premier: Fall American Showdown 2023. This transition was a gain for EliGE, and interestingly, there were no changes in the team after Jonathan. It will be fascinating to see how the team performs at the first major in Counter-Strike 2 — PGL Major Copenhagen 2024.
#3 — sdy perfect fit in Monte
The Ukrainian organization Monte made a phenomenal breakthrough in 2023, but this all happened after Viktor "sdy" Orudzhev was kicked from Natus Vincere. Then, in January 2023, gathering his strength, he joined Monte and started dominating his way through.
During this time with Monte, Viktor participated in 41 championships and earned a total of $367,000 in prize money. The team's most significant achievement was undoubtedly reaching the last major in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive — BLAST.tv Paris Major 2023.
At the tournament, sdy led his team to a 5-8th place finish. More recently, the team won its first major LAN championship - ESL Challenger at DreamHack Winter 2023.
Previously, the team's most successful tournaments were:
- Thunderpick World Championship 2023 (3-4th place)
- Roobet Cup 2023 (2nd place)
- ESL Pro League Season 18 (3-4th place)
Due to unsatisfactory results in NAVI, Viktor had to build team play in Monte from scratch, and in a year, he managed to bring the team to the tier-1 level.
#2 — FlameZ is impossibly good fill instead Dupreeh in Team Vitality
The second place in our best reshuffles of 2023 goes to Shahar "flameZ" Shushan's move to Team Vitality.
Before joining the French organization, flameZ played for OG, but as things were not going well, he was lucky to move to Team Vitality. At that time, the team had already won its first major - BLAST.tv Paris Major 2023. Then, the legendary Danish rifler Peter "dupreeh" Rasmussen decided to leave the team.
It's hard to imagine that the team would take such a step if we compare these players. However, the team got a new player, whose style of play greatly differed and better suited the team with its new lineup.
So far, with flameZ, the team has managed to win 2 championships:
And earned over $700,000 in prize money. This transfer was a win for everyone: flameZ finally found a proper team, dupreeh left for inactivity on his own terms, and Team Vitality got a new rifler.
#1 — Successful graduation for Jimpphat to MOUZ main roster
Joining the team in July 2023, Jan has already shown his full potential and won his first big LAN championship:
According to the 17-year-old talent, his dream was to play for MOUZ, and now he is here, easily defeating the world's best teams. It will be very interesting to watch the team at the major, but for now, just look at the young player's statistics for 2023:
Before the new year and after, no loud transfers should occur, as all teams are preparing for the upcoming first major in Counter-Strike 2 — PGL Major Copenhagen 2024.
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