The Return of the "Greatest" Did Not Happen
One of the most anticipated returns on the pro-CS2 scene is that of s1mple. The star cyber sportsman has not properly debuted in the new version of the shooter, and it's difficult to draw any conclusions about his prospects from a single underwhelming match for the Falcons in March.
The "Greatest" remains one of the most sought-after individuals for any club, despite being inactive since last autumn. This is thanks to his reputation as the strongest player for many years, rivalled only by ZywOo, as well as his media presence, making him virtually the face of cyber sports.
It seems we won't be seeing s1mple at the upcoming tournaments. At least, the Ukrainian admitted on the social network X that he is unsure about his return, although he hopes it will happen as soon as possible. As previously reported, a key issue in continuing his career is the enormous buyout clause in his contract with NAVI.
Perfecto Deserves a Top Team
Perfecto found himself on the transfer market in the spring when he left the Cloud9 roster on his own initiative. The Russian did not want to spend another season with a team that has long been struggling with gameplay issues, and in April, it also lost its leader in the form of electroNic, with whom Zalutskiy had been playing since 2020.
Few could have predicted that Perfecto would be without a team for the next season, as he is one of the strongest players in his role at the global level. Additionally, the elite status of the former Cloud9 player is confirmed by his leadership in the best clutchers ranking for the first half of this year.
According to insiders, even G2 was interested in Perfecto, having decided to replace two players while being in the world's top five. However, it is already known that we will not see him among the "samurai" or any other top team at the start of the season, as Cloud9 has registered a backup player for the BLAST Premier Fall Groups 2024.
CadiaN's Authority Undermined
A frankly disastrous season with Liquid has seriously undermined cadiaN's authority as a strong captain, resulting in his being benched. However, if you delve deeper into the "Liquid" problem beyond tournament results, it becomes clear that the roster project initially had dubious prospects, as analysts have repeatedly noted.
Currently, it is difficult to say which top team could make a targeted replacement and take cadiaN. Likely, the experienced Dane will have to wait for the results of the first tournaments to get a place in a team worthy of his level, or prove his worth again in a second-tier team, as he did with HEROIC after the failure in North.
At present, cadiaN is on holiday, actively sharing photos on social networks. Interestingly, during the Euro 2024 final, the Dane was hanging out with the owner of Aurora – is it just hype, or should we expect news from the Russian club?
Nicoodoz – A Victim of Circumstances
Nicoodoz found himself without a team due to circumstances beyond his control. Despite the Dane's high level of play, HEROIC management decided to replace him with degster, who was rated as a stronger sniper, even though he spent the last year inactive.
Interestingly, degster, in the two tournaments he played in June, did not perform any better than nicoodoz.
It was expected that nicoodoz would find a Danish team by the start of the season, as Denmark is now one of the few countries where players from mono-national five-man teams. The 23-year-old player could have fit well into TSM's new roster and would definitely have strengthened Sashi or Gaimin Gladiators, who are aiming for tier-1 but likely cannot afford to buy him out of HEROIC.
For the BLAST Premier Fall Groups 2024, one of the season-opening top tournaments, nicoodoz is listed as a substitute for HEROIC, which suggests that the Danish sniper will remain inactive shortly.
Will k0nfig Return?
K0nfig is another top Danish player we won't see at the start of the next season. Once one of the strongest shooters on the pro scene, he failed to make an impact in NIP and was benched in May after a poor performance in the Copenhagen Major qualifiers.
It seemed that the CS2 meta favoured k0nfig's aggressive style, but his results in the new version of the game only worsened. The question of the 27-year-old player's ability to return to his former form is a topic of debate in the community, but it's worth noting that in Vineke's career, there have already been instances where he returned to top-level play despite all doubts.
More important than idle speculation about k0nfig's future is the fact that top clubs are interested in NIP's substitute player. Rumours suggest that his transfer to TSM, which was preliminarily agreed upon with the "ninjas," fell through at the last moment, and Into the Breach couldn't acquire the Dane due to "economic considerations."