Apeks has finalized its lineup by picking up French CS:GO veteran Richard “shox” Papillon for the international squad in its quest to become a tier one team.
After an underwhelming sixth place ESEA performance, the Norwegian esports org looked to bolster its lineup with new changes. Now, they have completed their international squad rebuild by signing French veteran shox.
“Happy to be back on track,” shox wrote on Twitter. “Took care of myself as needed. I feel fresh and ready to compete again with lovely guys. I can’t wait to discover more. Excited to play our first official tomorrow.”
Shox joins Apeks after an unsuccessful CS:GO tenure with North America’s Liquid, where he now looks to bounce back in his return back to Europe.
“After my time in Team Liquid, I needed a break to recover from the exhausting schedule we had. I had to make sure my head was healthy before joining a new team,” shox stated in the official announcement on the Apeks website.
“I’m glad and thankful to Apeks and the players and coaching staff for this opportunity. I’m confident we can do great things with the right mindset, and I know everyone will put the work needed to make this journey together a beautiful story.”
Shox will look to provide a veteran voice to the international squad led by Martin “STYKO” Styk as both players plan to bounce ideas with each other.
“I will try to bring my knowledge and experience of the game to help “STYKO” in his new role. I know he can become a great in-game leader. Also supporting and helping the youngest players is something I like to do so they will become even stronger,” shox said. “My goal for this team is to create good chemistry between everyone and work step by step to become a solid tier 1 team.”
They are joined by Joakim “jkaem” Myrbostad, Tim “nawwk” Jonasson, Justinas “jL” Lekavicius, Assistant coach, Pål “Polly” Kammen, and Head Coach Jakub “kuben” Gurczyński.
Apeks is currently ranked at #60 on HLTV and has hopes this new iteration will be able to surpass the team’s high of #28 in the HLTV rankings moving forward.
For now, Apeks will have their sights set on their first Counter-Strike match as a five-man squad at the IEM Rio Major open qualifiers, starting from Monday, Aug. 15.
