Though the CS2 cycle has just started, lots of professional teams have been making massive roster changes already.
Keeping track of every notable roster change in CS2 might be difficult even for the most avid fans, especially with all the rumors and reports on top of the confirmed moves. If you want to be aware of everything happening in CS2’s professional scene, this article will keep you up-to-date when it comes to all of the confirmed or rumored roster changes in CS2.
Falcons
Falcons has already benched four players in November since picking up legendary CS:GO coach zonic in October. The Saudi organization is reportedly building a team featuring Magisk, Snappi, and Mohammad “BOROS” Malhas.
NiKo to Falcons was considered a “done deal” but the deal fell through as the Bosnian superstar committed to stay on G2 on Nov. 6.
Natus Vincere/s1mple
S1mple confirmed on Oct. 26 he’s taking a break from competitive CS2. The GOAT didn’t play at IEM Sydney, the first big CS2 tournament, and is open to hearing offers and potentially becoming a primary rifler.
NAVI officially replaced s1mple with up-and-coming AWPer Ihor “w0nderful” Zhdanov on Oct. 31.
Heroic
Heroic caught the entire CS2 community off guard on Oct. 4 as it announced the benching of cadiaN, the longtime in-game leader of the team. The all-Danish squad were one of the most consistent CS:GO teams in the world for years but had an awful performance at ESL Pro League season 18 in September, before CS2 was released worldwide.
Heroic signed dupreeh on Oct. 23 to fill cadiaN’s spot until the end of the year at least. But on Oct. 25, the organization temporarily benched Matin “stavn” Lund and Jakob “jabbi” Nygaard. Heroic claimed the duo made the organization choose between cadiaN or the rest of the team after the disastrous Pro League run, and because stavn and jabbi allegedly promised to renew their expiring contracts, Heroic sided with them.
After cadiaN was benched, though, stavn and jabbi allegedly betrayed Heroic and informed the organization they wanted to join Astralis, Heroic said in a statement. Later that day, stavn hinted Heroic was lying about the situation.
G2
HLTV and 1pv.fr reported on Nov. 9 that G2 is benching jks and is considering signing the rifler Nemanja “nexa” Isaković to fill jks’ spot. This came mere days after NiKo chose to stay in G2 rather than join Falcons.
Vitality
Vitality has benched Magisk on Nov. 3 as he is reportedly joining Falcons to play once again under zonic. The French organization confirmed on Nov. 8 that mezii, former Fnatic star, will be the team’s new fifth.
Cloud9
The pickups of electroNic and Perfecto in July were meant to bring C9 back to the top, but the team are still struggling to achieve anything meaningful. Nobody, however, was expecting sh1ro to ask to leave C9’s starting lineup on Oct. 26 and become a restricted free agent at the beginning of CS2’s cycle. For now, C9 are playing without a dedicated AWPer as the lineup consists of electroNic, Perfecto, Ax1Le, HObbit, and Boombl4.
Team Liquid
After a rocky start with the roster composed of a majority of European players, Liquid is looking for a major roster overhaul.
Liquid is bringing back Twistzz, signing cadiaN to take the in-game leadership role from YEKINDAR and become the primary sniper, replacing Joshua “oSee” Ohm with Brazilian prospect Felipe “skullz” Medeiros, and hiring two-time Major champion Wilton “zews” Prado in place of coach Damian “daps” Steel, Dust2.us reported on Oct. 22.
Fnatic
Fnatic parted ways with star player William “mezii” Merriman on Nov. 2 and will need to go after a new fifth.
Ninjas in Pyjamas
NiP benched captain Hampus Poser on Oct. 24 after a string of bad results at the end of the CS:GO cycle and replaced him with Patrick “es3tag” Hansen. On Oct. 25, NiP’s general manager Björn “THREAT” Pers said NiP will sign a new IGL in the future despite es3tag doing a “fantastic job” for now.
HLTV reported on Oct. 31 that Movistar Riders’ in-game leader Alejandro “alex” Masanet was set to join NiP and the move materialized on Nov. 3.
NRG Esports
American organization NRG Esports expressed interest in a long-awaited return to CS in an HLTV report on Nov. 3. Reportedly, the organization has a core in mind it’s actively pursuing, but haven’t put pen to paper just yet.
Should it be official, it’ll mark a return to CS for the org that we last saw in 2019, with the likes of Brehze, Tarik, Ethan, and CeRq landing a top-four finish at the StarLadder Berlin Major before the team was purchased by Evil Geniuses.
