Despite 2019 having some great tournaments and not a single team dominating through the course of the year, we witnessed a huge player transfer take place right after the Berlin Major 2019.
While a few teams disbanded their entire rosters to start afresh, a lot of other teams decided to make small adjustments for the upcoming season. Amongst the bustle of roster shuffles, we bring you a list highlighting 10 of the biggest CS:GO player transfers that took place in 2019.
[Also Read: Top 10 CS:GO Tournaments That Took Place in 2019]
10. Dosia And Mou Head Over To OneThree.TSG
31-year-old Russian player Mikhail “Dosia” Stolyarov who has been playing counter-strike since the 1.6 era, along with his long-time teammate Rustem “mou” Telepov, made a surprising move to fly down to Asia in order to join OneThree.TSG.
Since being inactive from Gambit’s main roster the two had been out of action for about six months now, finally getting an opportunity with a tier-two Asian team the two decided to sign up with the team.
Though the two haven’t seen any action yet with the squad, it will be great to see how well the team does against other local competitors and if they will be able to break out internationally or not.
9. BlameF Joins Complexity
The 22-year-old rifler showed immense growth under Heroic, though he could not lead the team to any major victory, Benjamin “blameF” Bremer displayed great leadership which helped Heroic grow as an upcoming organization.
Complexity after their disappointing performance at Berlin Major 2019 as part of the organization restructuring acquired BlameF from Heroic in late September. Though the team has not achieved anything great yet, the team looks pretty decent on paper.
With the team being out of action for about two months now, it will be great to see what they have to offer and how much have they actually grown.
8. BnTeT Joins Gen.G Esports
This had been a long time coming, the Asian star rifler Hansel “BnTeT” Ferdinand finally got an opportunity to join an international organization. Despite there being rumours of the player not going ahead with it, in the end, the deal was signed and the Indonesian will now be seen adorning the Gen.G jersey this year.
He is hands down one of the best players that Asian counter-strike has seen in a long time. He has played for various local teams like Team nxl, Recca Esports, etc, while also playing for the most dominating Asian team TYLOO.
This is a big break for the entire region, as his performance for Gen.G will shed a light on Asia. It will be exciting to see how he does in the new organization and whether this leads to more offers coming his way.
7. G2 Esports Acquire Nexa And HuNter-
G2 Esports after releasing Shox from their roster acquired the services of the CR4ZY duo of Nemanja “nexa” Isakovic and Nemanja “huNter-” Kovac. The two had been together in Valiance and in CR4ZY as well, serving close to 12 and 24 months respectively.
The two had been playing in the tier two circuit for a long time now, but G2 acquired them after they placed second at Artic Invitational 2019 followed by DreamHack Open Sevilla 2019. In the process, G2 had to bench Lucas “Lucky” Chastang as well, and for some time it did not seem like a great move by the French side.
But during the end of the last year, they placed second at cs_summit 5 followed by a win at Champions Cup Finals which puts them in a much better place when starting out in 2020. With Vitality looking like a big threat, G2 has to work hard otherwise they might be left behind a bit too much.
6. MIBR Finally Sign kNgV-
Since coldzera stepped down in July, MIBR had been on the hunt for a player of similar calibre who could take on the role of leading the assault with a rifle and had the same amount of tenacity as their former player.
Vito “kNgV-” Giuseppe was the perfect fit and the Brazilian organization wasted no time in signing the 27-year-old rifler from INTZ. MIBR did make a few late changes in October and December, but the toughest and most rewarding was that of finding a replacement for coldzera.
The team has not exactly performed as well as expected. The lineup looks really good on paper but suffers in reality, it will be interesting to see how the team performs in 2020.
5. GuardiaN’s Return To Na’Vi
After a stint of more than two years with FaZe Clan, Ladislav “GuardiaN” Kovacs made a return to Na’Vi as a replacement for Danylo “Zeus” Teslenko. After the former IGL of Na’Vi retired in mid-September along with the teams’ coach, GuardiaN was brought over from FaZe Clan.
It has not been a happy year for the Ukranian organization that managed to win just one tournament in the entirety of 2019. The addition of GuardiaN did not have a huge impact on the teams’ performance, as many pointed fingers at him for dragging the team down due to his poor AWPing.
[Also Read: Thorin calls GuardiaN a "Liability on Na'Vi"]
It is still heavily debated whether s1mple should play as a primary AWPer or should GuardiaN be given some more time to adjust to the teams’ needs.
4. Shox Moves From G2 Esports To Vitality
One of the senior-most French players in the scene, Richard “shox” Papillon was removed from G2 Esports just a few days before the team was set to play at ESL One: New York 2019.
Despite some really great performances by G2 Esports, where they went on to place second at ESL Pro League Season 9 - Finals and a win at Good Game League 2019, the team did not do all that well at the Berlin Major 2019, leading to the organization looking for a change.
But not many expected shox to be the person that would be taking the bullet, despite taking the sudden cull it wasn’t a long wait before he was picked up by Vitality. Since the move, the French side placed second at DreamHack Masters Malmo 2019, while ending the year with a victory at EPICENTER 2019.
Though the driving force behind the team has been their young prodigy ZywOo, the other four seem to have gelled well together in a bid to support their ace. With ALEX commanding the team, shox has a good amount of time to work on himself and further refine his game.
3. Golden & Flusha - Back To Fnatic
Both Maikil “Golden” Selim and Robin “flusha” Ronnquist made a comeback to Fnatic after a period of one year, having had a short stint with Cloud9. Between the two players, only Flusha has been signed by Fnatic till now, while Golden has been taken on a loan.
Since the arrival of the two players, Fnatic seems to have shifted gears, placing first at DreamHack Masters Malmo 2019 followed by two silver medal finishes at StarSeries & i-League Season 8 and ESL Pro League Season 10 - Finals.
The team has started showing slight glimpses of its former self. With Fnatic taking a good long break, they are certainly one of the teams to look out for in 2020. The Swedish side is playing extremely well together and the experience bought in by the two players has been invaluable.
2. Coldzera Parting Ways With MIBR To Join FaZe
After playing with multiple Brazilian teams, the South American star Marcelo “coldzera” David left MIBR back in late September 2019 to join FaZe Clan. In early July he had requested MIBR to put him on the bench, they obliged and coldzera went inactive.
He had a huge buyout amount which hindered his chances of being bought by any other organizations but after the StarLadder Berlin Major 2019, FaZe Clan signed the 25-year-old rifler to play for them alongside an 18-year-old youngster Helvijs “broky” Saukants.
The European conglomerate has not found much success yet, finding victory at BLAST Pro Series: Copenhagen 2019. Let’s see if the team is able to convert their immense firepower in a correct manner or do they continue to deliver mediocre performance.
1. OG Picking Aleksib As Their IGL
It was a shock when ENCE broke the news that they would be parting ways with Aleksi “Aleksib” Virolainen, the IGL of the Finnish side at the time. The community showed its dismay, taking to social media to express what a terrible decision it was that ENCE had taken.
He was being replaced by Miikka “suNny” Kemppi who had been a part of the teams earlier iterations as well. The move was made in order to ensure that ENCE can improve upon their performance, but sadly that has not been the case yet.
Aleksib on the other hand after sitting on the sidelines for almost three months was picked up by OG. The Danish organization which stepped into counter-strike a few months back trusted the 22-year-old IGL to lead their new team.
Though the team hasn’t played all that much yet, Aleksib has the experience and the capability to lead a team to the upper echelons of counter-strike. Let’s see how the team flourishes in 2020.
These were some of the biggest player transfers that took place this year. Do you think some other player transfers could have made it onto the list? Feel free to express your opinion in the comment section below.
[Also Read: Top 10 Controversial CS:GO Moments of 2019]
