- OG might be benching NBK- following their string of disappointing performances in 2021.
- OG have gone 14 straight months without a roster change since their formation, and despite a great 2020 online season the team has faced a massive slump in the last few months.
- Neither OG nor NBK- have made a public statement on the matter so far.
Nathan “NB-K” Schmitt might be on his way to OG’s bench as the team looks to replace him after the lineup’s recent results in 2021. OG has gone 14 months without a roster change and had some really great performances throughout the online era. They even peaked at #6 on the HLTV world rankings by the end of 2020, but their start in this competitive season does not seem to reflect that. NBK- alongside Issa "ISSAA" Murad was OG’s most criticized player by the CS:GO community, and might be parting ways with the active lineup soon. The speculated move has originally been reported by French media outlet VaKarM.
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NBK- might be on his way out of OG
OG entered the CS:GO pro circuit in December of 2019. Since then they have gone 14 straight months without a roster change, but also without a trophy to their name. Despite this, they have had an impressive first year after creating a whole new CS:GO team from scratch. Even if they struck an unlucky timing by entering the scene just 2 months before the online era began, they have been stepping up their play, slowly climbing the HLTV rankings ever since the creation of the team, and peaked at #6 in the world by the end of 2020.
That is why their lackluster performance in 2021 is something that needs attention from the organization and its players. OG started their 2021 with a poor showing at cs_summit 7, an early exit at BLAST Premier: Spring Groups, and a disappointing result during the IEM Katowice 2021 Play-in, failing to qualify for the Group stage of the $1,000,000 USD tournament.
According to reports by VaKarM, these poor results have pushed OG to make changes to their CS:GO team. The organization has reportedly decided to remove NBK- from the active lineup, and are scouting benched players on other rosters, along with players from organizations that stepped down from competitive CS:GO in recent time, to replace the French rifler. The report says the reason for this decision is due to differences around in-game vision between NBK- and the rest of the team.
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Fans have been speculating about an eventual roster change by OG for some time now. Many suspected Issa “ISSAA” Murad to be the one that might get replaced due to his recent underwhelming performances. OG’s in-game leader Aleksi "Aleksib" Virolainen in a recent episode of HLTV Confirmed even spoke about ISSAA, stating that due to most matches being played online the Jordanian plate was forced to play with high ping.
"It's so hard because you don't know how long this COVID period is going to be and I know for a fact that ISSAA is like a 'glue' on LAN, he brings a lot of hype and he shoots better."
If OG end up benching NBK- their CS:GO roster will look as follows,
- Aleksi "Aleksib" Virolainen
- Valdemar "valde" Bjørn Vangsa
- Mateusz "mantuu" Wilczewski
- Issa "ISSAA" Murad
- Casper "ruggah" Due [Coach]
- Nathan "NBK-" Schmitt [Benched]