Cover-Credits:
- NBK will be returning to OG's active CS:GO roster today for their ESL Pro League Season 13 match against Heroic.
- He will be replacing the loaned Danish entry fragger niko possibly due to a conflict of interest as he is still contracted to Heroic.
- OG has won 2 out of their 3 matches so far in the tournament while Heroic currently stand unbeaten.
Nathan "NBK-" Schmitt who was benched from OG’s active CS:GO lineup in Feb earlier this year, will be returning to play with the team one last time today on 11 March. The French entry fragger will be replacing Nikolaj “niko” Kristensen on OG, for their upcoming match against Heroic at the currently ongoing ESL Pro League Season 13. Though no particular reason was provided by the organization for this single match swap, it seems a conflict of interest might have been the reason behind this move, as niko is still officially contracted to the Danish organization Heroic. It will be interesting to see if the original OG lineup will be able to break Heroic’s unbeaten winning streak at the tournament or not.
RELATED: OG Benches NBK- From CS:GO Active Roster, Reportedly Scouting for Players
OG to play along with NBK one last time
NBK is one of the founding members of OG’s CS:GO roster which had entered the competitive circuit in Dec 2019. He is the one who brought this lineup together from scratch, and according to a statement given by G2 Esports’ entry fragger Nemanja "huNter-" Kovac, NBK had approached both him and Nemanja "nexa" Isakovic with an offer to join OG after the StarLadder Berlin Major 2019.
Though both the players had turned down the offer and moved to G2 Esports, NBK still managed to complete the lineup with the highlight signing being former ENCE in-game leader Aleksi “Aleksib” Virolainen. As predicted by the community, during the initial phase of the team there was a conflict in leadership roles and gameplay-related ideology which resolved over time.
But after a mediocre 2020 and a rough start to 2021, OG finally decided to make its first roster shuffle which resulted in NBK getting benched. In his statement, NBK had revealed that “ultimately we didn’t agree on how to consistently perform at the highest level.”
OG went on to loan niko for ESL Pro League Season 13 following his benching at Heroic, which could be the reason why OG has decided to swap him with NBK for their “One last dance”. NBK had earlier tried to participate in DreamHack Masters Open Qualifier with a mixed lineup, but could not participate in the tournament due to some rule.
This will be a one-time thing and is being set up by OG as their last match with NBK. OG has so far won 2 out of their 3 matches, while Heroic on the other hand are on a 3 match winning streak. It will definitely be an interesting match which is scheduled to take place later today at 16:30 IST.
