CSGO Roster Changes: Xizt replaces Olof and Stewie replaces TACO
In the downtime between Major tournaments, Counter-Strike is amidst with roster changes. The most recent changes came over the weekend involving FaZe Clan, SK Gaming, Team Liquid and Cloud 9.
FaZe Clan
FaZe announced on April 1st that Olofmesiter would be standing down from the active roster due to personal reasons. It was also announced that Xizt would be taking his place until he was able to come back and play. Being posted on April fools day, many believed the news to be an April Fools joke but come April 2nd, Xizt was still apart of the team. Xizt was benched from NiP back in February after some poor results from the team and will remain a substitute for FaZe until Olof's return.
FaZe current lineup
- Håvard 'rain' Nygaard
- Finn 'karrigan' Andersen (IGL)
- Nikola 'NiKo' Kovač
- Ladislav 'GuardiaN' Kovács
- Richard 'Xizt' Landström (Sub)
- Robert 'Robban' Dahlström (Coach)
SK Gaming
Last month it was revealed that TACO had been let go from SK and that talks were in progress to acquire s1mple and flamie from NaVi. It has since been confirmed by the CEO of NaVi that their players are not going anywhere. Now, as of the beginning of the long weekend, we know that Stewie2k from Cloud 9 is filling the hole that TACO left. Since the announcement, SK have faced off against Cloud 9 at ECS but lost 2-0.
SK current lineup
- Gabriel 'FalleN' Toledo (IGL)
- Fernando 'fer' Alvarenga
- Marcelo 'coldzera' David
- Ricardo 'boltz' Prass (Loan)
- Jake 'Stewie2K' Yip
Team Liquid
It also appears that TACO has found his new home in North America, almost doing a swap with Stewie. The Brazilian player has joined Team Liquid's ESEA lineup. It can be assumed that this will mean he is joining the active roster. As this roster change has not been confirmed by Team Liquid, is it also yet to be revealed who TACO might be replacing.
Team Liquid current lineup
- Nicholas 'nitr0' Cannella (IGL)
- Jonathan 'EliGE' Jablonowsk
- Russel 'Twistzz' Van Dulken
- Lucas 'steel' Lopes
- Keith 'NAF' Markovic
- Wilton 'zews' Prado (Coach)
Cloud 9
The North American team have suffered some losses over these changes, losing both Stewie and Skadoodle. Stewie, as mentioned above, joined SK Gaming. His departure occurred not long after it was announced that Skadoodle was also stepping down from the Cloud 9 active roster. To fill up the empty roster, Cloud 9 has picked up FNS. In the ECS game they won against SK, Skadoodle and FNS played to make up the full five man team.
Cloud 9 current lineup
- Timothy 'autimatic' Ta
- Will 'RUSH' Wierzba
- Tarik 'tarik' Celik (IGL)
- Pujan 'FNS' Mehta
- Soham 'valens' Chowdhury (Coach)
