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STATE Energy is a Danish sports drink company, who have Danish athletes as ambassadors of their products which include athletes such as Rasmus Højlund, Caroline Wozniacki, Holger Rune, and many others.

Christian Eriksen was one of the first ambassadors of STATE Energy, he was announced on October 19th in 2017. Currently Christian Eriksen owns 10-15% of the company.

The sources did not mention a specific monetary amount State Energy and Christian Eriksen will invest in Wopa Esport, however they mentioned that it was “a considerable amount”. One source mentioned Wopa Esport could possibly rebrand and/or rename their organization to integrate State in their name.

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Background on WOPA

On April 15th 2024 the Danish esports organization WOPA was announced, led by Danish footballer Simon Kjær and co‑owner Martin “Rosenchef” Rosenbæk, the founder and CEO of the Counter‑Strike news site HLTV.org.

WOPA’s launch message stressed a vision of “healthy habits, a healthy approach, and healthy gaming.” The group pledged a non‑toxic community open to everyone, a professional mindset, focused development, and a commitment to nurturing Danish talent.

According to proff.dk, Rosenbæk’s wife is the CEO of WOPA. Martin remains actively involved in the project.

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Investigating the VRS‑Eligibility of “GAME ZONE MASTERS ROAD TO PGA 2025 – Open Qualifier 1”

To determine whether the tournament met Valve’s VRS standards, this publication consulted Graham “messioso” Pitt, to use his expertise on TOR. His analysis concluded that the event failed to satisfy multiple key eligibility criteria. Below is one illustrative example where the tournament organizer fell short of the TOR requirements.

Since GAME ZONE MASTERS were classified as a Tier 2 tournament and does not feature VRS invitations, it falls under point C of the regulations. Accordingly, the tournament organizer (TO) was required to publish the qualifier announcement at least fourteen days before the qualifier’s start date. A quick scan of the TO’s X timeline shows that this deadline was not met.

First-hand account

This publication reached out to Łukasz “PRAWUS” Ganczewski, tournament director for Good Game, who hosted the qualifier, and asked him to describe what transpired:

“(…) In our case, everything started quite normally. At the end of September, we submitted the license application to Valve for our tournament Game Zone Masters: Road to PGA 2025. Under the rules valid at that time, announcing a tournament simply required publishing all relevant documentation publicly — in our case, on GitHub — which we did. Around mid-September we had also verified the structure with Valve, and there were no objections or any indication that the requirements would change. Then, near the end of September, Valve updated the Tournament Operation Requirements (TOR), introducing new timing rules: tournaments must be announced at least 14 days before qualifiers and registration must open at least 7 days before. We submitted the event to HLTV on October 3. On October 7, before the first qualifiers began, we reached out to Florin Botezatu from HLTV to confirm everything was fine — first in the morning, then again during the day and in the evening.

By that time, one round of qualifiers had already been played. We immediately paused the tournament and, on October 8, prepared a fully revised version that met all new TOR requirements — with announcement on October 8, registration on October 15, qualifiers on October 22–23, and LAN finals on October 25–26. We sent this to HLTV the same day and also reached out to Valve, following their instructions.

Despite multiple attempts, we received no response until October 9 at 23:12, when we were informed that the current format didn’t comply with the updated TOR and that we should contact Valve directly. Unfortunately, Valve never replied, despite multiple follow-ups over the following days. With the LAN finals approaching and no confirmation from either HLTV or Valve, we had to proceed with the tournament as unranked, keeping the same prize pool, schedule, and quality standards.”

The new TOR timing rules and the organizer’s misunderstanding of the public‑announcement requirement meant the TO failed to satisfy the regulations. Equally noteworthy is HLTV’s silence; while the TO could have consulted the published TOR documents independently, the absence of a timely response from HLTV raises the question of whether the platform bears any responsibility for informing organizers about VRS eligibility.

Observations from messioso

“(…) (Linking to the GitHub page of the qualifier) these were created October 1st. The first qualifier started October 7th. There must be 2 weeks announcement period at least. They fail c) here (sending a screenshot of 4.3 Additional information in the TOR regulations)”

Reflections from PRAWUS

“I fully understand that if I had closely followed Valve’s updates, this situation probably wouldn’t have happened. It’s just unfortunate that HLTV’s response came so late, if we had received it a bit earlier, we might have still had time to react and adjust before the qualifiers started.”

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The conflict of interest between HLTV and WOPA

The chronology of communications makes the conflict of interest starkly visible.

• End of September: GAME ZONE MASTERS ROAD TO PGA 2025 submitted the license application to Valve, which was valid at the time to get TOR status. According to PRAWUS it was enough to publish all relevant documentation on GitHub. Furthermore, PRAWUS added:

  “(…) Valve updated the Tournament Operation Requirements (TOR), introducing new timing rules: tournaments must be announced at least 14 days before qualifiers and registration must open at least 7 days before.”

• October 1st: The Tournament is announced on GitHub.

• October 3rd: The Tournament was submitted to HLTV.

• October 6th – Person(s) from HLTV told WOPA:

  “I’ve tried to tell WOPA that it’s not a VRS tournament they’re signing up for. Because it doesn’t meet the rules. So I would simply advise them not to play it (…)”

  This warning reached WOPA before the TO (PRAWUS) was aware that the event violated TOR.

• October 7th – The TO contacted HLTV (Florin Botezatu, Global coverage, match highlights, VODs and Demos at HLTV) three times in one day to confirm the qualifier’s status. One round of the qualifier had been played at this point.

• October 8th – After pausing the event, the TO submitted a revised schedule to both HLTV and Valve that they believed complied with the new TOR.

• October 9th – HLTV responded, confirming the format was non‑compliant and advising the TO to contact Valve directly.

Because Martin “Rosenchef” Rosenbæk is simultaneously the CEO/founder of HLTV and a co‑founder of WOPA, the early warning given to WOPA creates a clear conflict of interest: HLTV possessed privileged information about a tournament’s VRS eligibility and shared it with a party that could benefit competitively, while withholding the same information from the tournament organizer.

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Implications of the future

The fact that HLTV’s founder‑CEO also sits on the ownership table of WOPA—a Danish esports organisation co‑founded with the Danish football player Simon Kjær—creates an inherent tension that goes beyond ordinary business partnerships. This publication received documented evidence that person(s) from HLTV warned WOPA that the upcoming “GAME ZONE MASTERS ROAD TO PGA 2025 – Open Qualifier 1” would not qualify for Valve’s Regional Standings (VRS) before the tournament organizer realised the breach.

If a party that controls a major source of tournament coverage can tip off a co‑owned team about eligibility, does that give the team an unfair strategic advantage over rivals who are left in the dark? It does.

Traveling to tournaments is a costly affair for teams, who are at the same level as WOPA. If WOPA doesn’t attend an event like EPIC LAN (Oct 30th-Nov 2nd), would that send bad signals for teams who intend to compete in the tournament, since they might have information that hasn’t been shared? Will it affect the general coverage of the tournament?

There is an argument to be had, that the teams themselves have access to Valve’s TOR, and put the onus on themselves to stay informed about the eligibility of the tournaments they are attending.

In short, the overlap between HLTV’s editorial influence and its co‑ownership of WOPA blurs the line between reporting and advocacy. The episode underscores the need for clear, publicly documented procedures that separate media coverage from competitive decision‑making, ensuring that every team competes on an even informational footing.

As Uncle Ben said in Spiderman: “With great power comes great responsibility” and in this case there is a conflict of interest in the middle of the great power and responsibility HLTV have.

What started out as a noble pursuit of fairness and talent, and as to the actions mentioned by the coach for Falcons Force Niels Christian “NaToSaphiX” Sillassen. He wrote detailed personalized feedback to players attending the trials, but his noble effort and good intentions would end up as one of the most classic esports exercises of the last decade, a conflict of interest.

The tryout process had three phases, and it started with about 70 talents. After the month-long process NaToSaphiX and Falcons Force presented their starting 5 roster on September 15th:

Sources close to the process have said that it is no coincidence that the starting four out of the five players are a part of NEEVE.PRO Agency, which coincidentally also is the agency representing NaToSaphiX.

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NaToSaphiX sent out the trial invites on July 29th, and the first tryouts started between the 4th and 6th of August per sources. The four players signed with NEEVE.PRO Agency are:

• Olaie, IGL, who was announced twice, first on July 22nd and again on September 14th.

• veno, riffler, who was announced on September 8th.

• grecu, AWP, who was announced on August 8th.

• clockzi, who was announced on August 5th.

The sources confirmed that Niels Christian “NaToSaphiX” Sillassen is a part-owner of the agency. Furthermore, the sources also confirmed that the general manager of Falcons Esports Jordan Savelli knew of this ownership and gave his approval of NaToSaphiX being a part-owner of NEEVE.PRO Agency.

The conflict of interest of NaToSaphiX being a part-owner of an agency has led to four out of the five players of Falcons Force have been signed during the trial phase, boosting revenue for the NEEVE.PRO Agency.

A typical agency takes between 5-15% of the players salary as a compensation for the services they provide, this means that NaToSaphiX and NEEVE.PRO Agency have created a bigger revenue for the agency through Falcons Esports and the salary they pay to the players, of whom NaToSaphiX had full control of, when it came to who they signed.

To what extent is ethics swallowed by sheer profit? Recent reports with the Saudi Arabia owned Savvy Gaming Group (SSG) buying ESL and Faceit for $1.5B, together with the partnership of the United Arab Emirates owned ADGaming (ADG) and Blast suggest otherwise. With these deals, green dollar bills have turned red as blood money seeps into the esports ecosystem which could be devastating to both the faces, the fans and the sponsors within it, where the political message broadcasted might not be in line with the message esports itself and its actors are trying to send. The hypocrisy alone of having ESL running their female tournament, ESL Impact, is a duality of ethics that is hard to swallow.

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Savvy Marketing of Geopolitical Agendas

When ESL and Faceit were bought by SSG the community reaction was disappointing to say the least. There was one example, where the reaction was satisfactory, we’ll come back to that. When it comes to the Saudi involvement in esports, there are a number of concerns from a western perspective, namely the practice of Sharia Law, which alone is a massive red flag.

Saudi Arabia has a group of volunteers called Muttawa’s, who are upholding the Sharia Law in practice, where their subjective viewpoint and interpretation is enforced upon the people visiting their country.

The Muttawa are likely to cause problems for any woman they deem to be wearing too much makeup or showing too much flesh. This rule of enforcement differs depending on which legislative part of a country you are visiting in the Middle-East. Furthermore,in Saudi Arabia LGBT+ relations are illegal, which can lead to flogging, jail and death (Source). However, they describe it as such:

“LGBTQ travelers are unlikely to experience any problems in the country as long as they act discreet and respect local laws and customs” (Source)

Tightening the screw even further, it is strictly forbidden to show public displays of affection and on public beaches, women are forbidden from swimming in front of men (Source). This implicates the difficulty for women and members of the LGBT+-community to express themselves as they would in the west, and makes their attendance to esports events a potential risk to their lives.

When it comes to Saudi Arabia’s human rights violations, the country imposes bans on travel, public speaking, resumption of human rights work and use of social media. This violates their rights to freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly in the country and freedom of movement outside the country (Source).

Furthermore, Saudi Arabia abstained from the United Nations vote adopting the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, saying it contradicted Sharia Law (Source). Though they say they are working on making the country more accomedable for tourists, there are still outdated laws that travellers, in this case professionals, talent and fans, have to be aware of.

With all these restrictions on women in Saudi Arabia, they are still upholding the initiative of ESL Impact, the Counter-Strike women only competition. This begs the question, are they going to have events in Saudi Arabia for this competition, and are they honestly asking women to abandon their human rights and safety as the price of competing?

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Be Prepared to Leave Your Values At Home in the New Era of Esports

Recently, another partnership has been established, where a known name will make its appearance again: Blast.

Blast announced a 3-year long partnership with ADG, an initiative funded by the Abu Dhabi government with the goal of creating an esports and gaming ecosystem in the region.

In the announcement Blast mentioned that as the first step in the partnership, they will hold their Blast Premier World Finals in Abu Dhabi in December of 2022 (Source).

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is an authoritarian state, enforcing Sharia Law. They have been described by Jim Krane (2009) in his book City of Gold: Dubai and the Dream of Capitalism, as a “tribal autocracy” where the seven constituent monarchies are led by tribal rulers in an autocratic fashion. Since ADG is governmentally funded, the laws differ as to which constituent you find yourself in.

This means that the laws upheld in Abu Dhabi or Dubai might be different from other parts of the country. This also concerns the working conditions of the people within the country and the guest workers, who are subjected to slave-like coniditions.

Workers are living in cramped, dirty and unsafe environments and get threatened if they complain about their working conditions or seek help. We are truly taken back in time, where entertainment is paid by the blood of people unfortunate enough to have to risk their life to feed their families. Though Qatar has legistately made changes, that might not be enforced to its fullest extent (Source).

LGBT+ relationships are officially illegal, where depending on which constituent you are in, the treatment of these people may vary, “the law does not state outright that they incur the death penalty”, though generally discretion is advised (Source).

When Blast announced their partnership with UAE, it wasn’t a thundering shock to some members of the LGBT+ community:

oW, former pro player and member of the LGBT+ community : “I am obviously not surprised, I don’t think it has any significance for the CS scene in any way, when it already is LGBT+ hostile. There is a long way yet and we are talking, sadly, several years before we see a significant change.”

All-in-all there are quite a lot of concerns for westerners entering these countries. This time, so far, the money from the liquid gold from the Middle-East has entered Blast’s finances on their second try.

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Caught Between A Rock And A Hard Place

Esports organisations are in a situation of having to compete in tournaments, which are partnered with or owned by controversial entities. The partnership and ownership of these tournament organisers have come through faustian bargains, where the money that comes in overshadows the ethics of the deals. This leaves esports organisations in a position, in some cases, if they want to survive they have to compete, or turn the key on their CS:GO projects.

You might ask, why wouldn’t they just compete in other tournaments? Well, Blast and ESL are by far the biggest tournament organisers in CS:GO, with the biggest prestige, prize money and viewing numbers. The eyeballs watching their team is the main selling point to their sponsors, and sponsors are the main revenue income for these teams. The predicament rises, if the sponsors don’t want their names associated with teams competing in the tournaments from these tournament organisers, which is a deadly spiral, that without interference could mean the death of CS:GO esports as we know it.

Even with this predicament in mind, Kenneth Cortsen, PhD and sports economist comments:

“As we have seen with other sports, several countries have also started investing in esport. Here, of course, sports organisations need to think about where the money comes from and what they want to be associated with, because sport has become a platform through which certain countries nurture geopolitical interests and use soft power sponsorships. Sport has thus become the subject of sportswashing, where the image of these countries are ‘polished’ with the help of the sport’s popularity”

Natus Vincere, Astralis, Faze Clan, Heroic, and Apeks do not wish to comment at this time.

With all this said, there is still a Yemen-sized elephant in the room.

The War In Yemen

Entering the geopolitical scene of economics, we can no longer ignore the national conflicts of the countries involved, whereto the horrible war in Yemen takes precedence. There are two actors in the Yemen war, the Shi’a north against a Sunni south. The north is more prosperous, whereas the south isn’t, but the leaders decided to unite the two, as they believed they were stronger together than apart. The President of the new Yemen is from the south, and the former northern President has become the Vice President. With a unification of different people, tensions are unavoidable. These tensions started the downfall of the Yemeni project, which led to the north declaring its independence.

This started the brutal fighting between the two regions, where the Shi’a north is supported by Iran and Russia. The Sunni south is supported by Saudi Arabia, UAE, USA and more. The south had allegedly made secret deals with Al-Qaeda, where Al-Qaeda was asked to leave key cities and towns, let others retreat with weapons, equipment and wads of looted cash, an investigation from The Associated Press has found (Source 1, 2, 3). During this bloody war, the UN has verified that more than 10.200 children have been killed or injured, where the actual number is likely much higher (Source). 233.000 people have died since 2015, where an estimated 131.000 are the result of food insecurity and lack of health services (Source).

Money coming into the esports industry is from the same people who also fund a civil war that has lasted since 2015 with more than a quarter of a million people dead, which includes 10.200 children.

NEOM Failed At The Hand of the Community

The day NEOM announced their sponsorship with the LEC, there was an immediate outrage from fans, players, and talent, where the community took a stance when it would come to controversial sponsorships, forcing the LEC to end the sponsorship. Shortly after Blast also announced NEOM as a sponsor, and the noise from League of Legends fans, talent and players bled into the CS:GO space, which later forced Blast to end the sponsorship. To understand why NEOM was a controversial sponsor, a little background information, NEOM, who has Mohammed Bin Salmen as chairman, is a:

“New community that will be the home and workplace for more than a million citizens from around the world who want to be part of building a new model for sustainable living, working, and prospering in Saudi Arabia.” (LoL Esports)

Although their ambitions are large, the way this ambition is reached could be within the wrong execution, and fit under the age old saying; the end doesn’t justify the means. One factor was the land NEOM would be built on, the desolate terrain between the Red Sea coast and the mountainous Jordanian border, where the Bedouin Huwaitat tribe were already living. As for the promise of NEOM to “create jobs and generate wealth in this underdeveloped region” (Source). What happened to the Bedouin Huwaitat tribe was a different story. Two towns and 20.000 of the Huwaitat tribe were forcefully removed, without adequate compensation. The question might arise, what happens if they didn’t want to move? This happened to Abdulrahim al-Huwaiti, who in April 2020 refused to be evicted from his home in Tabuk and began posting videos online. A few days later, he was shot by Saudi security forces (Source). Mohamed Bin Salmen the owner of NEOM and SSG did this, who is a part of esports now, whether we like it or not.

This example shows how NEOM tried to wash their blood money within the esports space and failed.

The reaction from the community, talent, and players show, if they stand together, they can overcome faustian bargains made between business people behind the scenes. This is not the case with other industries, as McLaren Formula 1 Team announced NEOM as a proud sponsor of their team on June 27th 2022 saying “NEOM is an accelerator of human progress and a vision of what a New Future might look like.” (Source).

It is worth considering that esports is in the unique situation where there is a lot of communication and interaction between the fans, the organisations, tournament organisers, and the commercial entities, there is a real impact to be made. The situation is different in traditional sports, where there is a natural wall between the fans, the commercial and professional entities. This is the superpower esports has over the other entertainment and sports industries.

Esports has defied a controversial sponsor coming in with blood money once, so why is it it didn’t happen this time around?

What Happened To Ethics In Esports?

These are the people, who our industry is making faustian deals with. People who have restrictive rules and humanitarian violations, war crimes and alleged association with Al-Qaeda, but that oil money sure tastes good, doesn’t it?

This leads to the question of the previously mentioned superpower esports has over other entertainment and sports industries, is it lost? Why has the reaction been so underwhelming, when just a couple of years back, the industry was outraged by the same money entering the space?

This time the strategy from SGG and ADG was to start in Counter-Strike, as their reaction wasn’t on par with that of the League of Legends community in the previously mentioned NEOM deal. The Counter-Strike fans went along with the bandwagon after the League of Legends community sparked the outrage.

As long as the fans can watch their favourite players shoot heads in video games, it doesn’t matter where the money comes from, right?

With the vast amount of controversial money being washed in these deals, it all leads back to the title, and is a proof of why profits is the only language spoken in esports, where you can have ethics if you can afford it.

When did we start not to care? We did it before — we can do it again, and should so because we owe it to those whose lives have been wronged by these people. We owe it to our community.

We owe it to esports.

This is an archived article, originally posted on Medium Jul 8th 2022

On May 25th 2023 Espionage introduced themselves as a new Danish esports organization, 10 months later the story will end.

Espionage had some notable results, they were in the final of the IEM Chengdu 2024 European Qualifier, where they lost in the final 0–2 to Nemiga, which barely let the team miss out on the Chinese tournament.

Furthermore, Espionage qualified and ended 3rd-4th in the Pelaajat.com Series Spring 2024, losing 1–2 to the Finnish team TOOMUCHVIDEOGAMES.

According to several sources close to the team the organization will shut down their operations in the near future.

Espionage did not respond to the request for a comment.

This is an archived article, originally posted on Medium Apr 11th 2024

It was setup for a fantastic final for the sole full Danish represented team at the first ever Counter-Strike 2 Major, which took place in Royal Arena in Denmark.

It was a celebration of Counter-Strike and must have been a special feeling for the Ecstatic team and players, who finished 12th-14th with fellow Danes Rene “TeSeS” Madsen, Nico “nicoodoz” Tamjidi and Rasmus “sjuush” Beck from Heroic.

This celebration did not last long for the Ecstatic players, who’ve recently been placed at #18 on HLTV’s World Rankings, a source close to the team has confirmed that the team will not be resigned after a successful Major run.

The source also confirmed that it is due to financial trouble within the organization, that they decided to not resign with their Counter-Strike 2 roster.

However, it is still unknown whether the team will be benched before their contracts expire or not.

The roster that will not be resigned is:

• Patrick “Patti” Larsen

• Magnus “Nodios” Olsen

• Jonas “Queenix” Dideriksen

• Tobias “kraghen” Kragh Jensen

• Jason “salazar” Salazar

Ecstatic were asked for a comment, and said that it wasn’t true.

This is an archived article, originally posted on Medium Apr 7th 2024

After the merger and acquisition of FACEIT and ESL Gaming in Q2 of 2020 by Saudi Arabia owned Savvy Gaming Group, the game we love has been reduced to a sportswashing scheme. The desparate fixation on statistics “forces” the TO’s to focus on high level events free of charge for the online viewers, which led to the Faustian bargain.

However, it is not the only instance this happened, as Blast went into a partnership with Abu Dhabi. 30% of BLAST is owned by Vækstfonden (The Danish Growth Fund), which is a taxpayer funded investment fund, who's goal is to help with growth in Danish companies (Source). This received heavy criticism from Danish politician Søren Søndergaard, who said to DR Sporten:

“One thing is that private companies invest in Abu Dhabi and similar dictatorship states, but Danish taxpayers should not contribute to that. Therefore, I will discuss with the minister whether it really can be right that the Growth Fund, which explicitly has business ethics and social responsibility in its mission, should directly or indirectly contribute to investments in this princely dictatorship,” (Source).

Furthermore, it has been heavily criticized by Amnesty International Denmark, where the press manager Malene Haakanson mentions the sportswashing aspect of the deal and says further:

“As a state financing fund, the Growth Fund has an increased responsibility, and therefore, it should ask Blast what considerations and preparations they have made before choosing to engage in a partnership in a country known for serious human rights violations” (Source).

They are currently the two biggest tournament organizers within the Counter-Strike space, who made a soft franchising model with their partners.

Valve Plans To End Franchising

There is light at the end of the tunnel, as Valve issued a statement on the 3rd of August 2023, with the fitting name “A Level Playing Field”, where by 2025 franchising will not be a possibility in their IP (Source).

This will lessen the power and impact that these tournament organizers will have on the scene, which in turn will let other tournament organizers compete side-by-side in a level playing field.

This gives the teams the choice that was removed after the Faustian bargain was struck, whether to compete in these tournaments or not. Furthermore, it has created an incentive for other tournament organizers to try the market for subscription-based viewing and gain a stable economic basis to take a stance and compete against the influence the Middle-East has built up until this point. The possibility for the market to have matured enough and grown a conscience is a real option, as it has been seen previously with the instances of the backlash Blast and LEC’s earlier merger with Saudi Arabia was undone due to community pressure.

The Agency Of Morality Could Be On The Rise

The esports industry is in a dark period economically, which can disincentivize the organisations to be morally upstanding. The maturity of the scene is grey and clouded at best, which is best represented by how there was a lackluster reaction of the community from the ESL Gaming and FACEIT merger, as well as questionable hires from organizations, such as Swedish organization Ninjas In Pyjamas who hired a celebrity sex offender as senior video producer, or the fact that the fans never have payed for their entertainment, which led to this situation to happen.

Furthermore, there is the duality of morals and hypocrisy from people within the industry, for example Jonas Gundersen, the COO of Ninjas In Pyjamas calling for lack of diversity at the PGL Stockholm Major in October 2021, to then later announce their new office in Abu Dhabi, while also finishing their merger with Chinese digital sports ESV5. This is just one example of how immature the actors of the esports scene is/has been.

However, this chance gives an active choice for organizations working within the Counter-Strike space, where they have the agency to pick and choose the tournaments they participate in, and not be contractually obliged. Two wrongs don’t make a right, but from 2025 and onwards, there is no excuse for the organizations who advertise for their morality, with their pride flags in June and celebration for International Women's Day, to be accountable for their actions and stances.

This is an archived article, originally posted on Medium Sep 7th 2023

Copenhagen Flames made one of the biggest cinderella runs in recent Major history during the PGL Stockholm Major, narrowly missing top 8, which cemented the team as a stable top 30 team on HLTV’s rankings. With Fredrik “roeJ” Jørgensen and Nico “nicoodoz” Tamjidi joining Fnatic and Jakob “jabbi” Nygaard joining Heroic, Copenhagen Flames have had to get back to the drawing board.

According to multiple sources close to the team, Copenhagen Flames is ready to present their main lineup. Their captain will be current Ecstatic IGL birdfromsky, who has been with the organization since late 2019. In early 2022 they rebranded from Lyngby Vikings to Ecstatic. He will be joined by ex-MAD Lions duo b0RUP and TMB and Fnatic Rising AWPer regali.

The final player will be current Sprout player raalz. The sources mention that Zyphon is a high priority target as a replacement for raalz in the Germany-based team.

According to the sources, the CPH Flames will consist of:

Thomas “birdfromsky” Due-Frederiksen
Johannes “b0RUP” Borup
Thomas “TMB” Bundsbæk
Rasmus “raalz” Steensborg
Iulian “regali” Harjău

Copenhagen Flames did not answer when I asked for a comment.

Sprout has chosen not to comment.

Read more: Sources: Copenhagen Flames have signed an academy roster

Follow my journey

This is an archived article, originally posted on Medium Jul 24th 2022

*Update: Sources have mentioned that the team has made changes, and will consist of speedy, fez, inspire, hansi, and bunny.

According to sources close to the team, Copenhagen Flames is set to sign a new academy team and will take Linx Legacy’s spot in the Danish POWER League.

Linx Legacy’s IGL and captain Inspire took the spot with him and will give it to the future Copenhagen Flames Academy lineup. The sources have not disclosed whether the team will compete in the WEPlay Academy League. The team will have an average age of 19,2.

According to the sources, the team will consist of:

David “Inspire” Rasmussen (IGL)
Andreas “Hansi” Schougaard Hansen (AWP)
Sigurd “buNNy” Fritzbøger (Riffler)
Jamie “leakz” Bugge West Jensen (Riffler)
William “dez1per” Søgaard (Riffler)

Copenhagen Flames has chosen not to comment.

This is an archived article, originally posted on Medium Jul 22nd 2022

Sources close to the team has confirmed that Asger ‘AcilioN’ Larsen is benched from the active CS:GO roster of Norwegian organization Apeks.

AcilioN joined Apeks in June 2021, as the first piece to the upcoming overhaul. Later he was joined by Martin ‘STYKO’ Styk and Joakim ‘jkaem’ Myrbostad, former NiP awper Tim ‘nawwk’ Jonasson and young Swedish talent Hugo ‘chawzyyy’ Günther. AcilioN was a part of Apeks for a calendar year, where they peaked as #28 on HLTV’s rankings.

The benching isn’t necessarily due to performance. Sources disclose that it might be because of the recent allegations. Furthermore, the sources mention that a replacement hasn’t been found yet.

Apeks has chosen not to comment.

This is an archived article, originally posted on Medium Jun 22nd 2022

Sources close to the team has confirmed that MSL, oskar, suNny, supra and Nodios with coach lmbt has signed a contract with an org and is to be announced in the coming weeks. Nodios has hinted at it.

Mathias ‘MSL’ Lauridsen has a storied career but has been missed on the scene since his departure from North in late-November 2020, which has led the Dane without representing an organization since then. The Dane has competed on different mix teams, without success, but is now back with an org backing him and his team. One of the outstanding accomplishments MSL reached, was the victory at Dreamhack Masters Stockholm 2018, where he took the primary AWP role, won the MVP for the whole event, and winning against prime era Astralis.

Joining MSL is Miikka ‘suNny’ Kemppi, who latest competed for the then all-finish ENCE line-up until late December in 2020. A big accomplishment for sunNy was at ESL One: New York 2018, where his Mousesports team ended up victorious and suNny claiming an EVP.

One of suNny’s former teammates at the previously mentioned Mousesports team who also will join this team is Tomáš “oskar” Šťastný. oskar recently represented SINNERS until mid-January, where he was let go, but shortly after joined the mix team called GORILLAZ, where suNny and later MSL also became a part of. oskar is a well-known talent and has proven his skill several times at the highest level. At ESL One: New York 2018, oskar also received an EVP for his performance at their victory at the event.

Joining the three veterans is a young Estonian player; Anton ‘supra’ Tšernobai, who was a part of the former Gambit Youngsters lineup, and latest competed for Nordavind until October 2021. Supra mainly achieved his results during the online-era, where Gambit Youngsters were hard to stop in the online environment, seeing him winning several B-tier tournaments.

The final player is Magnus ‘Nodios’ Brok Olsen, who on several occasions represented Copenhagen Flames, and was a part of the failed AGF Esports experiment. But in AGF, Nodios still showed his talent and was a positive recognizable player in a sinking ship. He has been inactive since closure of the AGF project back in April 2022. Nodios has been a proven player on the Danish scene and is well recognized for his talent, where expectations for him will be high.

The final piece is the coach Sergey ‘lmbt’ Bezhanov, who was the coach for the storied run Mousesports had at ESL One: New York 2018. Furthermore, he has coached teams such as Hellraisers, AVANGAR and forZe.

The ESL One: New York 2018 final saw Russel ‘Twistzz’ Van Dulken show his supreme talent for the world, trying singlehandedly bringing a struggling Team Liquid across the finish line, but was met with a wall that was Mousesports.

Experience is the one word that can describe this veteraned team filled with players who has something to prove. They will have an exciting journey ahead of them. Can they become what they were? Can they live up to the expectations, especially their own? Can the veterans in this line-up prove once-more that age might not be a factor when competing at the highest level and prove that they belong to the finest class of talent we have in Europe. Do they still posses this talent? Only time will tell.

According to the sources, the team will consist of:

Mathias ‘MSL’ Lauridsen

Tomáš “oskar” Šťastný

Miikka ‘suNny’ Kemppi

Anton ‘supra’ Tšernobai

Magnus ‘Nodios’ Brok Olsen

Sergey ‘lmbt’ Bezhanov (Coach)

The team did not reply when asked for a comment

This is an archived article, originally posted on Medium Jun 5th 2022

The candidates varies in age and nationality, but one thing that aligns them all is a high level of individual play and fragging potential.

Back on February 16th in 2022, OG announced they were having an open tryout for upcoming players to be a part of their academy project.

https://twitter.com/OGcsgo/status/1493998391315030021

Sources close to the team have confirmed that there are a number of players at this stage of their tryouts, which include former stand-in for Complexity and MOUZ, NaToSaphiX, as well as, the russian player KaiR0n-, who impressed for Spirit Academy in WEPlay Academy League.

Furthermore, the sources also confirm players such as:
rinory, shaiK, Brens, maty, DEPRESHN, CYPHER, s0und, Skog, Dengzoe, koudelka, eltrzzi, brens, meztal, whatev3_r and Nolv1n are still in the tryouts.

This is a mix of young and experienced players with different nationalities, which leads to believe that OG’s academy team will be an international team.

OG Academy has chosen not to comment.

This is an archived article, originally posted on Medium Apr 29th 2022

According to multiple sources close to the team, AGF has signed their new five-man roster for their main CS:GO Team.

In the mix there are several known players from previous Danish lineups. Cajunb was formerly representing TSM, an earlier iteration of Astralis and most recently North, where he was teammates with Kristou.

During the dissapointing Season 17 of Dust2’s POWER League, cajunb joined the AGF roster halfway through the season and played with the team as a stand-in, now he is becoming a stable member of the roster. Where the team did not reach a top-6 in the regular season, leaving them out of playoffs.

From last seasons roster only Cabbi and fr0slev remains. Furthermore, the team picked up former Copenhagen Flames player Nodios to fill out the last spot.

According to the sources the lineup will consist of:

• René “cajunb” Borg (IGL)

• Kristoffer “Kristou” Aamand (AWP)

• Casper “Cabbi” Jensen (Riffler)

• Magnus “fr0slev” Frøslev (Riffler)

• Magnus “Nodios” Brok Olsen (Riffler)

AGF did not respond when I reached out for a comment.

This is an archived article, originally posted on Medium Aug 3rd 2021

It is still unknown whether it is in the interest for both Astralis and Lucky to become a stable member or if Lucky is going to be the 6th man.

According to the sources, Lucky will join the team after he finishes High School, but that might be earlier since several contracts of the Astralis players expire at the end of the year.

As mentioned in my previous article, Lucky is a fan favourite to fill in the gap that dev1ce left after joining NiP in April. Sources close to Nordavind confirmed that Daniel “mertz” Mertz has signed a new contract, which makes him not in contention for Astralis.

Lucky has since January 2020 played for Tricked Esport, where he has competed in both ESEA Advanced and the Dust2.dk’s POWER League top division. Lucky claimed MVP in the recent two seasons of the POWER League (S15 & S16). For the current POWER League season, Lucky is topping the Rating of the regular play with 1.30. With this pace, Lucky is set to win his third back-to-back MVP title.

After NiP signed dev1ce in April earlier this year, there has been radio silence from the Astralis camp as for what the future might hold for their CS:GO roster.

The rumoured Astralis lineup will consist of:

• Lukas “gla1ve” Rossander

• Emil “Magisk” Reif

• Andreas “Xyp9x” Højsleth

• Peter “dupreeh” Rasmussen

• Lucas “Bubzkji” Andersen

• Philip “Lucky” Ewald

• Danny “zonic” Sørensen (Coach)

Astralis, Lucky and Tricked has chosen not to comment.

Do you want more information about Lucky? Check this video out 👇

This is an archived article, originally posted on Medium Jun 25th 2021

According to sources close to the team the danish AWPer Daniel ‘mertz’ Mertz is close to signing with Astralis’ CS:GO roster. ‘mertz’ is currently playing for Nordavind and has formerly represented both North and Heroic.

There has been some rumbling on the Danish scene that Tricked’s AWPer Philip “Lucky” Ewald would be a fan favourite to join Astralis and after Tricked resigned their former academy player Emil “jekuz1h” Gregersen from CEPTER BITSKINS.

The sources points their fingers towards ‘mertz’, though the sources couldn’t say if ‘mertz’ would replace a player or if Astralis would run a six man roster again.

According the sources Astralis’ CS:GO roster will consist of:

Lukas “gla1ve” Rossander
Emil “Magisk” Reif
Andreas “Xyp9x” Højsleth
Peter “dupreeh” Rasmussen
Lucas “Bubzkji” Andersen
Daniel “mertz” Mertz
Danny “zonic” Sørensen

Astralis chose not to comment.

Dansk

Ifølge kilder tæt på holdene er den danske AWPer Daniel “mertz” Mertz tæt på at tilslutte sig Astralis’ CS:GO roster. ‘mertz’ spiller nuværende for Nordavind og har tidligere repræsenteret North og Heroic.

Der har været spekuleringer på den danske scene at Tricked’s awper, Philip “Lucky” Ewald, ville være en fanfavorit til at joine holdet, og med Tricked’s signing af deres tidligere academy spiller Emil “jekuz1h” Gregersen fra CEPTER BITSKINS kunne man godt spekulere at det var Astralis som ‘Lucky’ ville tilslutte sig.

Her pejer kilderne mod ‘mertz’, dog uden svar på hvem han skulle erstatte på holdet eller om Astralis ville køre en seksmands roster igen.

Ifølge kilderne ender Astralis’ CS:GO roster til at hedde:

Lukas “gla1ve” Rossander
Emil “Magisk” Reif
Andreas “Xyp9x” Højsleth
Peter “dupreeh” Rasmussen
Lucas “Bubzkji” Andersen
Daniel “mertz” Mertz
Danny “zonic” Sørensen

Astralis valgte ikke at give en kommentar.

This is an archived article, originally posted on Medium Jun 7th 2021

Ifølge kilder tæt på holdet, har AaB Esport mistet tre spillere og er ved at genopbygge deres roster. Spillerne de har mistet er: Oliver “hezyy” Sjøbjerg, Hjalte “GiZM0” Lunden-fagervold og Rasmus “FrawFact” Munk Kristiansen.

AaB Esport endte sidste sæson i Elgiganten Ligaen (nu kalder POWER Ligaen) med 8w/16l og endte i relegation. Her endte AaB med at vinde over AGF Academy i den afgørende kamp og bibeholdte deres spot i den næste sæson af POWER Ligaen.

AaB’s nuværende hold består derfor af:
Alexander “alexsomfan” Nielsen
Benjamin “Vaegten” Badstue

AaB har ikke reageret, da de blev spurgt om en kommentar.

According to sources close to the team, AaB Esport has lost three players and is about to rebuild their roster. The players they have lost are: Oliver “hezyy” Sjøbjerg, Hjalte “GiZM0” Lunden-fagervold og Rasmus “FrawFact” Munk Kristiansen.

AaB Esport ended last season in Elgiganten Ligaen (now named POWER Ligaen) with an 8w/16l score and ended in relegation. In relegation AaB bested AGF Academy in the deciding match and kept their spot in the next season of POWER Ligaen.

AaB’s current roster consists of:
Alexander “alexsomfan” Nielsen
Benjamin “Vaegten” Badstue

AaB has not reacted when asked to comment on this article.

This is an archived article, originally posted on Medium Apr 14th 2021

English version below

Tidlige dette år skiftede Astralis Talent deres In-Game-Leader Mathias “R0nic” Pinholt til den tidligere Masonic spiller Alexander “Altekz” Givskov.

Før Dust2.dks POWER Liga sæson 17 løber af stablen leder Astralis Talent nu efter en spiller efter de annoncerede at Rasmus “Zyphon” Nordfoss blev bænket d. 8. Marts.

Ifølge kilder tæt på holdet går valget på 17-årige Mikkel “n1xen” Borlund, som spillede sidste sæson af ligaen for den velkendte danske organisation Spirit of Amiga (SoA) og sluttede sæsonen af med en rating på 1.24, bliver den nye spiller for Astralis Talent.

Earlier in the year Astralis Talent switched their In-Game-Leader Mathias “R0nic” Pinholt to former Masonic player Alexander “Altekz” Givskov.

Now prior to the season start Astralis Talent is looking to fill the void after they announced the benching of Rasmus “Zyphon” Nordfoss on the 8th of March.

According to sources close to the team, 17 year-old Mikkel “n1xen” Borlund is set to fill out the empty spot. n1xen played last season for the well-known danish organization Spirit of Amiga (SoA). In Dust2.dk’s 1st Division n1xen ended with a rating of 1.24.

This is an archived article, originally posted on Medium Apr 9th 2021

Den danske esports organisation er ved at have et lineup klar til den nye Elgiganten Liga og ESEA sæson som henholdsvist løber af stablen d. 11 Januar og d. 14 Januar. Der er et enkelt tilbagevendende navn på rosteren, nemlig Teis “tmL” Løwenstein. Flere kilder tæt på holdet bekræfter at tmL vil spille med hans tidligere elev på Højer Design Efterskole Tobias “damkilde” Damkilde. Ifølge kilderne kommer de til at spille med Dennis “zyllo” Sørensen, Simon “cleMeNz0” Jensen og Lucas “gnøffe” Brunsvig.

Ifølge kilderne kommer holdet til at se sådan ud:
🇩🇰 Teis “tmL” Løwenstein
🇩🇰 Dennis “zyllo” Sørensen
🇩🇰 Lucas “gnøffe” Brunsvig
🇩🇰 Simon “cleMeNz0” Jensen
🇩🇰 Tobias “damkilde” Damkilde

Esimed har valgt ikke at kommentere

Følg mine socials for flere nyheder:
https://twitter.com/puffincsgo
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCOMw-4W5MpcUOl8TBOD1CbQ

The danish esports organization is soon ready to present their new lineup prior to the start of Elgiganten Ligaen and the new ESEA season, which kicks off at respectively the 11th of January and the 14th of January. According to multiple sources, there is one returning name in Teis “tmL” Løwenstein. The sources also confirm that tmL will be joined by his former student at Højer Design Efterskole, Tobias “damkilde” Damkilde. Furthermore, they will be joined by Dennis “zyllo” Sørensen, Simon “cleMeNz0” Jensen og Lucas “gnøffe” Brunsvig.

According to the sources, the finalized lineup will be:
🇩🇰 Teis “tmL” Løwenstein
🇩🇰 Dennis “zyllo” Sørensen
🇩🇰 Lucas “gnøffe” Brunsvig
🇩🇰 Simon “cleMeNz0” Jensen
🇩🇰 Tobias “damkilde” Damkilde

Esimed has chosen not to comment.

Follow ny socials for more news:
https://twitter.com/puffincsgo
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCOMw-4W5MpcUOl8TBOD1CbQ

This is an archived article, originally posted on Medium Jan 3rd 2021

English version below

Som en glød i den mørke nat, genopstår en dansk organisation med et nyt førstehold til deres CS:GO afdeling.

Ignite har været et prominent navn i den danske CS:GO scene siden opstarten i December 2017, som har set tidligere spillere som kiR, Lucky1 og Nodios.

Holdet bliver ledt af den tidligere Copenhagen Games vinder og erfarne In-Game Leader i Peter “Inzta” Kragelund, der står i spidsen for et lineup som har en gennemsnitsalder på 20,4.

Denne sæson skal Ignites mandskab kæmpe med i ESEA Main og Dust2.dk 1. Division. Målet for holdet på kort sigt er at rykke op i ESEA Advanced og Elgigant Ligaen. Her uddyber Ignite’s Head Coach:

“Vi starter i 1. division i den danske liga, hvilket ikke gør os det store. Vi har indspilnings sæson både i dansk og internationalt regi, så at starte lavere vil være godt for drengenes selvtillid og det vil ikke øge vores pres på at vi skal præstere, da vi uden tvivl rykker op i Elgiganten Ligaen den kommende sæson. Vi kommer til at have en gennemarbejdet map pool når vi skal lege med de større hold og skal ikke til at opbygge den først. Det tror jeg bliver en stor fordel for os i det lange løb. Internationalt starter vi i ESEA Main, hvor vores klare mål er at ramme ESEA Advanced. Vi fortsætter med at opbygge vores map pool så den er klar til sæsonstart, og så finpudser vi løbende.” — Nicklas “Creakz” Johansen, Head Coach

Udover Creakz har Ignite også Alexander “nopze” Kobberø som Sportsdirektør og Morten “Krez” Møller som Team Supervisor. Disse er hovederne som står til ansvar for Ignite’s CS:GO afdeling.

Med dette sagt er Ignite klar til at præsentere deres nye lineup:
🇩🇰 Peter “Inzta” Kragelund (IGL)
🇩🇰 Oliver “fakeZ” Holsted (AWPer)
🇩🇰 Nicklas “Jarko” Rasmussen (Riffler)
🇩🇰 Anton “Anlelele” Huynh (Riffler)
🇩🇰 Marcus “ch0zen” Reisz (Riffler)

Like an ember in the dark night, reignites a danish organization with a new first team for their CS:GO division.

Ignite has been a prominent name in the danish CS:GO landscape since its founding in December of 2017, which has earlier presented players such as kiR, Lucky1 and Nodios.

The team will be lead by former Copenhagen Games winner and experienced In-Game Leader Peter “Inzta” Kragelund, who will captain the team with an average age of 20,4.

In the upcoming season Ignite is competing in ESEA Main and Dust2.dk’s 1st Division. The short term goal for the team is to move up to ESEA Advanced and Elgigant Ligaen. This is expanded upon by the Head Coach of the team:

“We are starting in the 1st division in the danish league, which we don’t mind. We have an inaugural season in both danish and international leagues, starting lower will help the boys and their self confidence, which won’t add pressure when we face the bigger teams, when we without a doubt move up to Elgiganten Ligaen the following season. We will have a finished map pool when we are to play the better teams instead of working on the map pool when facing them. I think it will be a significant advantage for us on long term. Internationally we start in ESEA Main, where our clear goals are to reach Advanced. We continue to widen our map pool so its ready for season start and make adjustments along the way”

Besides Creakz, Ignite has Alexander “nopze” Kobberø as Sports Director and Morten “Krez” Møller as Team Supervisor. These are the people behind Ignite’s CS:GO division.

With that said Ignite are proud to announce their new lineup:
🇩🇰 Peter “Inzta” Kragelund (IGL)
🇩🇰 Oliver “fakeZ” Holsted (AWPer)
🇩🇰 Nicklas “Jarko” Rasmussen (Riffler)
🇩🇰 Anton “Anlelele” Huynh (Riffler)
🇩🇰 Marcus “ch0zen” Reisz (Riffler)

This is an archived article, originally posted on Medium Dec 30th 2020

Aalborg Rebels annoncerede tidligere på måneden at de bænkede Nicklas ‘Jarko’ Rasmussen, Anton ‘Anlelele’ Huynh og Christian ‘Vster’ Herbst efter en godkendt sæson i Elgigant Ligaen, hvor holdet sluttede på en 5.-6. plads. Gennem dialog med spillerne blev der oplyst at det var en aktiv taget af spillerne selv om at blive bænket.

Dette efterlod Philip ‘vestr’ Vestergaard og Simon ‘dinesen’ Dinesen som de sidste to på holdkortet.

Flere kilder tæt på holdet bekræfter at to ud af tre spillere er fundet til at udfylde de ledige pladser som der er på Aalborg Rebels’ CS:GO hold. Spillerne der er tale om er Mikkel ‘Tonic’ Møller og Lasse ‘Runøe’ Larsen. Der var en femte mand inde over holdet i form af Steven ‘zentic’ Kieler, dog har zentic valgt at deltage et andet hold frem for at tilslutte sig Aalborg Rebels mandskabet.

Dette betyder at Aalborg Rebels leder aktivt efter en sidste spiller til at fuldende deres CS:GO lineup.

Ifølge kilderne kommer Aalborg Rebels til at se sådan ud:
🇩🇰 Philip ‘vestr’ Vestergaard
🇩🇰 Simon ‘dinesen’ Dinesen
🇩🇰 Mikkel ‘Tonic’ Møller
🇩🇰 Lasse ‘Runøe’ Larsen

Aalborg Rebels har ikke en kommentar til denne nyhed.

Følg mine socials for flere nyheder:
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Earlier this month the danish organization Aalborg Rebels announced the benching of three of their CS:GO players. The players in question are Nicklas ‘Jarko’ Rasmussen, Anton ‘Anlelele’ Huynh and Christian ‘Vster’ Herbst, who benched themselves.

This left the remaining two players Philip ‘vestr’ Vestergaard and Simon ‘dinesen’ Dinesen, who had to rebuild their roster for the challenges facing them in 2021.

Multiple sources close to the team confirm the arrival of Mikkel ‘Tonic’ Møller and Lasse ‘Runøe’ Larsen. The fifth member was supposed to be Steven ‘zentic’ Kieler, but zentic chose to pursue another opportunity, which leaves the team in need of a player before the endeavours of 2021 hits the team.

According to the sources, Aalborg Rebels will consist of:
🇩🇰 Philip ‘vestr’ Vestergaard
🇩🇰 Simon ‘dinesen’ Dinesen
🇩🇰 Mikkel ‘Tonic’ Møller
🇩🇰 Lasse ‘Runøe’ Larsen

Aalborg Rebels have not made a comment on this story.

Follow my socials for more news:
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This is an archived article, originally posted on Medium Dec 23rd 2020