CS:GO Shuffles of the week #2

As the year 2018 is already behind us, we have completed a list of the most exciting changes on the Counter-Strike: Global Offensive professional scene to make sure you will be up to date in the upcoming season.

As you probably already know, the Christmas time is in esports scene quieter than any other month. Players enjoy well deserved free time with their families and friends, and the tournament organizers are preparing for the start of the next season.  

However, the changes are always on. Always. So I bet you will be shocked at which teams re-build their roster for the year of 2019. So don't waste a minute and let's jump into it. 

Made in Brazil goes entirely Brazilian line-up once again.

The first changes in our CS:GO Shuffles rubric is not that surprising, but looking very exciting on the paper. It is almost a year when Gabriel "FalleN" Toledo and co. benched a long time squad member Epitacio "TACO" de Melo and started to write a new chapter of their story with American rifler Jake "Stewie2k" Yip from rival Cloud9. It was for the first time when we saw in this roster non-Portuguese speaking player, so all of the members had to switch their communication to the English. 

The team had high expectations from this move, however, the communication skills of  Ricardo "Boltz" Prass wasn't good enough to stay on the top level, and another change came with less than a month from Stewie arrival.

Ricardo was the second Brazilian who had been replaced by another American hybrid player from C9, Tarik "tarik" Celik. From my perspective, it was a great move. The trio of FalleN, coldzera, and fer were always scary, especially on offline events and with a combination of two Major winners from Boston 2018, it should be a new beginning of this American-Brazilian stars. However, it wasn't. Except ZOTAC Cup Masters in Hong Kong, where the Made in Brazil won against Polish Kinguin in Grand finals, the team was struggling for almost the rest of the year. 

Made in Brazil CS:GO roster. From left: FalleN, tarik, coldzera, Stewie2k, fer

That's why the CEO of Made in Brazil Noah Whinston (also the owner of team Immortals) made an official statement that at the start of the year, the line-up will switch back to entirely Brazilian players. So the American duo was removed from the roster with immediate impact and the whole community was waiting what is going to happen. 

The first change was easy to guess. The old member of the golden era of SK-Gaming (from the current Made in Brazil line-up) is Epitacio "TACO" de Melo who is coming back home from the current best team in North American, Team Liquid. The good news is that Stewie2k will replace a TACO in Team Liquid and will not have to look for the new team to represent. The second name is also well-known at professional CS scene. João "felps" Vasconcellos was part of this roster back in 2017 where the squad won five international trophies and was number one team in the worldwide ranking. So the golden era is back in business, and we will look very carefully what the new season will bring for the Brazilian beasts. 

FaZe with a new coach and entry fragger

The second change in the pro scene is North American giant; team FaZe. European mix was build at the beginning of the last year, with star players like Rain or Niko on board led by Danish veteran Finn "Karrigan" Andersen. The start of the season was promising for the team, while the squad won seven trophies, including an ELEAGUE CS:GO Premier and several ESL events such as ESL One Belo Horizonte or IEM Sydney. However, the second season wasn't that great for them, during the FaZe fell out of the top 5 worldwide ranking with only one trophy at  EPICENTER 2018 in Moscow. 

In November 2018, Niko announced via his Twitter account that changes are necessary and he would be the new in-game leader of the squad, which started rumors about the Karrigan's future. Finn is one of the most experienced leaders in the business, but if you look at his performance last few months, there were times where his experience wasn't enough to stay on the highest level. 

With that being said, a few days before Christmas day, Karrigan announced that he is no longer part of FaZe current line-up and will search for a new home in the upcoming season. Only a few days later,  another North American organization EnVyUs announced a Karrigan signing, where the team already booked a ticket for the next Major in Katowice, Poland 2019.

The best of Karrigan during his time in FaZe Clan.

After Karrigan departure, the community waited almost two weeks for the Finn replacement, but eventually, we have learned that Dauren "AdreN" Kystaubayev who had been last seen at PGL Major winner, Russian team Gambit will fill the last spot of FaZe Clan CS:GO roster. In an official statement, the management of FaZe revealed that Dauren signed a short-term contract which will see him play for the team until the end of the IEM Katowice Major, kicking off February 13. 

Last, but not least change in FaZe Clan is a departure of another "old school" veteran from Scandinavia, Robert "RobbaN" Dahlström who made a name for himself playing for teams like NiP, Begrip or SK Gaming in Counter-Strike 1.6 and working with the team since February 2016 as a head coach.

The 33-year-old stepped down from the roster due to personal reasons, having recently become a father for the second time and the traveling schedule will not allow him to be a father as he wants to be which is in my opinion very reasonable decision.  On the other hand, Robert added that he will be transitioning to a new role in FaZe, which means he will stay in the organization, probably as a mentor or analytics of the squad. 

The team didn't wait too long and announced a new head coach in less than a week. Remember when I was talking about Made in Brazil? I deliberately waited for this moment, because TACO and Felps weren't only one change the Brazilian made. Taco took his coach Wilton "zews" Prado from Team Liquid to complete the Mibr roster; however, it means that Serbian analytics and head coach of the previous squad was benched as well as the Americans players, which brings us to FaZe Clan where Janko "YNk" Paunović will be the new head coach of FaZe. 

Only time and the new upcoming season will show us if these changes were right or not, but in my eyes, I can't wait to see if the original lineup of Mibr from 2017 will be good enough to stop Danish machine Astralis, who was unbeatable last year. What do you think guys, hit me with your thoughts in a comment below!