SINNERS Esports Signs oksar

Czech esports organization SINNERS Esports recently announced the addition of Tomáš "oskar" Šťastný to its Counter-Strike: Global Offensive roster, with the veteran AWPer stepping into the shoes of the now-benched Hubert "CaNNiE" Ludwig. 

The start of an idea

Having played for the likes of HellRaisers and mousesports, oskar is undeniably the most established CS:GO player in the Czech Republic; he made two HLTV Top 20 appearances in 2017 and 2018, won several notable events, and attended three Majors. Needless to say, he was AWPing with the best of them and was considered a world-class sniper. However, in mouz, he often expressed the desire to return to the Czech-Slovak scene and create a superteam but felt that the talent and experience required didn't exist. 

A fall from grace

Following his departure from mousesports in early 2019, oskar just wasn't quite the same. He would subsequently join HellRaisers for the second time in his career, but there was a huge drop in his individual performance, as he finished the year with an average 1.02 rating. Going into 2020, oskar linked up with his former mouz teammates Timo "Spiidi" Richter and Denis "denis" Howell in Sprout, and while he performed better than on HR, he would ultimately get cut only four months into his tenure. The Czech AWPer was beginning to realize that he wasn't quite at the level he used to be.

Returning home

This leads us to oskar joining SINNERS Esports, bringing along an invaluable amount of experience. This move isn't entirely unlike what Joakim "jkaem" Myrbostad has recently done with Apeks and the Norwegian scene or what Erdenetsogt "erkaSt" Gantulga did at the end of 2019 in Mongolia. While the Czech scene may have been underwhelming for a few years, there has never been a better time for oskar to return home. 

SINNERS entered the Counter-Strike scene at the start of 2020 with the signing of Jindřich "ZEDKO" Chyba, Max "SHOCK" Kvapil, Sebastian "beastik" Daňo, Adam "NEOFRAG" Zouhar, and the aforementioned CaNNiE. The team has slowly climbed the global rankings, notably winning Supreme Masters 2020 along the way. In fact, SINNERS recently won the Vodafone Czech Championship 2020 over domestic rivals Entropiq, establishing itself as the country's best team. 

Who are the SINNERS?

You would be forgiven for not knowing too much about SINNERS, given that the Czech scene is still relatively small, but the team is looking poised to reaching the top 30. While oskar is the best Czech player in terms of achievements, NEOFRAG has the potential to overtake him purely due to his raw firepower. The 19-year-old rifler has the making of a real world-class player, with a 1.21 career-average rating. ZEDKO is one of the country's most experienced players and was the in-game leader for the squad until very recently, handing over the mantle to beastik. The latter has been incredibly impressive, being the second-best fragger for his team while also leading the squad to Czech championships with minimal experience. SHOCK is a very well-rounded rifler with solid mechanical skills and easily SINNERS' third star, though he lacks consistency. CaNNiE had decent amounts of experience and was a good AWPer, considering the options available in the Czech scene. Still, when oskar becomes available, it's not an opportunity you can pass up. 

Running out of steam?

However, the question arises: is oskar still able to compete? Currently 29-years-old, he may not be in his prime anymore, but the all-important experience he brings with him justifies his spot on SINNERS. No team can afford to have a weak AWPer as it's too crucial of a role; the skill of an AWPer can make or break a team. For the better part of his career, there have been rumors of oskar having motivation issues, but they're somewhat blown out of proportion. He is undoubtedly an emotional player and struggles to perform when team morale is low, but that doesn't take away from the fact that he was once a world-class AWPer. Every player gets into slumps, it's something that every player faces at some point in their career, but oskar has managed to bounce back. Will oskar perform like in the mouz glory days, dropping 1.25 ratings left, right, and center? Probably not, but that isn't exactly his role within SINNERS; he's there to pass on his knowledge. 

While SINNERS certainly has high ambitions following oskar's addition, realistically, the team won't be facing the Natus Vincere and Astralis of this world quite yet. Even though he isn't in tip-top shape, oskar is still more than capable of out-AWPing tier 3 teams, and even if he doesn't show up on a map, there are enough reliable fraggers in NEOFRAG, beastik, and even SHOCK to make up for it. Much like ZEDKO, oskar will need to be on par with his opposition, but he will mostly look to guide beastik and make sure the team succeeds rather than make sure he puts up great statistics. As with any player, there will inevitably be a time when oskar won't be able to hold his own, but he's more than capable of taking on tier 3 or 2 teams. And, after all, in small scenes like the Czech Republic, players with international experience are worth their weight in gold because they elevate the level of everyone around them.

The future of Czech CS:GO

At the end of the day, both parties benefit greatly from this move. SINNERS had incredible firepower and decent levels of experience on its roster but was still missing that extra nudge to allow it to take the next step. While he may not be in his prime anymore, oskar has the experience required to develop the Czech CS:GO scene, and SINNERS is the perfect match for him to pass on his knowledge. He won't be putting up the numbers he used to, but oskar is still a great AWPer, and the rest of SINNERS has enough capable fraggers that oskar won't need to do all the heavy lifting. With this move, SINNERS finally has all the pieces to take the Czech scene onto the world stage. With oskar, the most established Czech player, NEOFRAG, the most promising Czech player, beastik, a great IGL and fragger, SHOCK, a mechanically-skilled rifler, and ZEDKO, a veteran of the Czech scene, this is without a doubt the best Czech team ever assembled.