Coach ruggah steps in for flameZ at IEM Katowice

In the competitive scene of all esports, there are always last-minute changes, players coming and going, and others regarding coaches. However, for this to happen in the middle of a top-level tournament and with so much at stake, it must be for reasons of major forces, of that there is no doubt.

In the Counter-Strike: Global Offensive IEM Katowice 2023, OG Esports will have to make a last-minute change in its lineup for the match against Outsiders of the Lower Bracket.

Ruggah emergency replacement for OG

Currently, Casper “ruggah” Due is the Head Coach of OG Esports and will have to take out his mouse and keyboard to act as an emergency replacement for the game against Outsiders. The Danish coach will return to play an official CS:GO game for the first time in almost five years.

Shahar “flameZ” Shushan misses the Lower Bracket match against Outsiders due to illness, according to the organization’s announcement. That’s why ruggah takes his place in the lineup.

As we mentioned, the Danish coach has over four years without playing an official CS:GO game. However, he hadn’t competed on the pro scene since 2012, when he played under the Anexis banner. Ruggah’s last games were 20 rounds for OpTic Gaming, replacing Jakob “JUGi” Hansen in 2018.

At the time of writing, the match between OG and Outsiders with ruggah as OG’s fifth player is in progress. The first map (Inferno) was a comfortable Outsiders victory 16-7. They are playing Overpass, which could mean Outsiders’ qualification to the Lower Bracket Final.

flameZ has been the backbone of the team

Since the start of IEM Katowice 2023, flameZ has carried the weight of his team from the Play-In phase. The only 19-year-old Israeli had a 1.28 rating, according to HLTV, against Sprout and Fnatic.

However, flameZ could not maintain that level of spectacular play during the Group Stage, and OG lost to Heroic and was sent to the Lower Bracket. Likewise, the Israeli was a fundamental factor in his team’s 1-2 victory over MOUZ in the quarterfinals of the Upper Bracket.

Now, as we mentioned, OG Esports has the complicated task of recovering the series against Outsiders, one of the best teams in the world that fell into the Lower Bracket after losing to Fnatic in the quarterfinals.

We hope for a speedy recovery for the young Israeli promise of OG Esports, Shahar “flameZ” Shushan, and wish to see him as soon as possible on the CS:GO servers.

Header: ESL | OG Esports Twitter