Copenhagen Flames announce CS:GO rebuild

The Copenhagen Flames, currently ranked as the ninth-best Counter-Strike: Global Offensive team in the world, have made the shock announcement that they plan to release their entire roster and build a new team from the ground up.

In an emotional blog post, Copenhagen Flames CEO Steffen Thomsen explained that with the departure of Nico “nicoodoz” Tamjid and Fredrik “roeJ” Jørgensen to Fnatic, the company had decided to part ways with the rest of the roster known as “Flames 2.0”. That meant finding new teams for Jakob “Jabbi” Nygaard, Rasmus “HooXi” Nielsen, and Rasmus “Zyphon” Nordfoss before beginning the process of building a brand-new team in Copenhagen.

End of Flames 2.0

To the CS:GO world, the Copenhagen Flames were the epitome of a small-budget team finding major success. The roster of nicoodoz, roeJ, Jabbi, HooXi, and Zyphon, informally known as Flames 2.0, elevated the organization to previously-unseen international success. The team qualified for the PGL Major Stockholm event in 2021 thanks to a top-eight performance at the Intel Extreme Masters Season 16 Fall event. At the Major, they made a run to the Legends Stage and were one map away from making the Champions Stage.

In 2022, they reached the Group Stage at Intel Extreme Masters: Katowice before qualifying for the PGL Major Antwerp. In Belgium, the Flames improved on their performance in Stockholm by reaching the Champions Stage, eventually falling ENCE in the quarterfinals.

In his blog post announcing the surprise rebuild, Thomsen does not go into much detail about why the decision was made to start over. However, given the team’s rise over the past few years, it is possible that it simply became unfeasible for the Flames to maintain the roster. With two players acquired by esports giant Fnatic, some of the decision was seemingly taken out of the Flames’ hands.

At the time of writing, Jabbi, HooXi, and Zyphon still remain with the team, with Thomsen providing contact details in his blog post for interested teams. As for the future of the Flames, Thomsen laid out some basic goals and expectations for the next stage of the team.

“Going forward, our aim is to maintain our current level of play and results. Our next lineup will be one full of potential, and although we know the road back to the Major and the elite CS:GO teams will be tough, we have high hopes and plenty of confidence stating that this is our goal.”

In 2020, the Flames partnered with Sørby Esports to create a developmental team, but it is unclear if this agreement is still in place, or if it will be used as part of the Flames’ future plans.

Thomsen ended his announcement by addressing the team’s fans directly.

“If you are a supporter or fan of our club, please don’t be disheartened. We will continue being ambitious, daring and bold. And although players and teams change, our DNA and core way of creating winning lineups will not. Stick with us, it will be worth it.”

Fans, pundits, and the CS:GO world will be keeping a close eye on the Danish capital in the coming weeks in anticipation of the reveal of the Copenhagen Flames 3.0.

Header: Stefan Petrescu for PGL