JACKZ to step in for dupreeh in ESL Pro League S17

Changes continue to be made to the various Counter-Strike: Global Offensive top-tier team rosters. Many of these observed changes have been completely unexpected, while others were more than obvious.

Now, we turn to France, home of CS:GO’s Team Vitality, where it was announced in the last few hours that Audric “JACKZ” Jug replaces Peter “dupreeh” Rasmussen for the ESL Pro League S17. All this was published on the official ESL blog and the teams’ squads last Wednesday, February 15.

Dupreeh takes a break for personal reasons

After several days of rumors regarding dupreeh’s temporary departure from Team Vitality’s lineup due to the birth of his first child, it has now been made official. According to HLTV, this break that the Danish CS:GO server star will be taking is due to the birth of his first child.

Luckily for the French organization, dupreeh is expected to return before the start of the BLAST.tv Paris CS:GO Major RMR. This RMR will take place in early April 2023.

JACKZ replaces dupreeh at Team Vitality

The champion of different majors with Astralis will be replaced by the experienced player Audric “JACKZ” Jug. The 30-year-old Frenchman was part of the G2 Esports squad from December 2018 to August 2022. However, he is an active HEET player and will have the complicated task of replacing another experienced and multi-champion-like dupreeh.

JACKZ has an extensive career in the Counter-Strike competitive scene, not only in Global Offensive, but he comes from the old school of 1.6. Therefore, we can be sure that his experience and nerves of steel can serve Team Vitality well in this ESL Pro League S17.

When he played under the banner of G2 Esports, JACKZ was very close to lifting different top-level trophies. He was part of the lineup that disputed the grand final of the PGL Major Stockholm 2021, IEM Katowice 2022, and IEM Cologne 2021. In the last two tournaments mentioned, G2 Esports was crushed by FaZe Clan and NaVi, respectively.

JACKZ was a key part of G2 Esports for four years and HEET for the last months of 2022. However, the player could not find his best level of play lately and was left out of HEET’s lineup for the 2023 season. This team has only two players, Thomas “Djoko” Pavoni, and Pierre “Ex3rcise” Bulinge. JACKZ is now at Vitality, and two of their players have left for other European teams.

Team Vitality’s lineup for ESL Pro League S17

With the departure of dupreeh and the addition of JACKZ, the lineup of Team Vitality is as follows:

• Dan “apEX” Madesclaire
• Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut
• Emil “Magisk” Reif
• Lotan “⁠Spinx⁠” Giladi
• Audric “JACKZ” Jug (Stand-in)
• Danny “zonic” Sørensen (Coach)

Header: Joao Ferreira | PGL