niko benched as OG roster revamp continues

OG confirmed the benching of Nikolaj “niko” Kristensen as the organization continues to make changes to its CS:GO roster. The announcement came just two weeks after the departure of Valdemar “⁠valde⁠” Bjørn Vangså from OG’s active CS:GO squad.

According to OG’s official statement, niko is now free to explore his options in the CS:GO scene, with the organization supposedly helping him to find a new team. 

The OG’s roster revamp follows the team’s failed attempt to qualify for the recently concluded PGL Major in Antwerp 2022, as well as the upsetting finish at the Intel Extreme Masters XVI Katowice.  

Niko’s journey 

The 23-years-old Danish rifler has been signed by OG back in March 2021 and has helped the team towards a second-place finish at IEM XVI Summer 2021, as well as the 3rd-4th place at ESL Pro League Season 14 and most recently 1st-4rd place at BLAST Premier Spring Groups 2022. 

Prior to joining OG, niko spent a year playing with Heroic, helping the team win the European edition of the ESL One Cologne 2020 Online and the DreamHack Open Fall 2020. Other orgs he played for include OpTic Gaming, Rogue and North. Among some of his most notable achievements is also the victory with North at DreamHack Masters Stockholm in 2018. 

What’s next for OG? 

Niko’s benching follows the OG CS:GO squad parting ways with valde earlier this month as a result of the agreement made by both sides. For now, OG hasn’t released any replacements for the two departing players 

Here’s OG’s current active lineup:

• Mateusz “⁠mantuu⁠” Wilczewski
• Shahar “⁠flameZ⁠” Shushan
• Nemanja “⁠nexa⁠” Isaković
• Casper “⁠ruggah⁠” Due (Coach)

Meanwhile, the CS:GO community has already started speculating on who could be the next addition to the OG squad. With a conclusion of a Major CS:GO tournament, it’s fairly common for organizations to revamp their rosters in order to “optimize” the teams ahead of following competitions.  

According to the Russian CS:GO veteran and leaker Aleksey “OverDrive” Biryukov, Mareks “YEKINDAR” Galinskis could become the next player to join the team. The Latvian rifler, who recently parted ways with the Russian org Virtus.pro, is said to have started negotiations not only with OG, but also G2 Esports and Team Liquid. 

OG also recently announced its OG Academy roster, with the inaugural roster consisting of Max “⁠Marix⁠” Kugener, Arbnor “⁠Dementor⁠” Pacolli, Alexandru “⁠s0und⁠” Ștefan, Blagoi “⁠oxygeN⁠” Dimitrov and Kaloyan “⁠shaiK⁠” Borisov. The team will be led by German CS:GO veteran Christian “⁠crisby⁠” Schmitt as its Coach.

Header: OG