Sprout add raalz, w0nderful and spooke tto complete its CS rosters

Sprout has revealed its revamped Counter-Strike roster, starring  Ighor “w0nderful” Zhdanov and Rasmus “raalz” Steensborg. 

Sprout has finalized their new CSGO roster with the addition of three fresh faces: Ighor “w0nderful” Zhdanov, Rasmus “raalz” Steensborg, and Olle “spooke” Grundström. Together with a powerful Tier-1 roster, the organization also disclosed plans to create an academy squad, highlighting its commitment to developing future talent. The three newcomers will make their formal debuts next month at the Thunderpick World Championship 2023: European Series #1 alongside current members Daniil “alpha” Demin and Rasmus “Zyphon” Nordfoss.

Sproutlings, let us officially introduce you to the finalized line-up. 🌱🤝

Alongside our two Danes, @BERRYCSGO and @ZyphonCS, we add @alphaddv, @w0nderfulof, @spookecs to the team as well as reunite with @RAALZCS.

👉 Read all here: https://t.co/eabxYvS9G9 pic.twitter.com/eSwyXOKOag

— Sprout (@sproutGG) July 10, 2023

 

A Look into Sprout’s revamped roster

Raalz, who is 27 years old and has the most experience of the three, has played for Sprout for a year in 2021–2022, so he is already familiar with the team he is joining. During that period, Raalz helped the team dominate the regional scene and secure many respectable finishes in the tier-2 tournament, including ESEA Season 39- Europe, ESL Meisterschaft Autumn 2021, and Spring 2022. 

Raalz’s biggest achievement under the Sprout banner came at the ESL Challenger at DreamHack Valencia 2022, where the team finished in the top four and established itself as one of the top tier-two sides in Europe, taking the No. 19 spot on the world rankings. Raalz was the In-Game Leader of Sprout during his initial spell, but this time he will hand the reins over to 18-year-old IGL, alpha, who joined Sprout in June on trial.

The next member of the revamped Sprout roster is Ihor “w0nderful” Zhdanov, an 18-year-old Ukrainian prospect who has past playing experience with the Serbian organization Team Spirit. The young prodigy contributed heavily to the team’s success in 2022 and 2023, helping the team secure respectable finishes at many S-tier events, including IEM XVII – Cologne, IEM Rio Major 2022, and IEM Katowice 2023.

Prior to being benched, the Ukrainian AWPer was the top player on the Russian team, averaging an incredible 1.13 rating over the course of a year. In addition to w0nderful’s move to Sprout, the Russian organization also said goodbye to Robert “Patsi” Isyanov and Pavel “s1ren” Ogloblin, to make room for three academy players—Artem “ArtFr0st” Kharitonov, Myroslav “zont1x” Plakhotia, and Danil “donk” Kryshkovets.

The final member of the new squad is Spooke, a former player of the disbanded Academy team of 00NATION. The Swedish player performed brilliantly in the tier-2 scene, where he impressively maintained a 1.09 average rating over the course of the 376 maps he played for the Academy in the last 12 months.

Sprouts revamped roster:

• Rasmus “⁠Zyphon⁠” Nordfoss
• Daniil “⁠alpha⁠” Demin
• Ihor “⁠w0nderful⁠” Zhdanov
• Rasmus “⁠raalz⁠” Steensborg
• Olle “⁠spooke⁠” Grundström
• Danny “⁠BERRY⁠” Krüger (coach)

Header: Sprout