Nick J. September 16, 2020
DIGNITAS has announced the benching of Christopher "GeT_RiGhT" Alesund and Richard "Xizt" Landström from its active Counter-Strike: Global Offensive roster.
The removal of the two veteran players from the DIGNITAS lineup comes nine months after the organization reformed the famed Ninjas in Pyjamas roster that dominated in CSGO's early esports history. But after months of trying to rekindle the NiP magic, Dignitas is calling it quits. The news was revealed on the organization's official Twitter account.
GeT_RiGhT, Xizt benched from DIGNITAS
In an effort to reinvigorate its CSGO brand, the organization signed the players alongside former teammates Patrik "f0rest" Lindberg and Adam "friberg" Friberg in January. Unfortunately, DIGNITAS has not performed well since.
Since reuniting under the DIGNITAS banner, the squad has a record of 46-60, a record that has the team ranked below less recognizable names. GeT_RiGhT called the benching a team decision. He also suggested that his ongoing health issues played a role in the decision.
With the ESL One Rio Moajor canceled and no other LAN tournaments in sight, DIGNITAS joins a long list of teams that have decided to rebuild. But with organizations such as Cloud9, Gen.G, and FunPlus Phoenix also in desperate need of players, CSGO's free-agent talent pool is starting to become very thin.
DIGNITAS struggled, Xizt said GuardiaN stand-in set the team back
In a recent interview, Xizt attributed some of DIGNITAS' early struggles to its addition of Ladislav "GuardiaN" Kovács while its original fifth player, upcoming Norweigan AWper Håkon "hallzerk" Fjærli, struggled with visa issues ahead of FLASHPOINT 1.
"...we started really well.... and then we had to go to Flashpoint in USA, we couldn't use hallzerk,” Xizt said.
The veteran in-game leader went on to say that CSGO's current online environment didn't help matters, as DIGNITAS continued to struggle even after the player break despite having hallzerk in the server. Since returning from CSGO's player break, DIGNITAS has lost more than half of the series the lineup has played and has looked nothing like what CSGO fans wanted to see out of the lineup. With losses to competent teams like Apeks, Espada, and forZe, there was still hope for the veteran lineup heading into fall. But after DIGNITAS suffered even harsher losses to Imperial, AGF, and lvlUP over the first several weeks of September, both the team and its players have decided that DIGNITAS might need something new.
The remaining DIGNITAS players wished their former teammates well, with f0rest expressing disappointment with the way it all ended.
"I'm so glad that we gave it our all one more time, sadly it didn't go as we all wanted. Its been a rough year, but I wish them both best of luck in whatever comes next for them," f0rest tweeted.