Nivera steps down from Vitality's roster

William Davis Published 12/03/2021

Belgian AWPer Nabil “Nivera” Benrlitom is stepping down from Vitality’s starting roster, as the team abandons its six-man roster in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive.

Nivera joined Vitality back in October of last year, being introduced as the team’s sixth player. He initially only played on Dust II and Inferno but was later given playtime on Nuke as well. With Nivera on the roster, Vitality won IEM Beijing-Haidan and the Blast Premier Fall Finals. While Nivera didn’t win any MVP medals, he proved that a rotation system with six players has potential in CSGO. 

With Valve recently announcing new rules to substituting players during Road to Major events, the concept of a six-man roster no longer seemed like a viable option. In their announcement, Vitality said the following about the situation: “Unfortunately, following the recent announcement, questions arose regarding the 6-man (sic) format and we aren’t feeling confident regarding the future of this structure. We are coming back to a 5-man roster for the time being”. 

While substituting players is still possible in the Road to Major events, teams will lose a certain amount of points for every substitute. Following the announcement, all teams that are using a six-man roster were rumored to make changes. Vitality is now the first to make a roster change, but Natus Vincere and Astralis are expected to follow suit.

Who is Nivera in CSGO?

His tenure with Vitality was Nivera’s first breakout into the highest tier of CSGO. Previously, he played for French teams like Warthox Esport and Team Heretics. While still under contract with Vitality, Nivera expressed his interest in a (temporary) transfer. 

Vitality CSGO roster in 2021

Vitality will start using this new iteration of their roster at the ESL Pro League Season 13, where it will be competing in Group B along with teams like G2, FaZe Clan, and mousesports.

With Nivera no longer on the active roster, Vitality is left with:

• Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut
• Cédric “RpK” Guypouy
• Kévin “misutaaa” Rabier
• Dan “apEX” Madesclaire
• Richard “shox” Papillon

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