OG officially signs niko to CSGO roster after benching ISSAA
OG has unveiled Nikolaj “niko” Kristensen as a permanent part of its Counter-Strike: Global Offensive roster, after the Dane competed as a stand-in for the team.
The announcement comes just a day after OG announced that
it had benched
Issa “ISSAA” Murad. niko had already been playing with OG for a while, as he filled the gap left by Nathan “NBK” Schmitt’s departure earlier this month. With niko on the lineup, OG was eliminated from the closed qualifier for the DreamHack Masters Spring 2021 and finished fourth in its ESL Pro League Season 13 group.
Despite these underwhelming results, niko convinced OG’s management to make his deal permanent with his individual performance.
“I’m happy to announce that I have signed for OG. It’s an amazing opportunity for me and I’m sure we’re going to achieve great things together,” niko said.
With the addition of niko, OG increases the Danish influence on its lineup. Star player Valdemar “valde” Bjorn Vangsa and head coach Casper “ruggah” Due already hail from Denmark.
niko was
benched from Team Heroic at the end of February, with the team deciding it was time for an injection of fresh blood into its lineup. While representing Heroic, niko won ESL One Cologne 2020 and Dreamhack Open Fall 2020. He was benched along with former teammate Johannes “b0RUP” Borup before being replaced by Rasmus “sjuush” Beck and Ismail “refrezh” Ali.
OG is still down a player and has said that it will try out several options in the upcoming days and weeks. They have a month to find a fifth player, as the next event for the team is the Blast Premier Showdown.
OG CSGO roster in 2021
With the addition of niko, OG now has the following lineup:
- Nikolaj “niko” Kristensen
- Valdemar “valde” Bjorn Vangsa
- Aleksi “Aleksib” Virolainen
- Mateusz “mantuu” Wilczewski
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