Sprout adds oskar ahead of DreamHack Open Leipzig, lacks fifth

Czech AWPer Tomáš “oskar” Šťastný has officially signed with the Sprout Counter-Strike: Global Offensive organization following the departure of Spout’s Florian “syrsoN“ Rische and Nils “k1to” Gruhne to German CSGO organization BIG.

Almost as soon as rumors indicating that BIG was scouting the two Sprout players, speculation surfaced that Sprout had pegged free agent AWPer and ex-mousesports star oskar as a potential replacement for srysoN as the team’s primary AWPer. 

Those rumors were confirmed this morning as the German organization announced oskar’s addition to their roster. A tweet from the team’s official Twitter account publicized the signing and welcomed the AWPer to the organization.

Despite landing oskar, Sprout is still one player away from fielding a full roster of five players. Sprout’s current roster after today’s signing and the k1to and syrsoN’s move to BIG is as follows:

• Timo “Spiidi” Richter
• Josef “faven” Baumann
• Denis “denis” Howell
• Tomáš “oskar” Šťastný
• Niclas “enkay J” Krumhorn (coach)

Sprout still rebuilding with oskar addition

As of now, there have been no indications as to a potential fifth for Sprout. oskar is now reunited with former mousesports teammates Spidii and denis on the Sprout roster after spending more than two months as a free agent.

oskar was at the core of a dangerous mousesports team during a period between 2016 and 2019, cementing his legacy as an underrated AWPer with a tendency to make clutch plays. He was benched and subsequently removed from mousesports during the organization’s rebuild in March 2019.

He then moved back to his first real professional team, Hellraisers, until that organization benched him in September 2019. The AWPer officially became a free agent on October 15.

Between October and today’s signing, there was little to indicate that teams had any real interest in oskar during a period in which several organizations entered the CSGO esports space with fresh teams.

Oskar addition boosts Sprout at DreamHack Open Leipzig

The lack of interest in oskar in the context of his Sprout signing speaks to the idea that top organizations no longer consider the AWPer a great prospect. Despite this lack of interest, oskar has posted stats that meet all the qualifications for the role.

His highlight year during his time with mousesports was in 2016, where he posted an average 1.20 rating for the year. While his overall rating has dipped to 1.01 in 2019, that number may reflect more on the talent around oskar than the player himself. 

Despite lacking a final player on their roster, Sprout already has a spot at the 2020 DreamHack Open Leipzig tournament slated to start on January 24. The spot is a reward for Sprout’s win at ESL Meisterschaft: Winter 2019 as part of the ESL Pro Tour’s Challenger level. Much like Meisterschaft, winning Leipzig awards a guaranteed spot at DreamHack Masters Jönköping.

The other attendees at Leipzig have not been announced, but Sprout will probably face other semi-pro European teams vying to break their way into the big leagues of CSGO. Even without a fifth player, Sprout has of a decent placement at the tournament with oskar’s addition.