The post-Berlin roster shuffle saw a few teams make significant changes to their internal structure and even the language they speak in the server. FaZe Clan finally paid a buyout for the first time in nearly two years in Marcelo ‘coldzera’ David, while G2 Esports added two heavy hitters from outside of France in Nemanja ‘nexa’ Isaković and Nemanja ‘huNter-’ Kovač.
Following every shuffle, a number of players are left inactive for a number of different reasons. The most common reason though, is an extremely high buyout figure. While not nearly as many notable players are inactive in comparison to after the Katowice Major, the list is still long. All five players from the last issue have either found a new home or are playing actively on a new lineup.
Despite being officially inactive Aleksi ‘Aleksib’ Virolainen, Nathan ‘NBK-’ Schmitt, Valdemar ‘valde’ Bjørn Vangså, and Issa ‘ISSAA’ Murad were not included in this list due to their ongoing situation with the OG organization.
With that said, here is our list of the best available players on the market and some exclusive information regarding their situation at the moment:
Kristian ‘k0nfig’ Wienecke
k0nfig is most known for his superstar play between 2016 and 2017 with the Dignitas and North organizations. Since that period he has struggled to re-find his once incredible form and to make things worse, he has been stuck in a tough situation contractually for part of 2019.
With minor interest from outside organizations, the Immortals organization has yet to sell k0nfig and a few of his teammates who play for their subsidiary company, OpTic Gaming. Due to their restrictive situation, the team has decided to disband and explore options separately.
Earlier this month, k0nfig was heavily critical of himself in a series of tweets after reading an article by Duncan “Thooorin” Shields. This newfound accountability may finally be what k0nfig requires to once again demolish the competition. He tops this list primarily due to the sheer amount of potential the Danish rifler has. It is only a matter of time before someone gives him the chance to realize it once again, so the rest is up to him.
Mathias ‘MSL’ Lauridsen
MSL is in a very similar situation to k0nfig and is also under contract with OpTic Gaming at this time. Despite a lack of success in international play in 2019, MSL is still a valuable in-game leader who has a proven track record of building competitive rosters. His last premier tournament victory was in late 2018 over Astralis at DreamHack Masters Stockholm.
The lack of accomplished dedicated in-game leaders throughout professional Counter-Strike gives MSL a leg up on other players that he can’t match skill-wise. Both a move back to North or time working with up and coming Danish talent make sense for him at this point.
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Just like with k0nfig, the unknown duration and buyout of his current contract is a question mark and could keep him sidelined for a while longer.
Tomáš ‘oskar’ Šťastný
Oskar makes things difficult because on skill alone he should be a member of a top team. He is a presence in the server and has single-handedly won multiple series for his teams over the years. What perhaps shadows over that skill is his reputation as a teammate and unwillingness to play in North America, so at the end of the day his options are limited.
A return to mousesports is not in the cards and I don’t see a relevant team willing to take the gamble that they can handle oskar. If I had to guess, oskar will play at a lower level and dominate the competition. Although, I can’t help but feel like that is a waste of his talent and experience.
Matthew ‘Wardell’ Yu
Wardell is in a very similar situation to oskar in that he has a bit of a negative reputation as a teammate. Fortunately for him, he is younger and much less rigid as a professional player. Having escaped from his giant contract at Ghost, he is now the hottest free agent in North America.
AWPers who have delivered on LAN in North America are almost non-existent, so it is only a matter of time before he has multiple offers headed his way. I suspect the aforementioned issues have had an impact on why he is still teamless, but that only lasts so long before a team like Complexity picks up the phone.
Adam ‘friberg’ Friberg
At the end of his tenure with Heroic, friberg was one of their best players. It is almost a certainty that he has an idea of where he’ll play next, with multiple sources informing me he turned down an offer from GamerLegion recently. Since that is not publicly rumored as of yet, he still gets a spot on our list.
Friberg offers a tremendous amount of experience and cohesion to whichever team he plays on and seems to have adapted to not being an entry god anymore like he once was. Rumors have swirled about a reconnection with Richard “Xizt” Landström in some shape or form, but at the moment it isn’t clear yet.
Honorable Mentions
- Christopher “GeT_RiGhT” Alesund
- Niels Christian “NaToSaphiX” Sillassen
- Daniel “mertz” Mertz