One of the recurring themes on the StarSeries S7 analyst desk was the resurgence of Swedish Counter-Strike and what a potential roster mashup of Fnatic and NiP could potentially look like. Of course, the former made it all the way to the finals of the tournament with an ex-Ninja in the in-game leader role, making such speculation all the more tantalizing. What would a team of Sweden’s best and brightest look like – and could it stand up to the mighty Astralis?

From historic rivals atop the CS:GO world to stable top ten contenders with little potential at the business end of tournaments, the story of Sweden’s two best Counter-Strike teams charts out a zigzagging path from the summit to seemingly bottomless pits and beyond. Currently, both teams are on an upward trajectory, though it’s basically impossible to discern how much of their improved standing is simply due to the decline of FaZe Clan and MiBR, the usual teams fighting for those top-tier spots. Did the desk hosts’ idea have some merit? What kind of a roster would come out of a mishmash of the strongest Ninjas and the most Fnatic-al players on the other side? We’ve stitched together one potential lineup:

IGL – Xizt

The most logical link between the two rosters, and despite many subpar in-game performances and the occasional questionable vetos, still by far the most decorated dedicated IGL available in this little mental exercise.

KRIMZ

By far the best individual performer available to us, his inclusion is a no-brainer. KRIMZ has managed to cling onto high HLTV rankings even when Fnatic was at its lowest, his consistent top-tier fragging power is a must-have for our imaginary side.

f0rest

It’s either him, GeT_RiGhT or JW when it comes to X-factor on this side, and we couldn’t quite commit to including two of these mercurial players on this team. In terms of recent performances and impact, f0rest is still above the other two, and neither the reduced if stable impact of GeT_RiGhT’s lurks or JW’s revitalized hybrid role seems stable enough to warrant a spot on this Swedish superteam.