​ When I meet or interview players at events, it shocks them to learn that I do more than just “leak stuff." It’s taken a decent effort up to this point to display to them everything I actually contribute to the community, outside of my reports. Many times after meeting me and chatting for five minutes, they’ll drop their guard after realizing I’m just a normal dude with everyone’s best interest in mind. The truth is, I’m not running around events trying to poke and pry at people for my next scoop. My first priority has always looking out for people in this industry and helping them any way I can. The roster moves? While important, they are just another necessary part of the job.





What most don’t see behind the scenes is what I cherish most about the job. Help players and coaches get owed prize money? Check. Let someone know about some shady stuff going on behind their back? Check. Help a player land a spot on a new roster? Check. Should I ever move on from journalism one day, the first thing I’d do is look for a position that involves helping people in the community. I’m not saying that to sound holier-than-thou, I just fucking love Counter-Strike. I’ll do anything I can to help it grow and flourish.





I’ll shut up now.





---So the manager for the ex-NTC players ​explained this week xand and horvy will replace fnx and bit on their active lineup. He mentioned toward the end that they are looking for an org to represent. One detail left out was the fact that felps, kNgV-, and chelo are all still under contract with SK Gaming (or some derivative/shell company of the organization). That means if they want to leave, any new organization has to purchase those three players’ contracts.





This is quite funny because some might remember I reported the old NTC core ​had signed with SK Gaming back in May. In that report I documented that should ESL follow its own rules, the signing could have posed a conflict for ESL One Belo Horizonte because SK Gaming would have had two rosters at the time. Lo and behold, ESL mentioned to HLTV when questioned about it and said “both teams will be allowed to play as no organization has a controlling interest in more than one team during the competition in Belo Horizonte.”





Now let me tell you that despite what ESL, SK Gaming, and prominent members of the community say, these players were absolutely signed to some sort of reservation and/or contract that includes a buyout. It’s possible the contracts were signed to some shell company or entity, but the ex-NTC players were conducting business with the same individuals from SK Gaming as the players who now comprise Made in Brazil. It wasn’t just a “rumor,” as was said multiple times through various mediums and broadcasts. It happened. I’m disappointed ESL turned a blind eye to it all.





That said, it’s quite possible the ex-NTC players stay with SK Gaming if they can qualify for some Tier 1 LANs in the near future. I’ve been told the No. 1 event on that list is IEM Chicago. Should that happen, you could see SK announce its “new” team in the coming months.





--Regarding the FACEIT Major talent situation ​from last time: Bardolph ​posted in the Reddit thread to mention my information about FACEIT planning to use casters who won a FACEIT Caster Challenge for part of the Major was incorrect. I stand by what I published; it was definitely a proposed plan. It's also telling that we're less than two weeks from the Major, and talent still hasn't been announced. You can draw your own conclusions, but it's quite evident there's still some uncertainty behind the scenes.





This Major is also unique in that a caster (Bardolph) is -- at least in part -- making decisions about who will be on the broadcasts with him. I like Bardolph and think he's a genuine guy, but it's even more possible personal politics could play a role in who's chosen when talent are picking their own colleagues. When it comes to a Major, the best of the best should be calling it, and I hope that's reflected in the final lineup.





Either way, it appears some of the disconnect between FACEIT and talent has been rectified. It’s quite telling that the dominos started to fall almost directly after the previous column and the community shared their opinions. It should be expected that more of the well-known talent to jump in following the Challengers Stage, at the New Legends Stage. At least that was the plan earlier this week.





--FInally, I heard NRG is signing obo as a streamer. I don’t really care about that type of news, but I know someone will.

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