The French Shuffle 3.0 – KARMAAA’s Take

Recently a rumor by flickshot.fr, and a report by HLTV.org, concluded that finally the French ‘’super-team’’ would be made having Richard ‘’shox’’ Papillon and Kenny ‘’kennyS’’ Schrub on the same team. This team would also include Dan ‘’apEX’’ Madesclaire, Nathan ‘’NBK’’ Schmitt and Alexandre ‘’bodyy’’ Pianaro to complete the super team. Today we’re going to look at my take on this super team, what organisation will most likely head the team and who could replace certain players on this team in the future.

The Organisation

Call themselves 'Team EnVyUs', but they never use the colour green, hmmm...Looking at the three big organisations which currently hold French teams, they are Team LDLC, G2.eSports and Team EnVyUs. Looking at the first organisation, Team LDLC, the old LDLC squad which was the first French super-team was shox, NBK, Happy, Kioshima and SmithZz, who ended up leaving the organisation simply because the organisation could not supply a large enough salary and other contractual benefits such as sticker money and a team house. As such, I don’t think it’s without the question that this organisation would not support this team as they don’t have the facilities to do so.This brings us to G2, who have a lot of money after selling their old team to the FaZe organisation and having a decent team in other games and set of sponsors which are good too. The problem here is that 2 players are supposedly leaving the current team to join kennyS, NBK and apEX, it’s because of this that I cannot see G2 buying three players and transferring them, it’s not out of the question after G2 sold ScreaM to Titan for $150K, but I just don’t see the organisation doing this. For me it would be more logical for both G2 and EnVyUs trading two players rather than three because it would largely reduce each other’s costs in the long run. Not to mention, they currently are selling exclusive merchandise for ScreaM which leaves me to believe he won’t be leaving the G2 organisation, since he is the only player with exclusive merchandise, neither bodyy or shox have this kind of arrangement.Thereby, this leaves me to logically conclude that shox and bodyy will instead join Team EnVyUs as both organisations would be switching only two players which is less messy, ScreaM has exclusive merchandise with G2 so he probably won’t leave the organisation and EnVyUs have the types of facilities like a team house that clearly these players value.Edit: It has been confirmed by neL, from flickshot.fr, that both team's contracts end in January, which means no buyouts, as a result, players can move to any organisation. This article was written prior to this information being taken into account. But I'm still confident, Team EnVyUs will contract the players.

Why bodyy?

Godyy focused and dialed in, taking heads and defending bombsitesThe question about this team is why pick bodyy to be a part of the team. Well it’s of my opinion that bodyy is the same pick that Kioshima was with the first French shuffle. This being, a relatively younger player, who clearly has shown even though he was previously considered a ‘Tier 2 player’ he listens to instructions, and plays to a high standard now to really be considered a ‘Tier 1 player’. In fact bodyy has only impressed people since his introduction to G2 and clearly he was a good enough replacement to lift G2 to a higher standard, whether this is because he has more fragging power than ex6tenz or shox was able to integrate his leadership is unknown. Known for usually being the pointman of the CT defense, bodyy usually gets a frag or two, and has shown to be able to take pressure in big games, falling short at being just a decent player, by hardly ever going insane like Shox or ScreaM have been able to elevate to in the past. But it’s clear that he is at least more competent than SIXER is. Bodyy currently holds a better average damage per round, in the last 3 months, than RpK or SIXER at 74 D/R. And he holds a better rating, in the past 3 months, than all other alternatives such as DEV1L, RpK, SIXER and SmithZz. So I can see why he is chosen, and considering Kioshima has said he doesn’t want to leave FaZe it’s clear that he was not even an option.In terms of a role, I can see at least on CT, him playing his current role which is usually the first line of defence at B on D2 and B on Train etc. As for T sides, I can either see him as a support for apEX or second entry with apEX or be the mid round player as he has shown to be competent in all these roles.It’s clear the sniping will be left with kennyS and shox as a backup AWPer on both CT and T, and the leading capabilities being either directed at shox or NBK on both CT and T. Leaving NBK as probably a direct support on both CT and T or a secondary lurk on T sides. With Shox probably main lurking whil leading on T sides like he currently is on G2. What I’m trying to get across is that shox is a direct replacement for what Happy is currently doing which is lurking and leading, while bodyy is replacing primarily SIXER’s role on EnVyUs, which we could gather by the roster swaps. Bodyy should fit in nicely with this squad so long as he just keeps doing what he is doing, which is playing a solid defensive roles and a decent mid-round player role on T side, leaving the plays to be made by apEX, kennyS and shox.

The Potential

The look you have when your boyfriend is a total BOT...The problem with French rosters has always been that they have so much potential, but they seem to always fall short. The old Titan which was for a small period of time at the end of 2013 the ‘’Number 1 team in the world’’ with shox, always fell short to NiP. LDLC/EnVyUs with shox and SmithZz also fell short always to fnatic, where even at Dreamhack Winter 2014 they could not beat the team after the famous Olofmeister Overpass boost, they never once truly beat fnatic in more than one or two, best of threes until shox and SmithZz left the team. The same goes for the current EnVyUs which won a major when Kioshima was in the team, after that they fell hard and G2 had a small summer period of great form but lost it by the end of the year. I feel like this team may still fall short in some ways after a while, particularly in predictable leadership, which has always been something French teams have had to worry about. Happy, NBK and shox have never been able to be diverse leaders and ex6tenz’s teams always lacked fragging power, I see this trend continuing, but maybe the skill can just overcome this.There are some good things about this team however. What makes this team so exciting, is that two of these players, shox and NBK, can play basically any role if need be. Whether that be lurking, a secondary AWP, in game leading, entry fragging or being a support, you can expect these two all-rounders to absolutely do anything to a high standard. Yes, NBK did have a small period where he played pretty badly, but I honestly think he was just bored and had no motivation and maybe with shox and bodyy he feels like he can win again. Either that or he just had a poor spot of form, which everyone goes through. But NBK has probably been the most consistent player in the French scene for a large extended period of time, and a small spot of bad form doesn’t mar his achievements. This, in combination with having one of the best AWPers in the world, as well as some different leadership strategies and the insane amount of skill will make this team incredibly diverse, and I expect it to be the Number 1 team next year if it comes to fruition, that is if they max out their potential.

Major Spots

Since both G2 and Team EnVyUs made the ELEAGUE Major they can switch players without issue, even if there was an issue, EnVyUs still would maintain three of their players if shox and bodyy were to join Team EnVyUs. I don’t see an issue here at all, nothing to worry about.

Conclusion

The moment when kennyS and apEx stole shox away from ScreaM to create, the 'Super Team'To put this to bed, this team should be incredibly skilled and diverse, they have one of the best entry fraggers in the world, this being apEX, one of the best snipers in the world, kennyS, who was so good he peaked and was considered the best player during that time. One of the best players of all time and a CS:Source legend and at this point, a CS:GO legend, shox. Along with one of the most consistent players, NBK and a fresh young new talent in the 19 year old named: bodyy. I can say on paper, this team looks incredible, heralding some of the best players in the game and a bunch of legends.In the event a roster replacement needs to happen, it most likely will fall on bodyy leaving the team, considering he is in the same position Kioshima was in, he doesn’t hold enough power in the team or enough of a history to stick around, and I can easily see ScreaM being an excellent replacement, or SIXER being decent pickup. If anyone doubts this team’s skill and prowess, you would have to be moronic or ill-informed. I can see the issues here with not reaching potential or some outside of game personality issues, but if they win everything, this team will last. But none of that matters, because one thing is for certain… we all want this team to exist, and it looks like it will.If you like this article, subscribe to me on YouTube at: http://www.youtube.com/subscription_center?add_user=karmaaaftw Thank you for reading.