Once a month, I take questions on Twitter and respond to almost all of them in a multi-part series. Below are my answers to the first part of my Pre-Major mailbag:

Have you heard rumblings of NRG making a change if they don’t do well at the Major? — Kade M (@zenNgod) January 7, 2019

I haven’t heard any rumblings but I think they’d be stupid not to have already considered adding Tarik. Should they not perform well at the Major I’d expect them to explore their options. Hell, I’d even expect them to consider a change regardless of where they finish. That’s purely my opinion and not based on anything I’ve heard though.

Do you expect any game, perhaps the rumored Riot FPS to overtake CS in terms of esports in the next 5 years? — OxxolinEgodx (@OxxolinE) January 4, 2019

Absolutely not. The rumored Riot FPS is bullshit as far as I’m concerned. We are almost 20 years in and no one has even come close to replicating what Counter-Strike brings to the table. If the game does materialize, I wouldn’t even care.

Who are your dark horses to win or surprise people at the major? — HydroxideAnt (@HydroxideAnt) January 5, 2019

I want to go all in on a Swedish team like Fnatic but Sweden as a whole has been lackluster for so long now that I can’t realistically do that. With respect to current ranking and sentiment I’m going to go with G2. I’m not very inspired by the idea of shox as an in-game leader but this lineup is one that could ideally sway me. KennyS is a huge success component so I’m eager to see him return to form following their most recent changes. TYLOO is my runner-up dark horse but I don’t think they’ll have had enough time with Summer and AttackeR.

Will AdreN be the permanent Faze’s 5th or it’s just for some time ?

What players have been in talks with FaZe as potentional 5th ? — GODMS (@MStheGOD) January 4, 2019

In their announcement yesterday they described AdreN as a stand-in. Although, I wholeheartedly believe he will remain with the team long term unless he doesn’t play well or NiKo doesn’t mesh well with him. AdreN brings experience and veteran savvy that many players on the FaZe lineup love. He is probably THE ideal candidate for how the lineup will be structured.

I’ve repeated it for many months now but people clearly don’t pay attention, FaZe Clan is not the same organization they were in years past. They aren’t willing to just buy any player on the market and they have remained extremely conservative in their attempts to acquire players recently. Waiting as long as they did to make a change and only making one when a free agent like AdreN was available is evidence of that.

Is any org looking to sign Tarik? — Maurice (@_maucs) January 4, 2019

Of course. Plenty of teams tried to buy him out of his MiBR contract but he declined all of them. He felt there would be more opportunity following the Major than prior, so he is playing the waiting game. Expect nearly every lineup in NA outside of Liquid to jump at him following Katowice.

What will happen to ScreaM. Will he join any team? — 007 (@aliaoun27) January 4, 2019

I answered this same question last mailbag and nothing has really changed since then. ScreaM will have to lower his standards a bit if he wants to play on a team. He has had offers, declined plenty of them because he felt better opportunities were on the horizon. By now it’s quite clear that nothing materialized and some sort of stigma exists around his playstyle and/or personality.

What are your thoughts on AdreN joining FaZe? — NiKolinho (@ez4nikolinho) January 4, 2019

As I mentioned above, he is the ideal candidate for how the team will operate around NiKo. AdreN can do everything and anyone labeling him as “washed up” has no idea what they’re talking about. The only way I don’t see him remaining on the team long term is if they want to go a different direction with how the team is structured following the Katowice Major.

Is the n0thing move the right one for Complexity? Should they have kept Android? — SwissArmyScythe (@AlexM99736473) January 4, 2019

I don’t particularly enjoy when teams make changes so close to Majors. The risk far outweighs the reward in almost all scenarios and this is one of them. Even if they have some sort of promise from Tarik that he’ll join after the Major, it still seems like a poor move. That’s not a discredit to n0thing, rather that I don’t think they’ll have enough time to implement structure. I don’t expect much from them in Katowice.

Who did liquid try to get other than Stewie/Adren? — Jadjadz (@Jadjadzz) January 4, 2019

As far as I know, they got the two guys they were interested in. Stewie was their number one player choice and Adren was their number one coach choice. Normally things don’t go so smooth, especially so close to the Major but they were able to take care of business rather quickly.

Any information on Kinguin and reason of reatz kick? — ♿SeV♿ (@_SeVcs) January 4, 2019

I only heard a few rumors and nothing concrete. The main rumor I heard was that he didn’t get along well with TaZ.

If n0thing doesn’t become a permanent player on complexity, then who do you think would replace him? — MC Ferrari (@MC__Ferrari) January 4, 2019

My guess is as good as any. I’m not quite sure which direction compLexity wants to head in 2019. They’ve been known as a team that recruits younger talent but never really extend themselves into the top tier of North American free agency. In my opinion, they should do anything they can to recruit Tarik and if that fails they should go right to RUSH and/or Autimatic. I can only imagine that their patience is running thin with the problems Cloud9 has had to deal with lately. It’s worth a shot.

I know I ask a lot about Flipside and Markeloff but have you heard any news? He has not announced retirement but I have not seen him play or any of the flipside guys in a long time. — Primary Asset (@anthonysimon_15) January 4, 2019

I haven’t heard anything unfortunately.

Anything on the permanent 5th player for Rogue? — John (@JohnDearing2098) January 6, 2019

Not yet, stay tuned.

Your thoughts about new https://t.co/mc6YES0g7S roster? — Filip Kumor (@Fehris_) January 5, 2019

I think this lineup will perform better than the last one did, but I believe their ceiling will be very low. Luckily for them, they won’t be playing at Katowice and will have extremely low expectations. Teams typically start off well with that lack of pressure, especially during the “honeymoon” period that most lineups experience.

Do you know why orgs like Faze and Mibr are taking their time to announce the fifth player? — Felipe Simoes (@Felipe_Simoes22) January 5, 2019

FaZe has always been notoriously lazy with announcements and getting back to people in the industry. Lazy might not be the right word, but they are typically very preoccupied doing other stuff and Counter-Strike isn’t always on the top of their priority list. I can only assume MiBR have some cool plan for their announcement or want to build up suspense for their Brazilian fan base.

Any news regarding 2019’s second major ? — Imanuel Infantri (@ImanuelInfantri) January 5, 2019

It is just about that time that Valve should have awarded it so I’ll expect to hear about it very soon. As of right now, I’ve heard nothing.

Optic karrigan after the major? And maybe mertz aswell? — Adem Veljovic (@T1GERCSGO) January 5, 2019



I think OpTic Karrigan is a very real possibility. I haven’t heard it in particular but I’d have to assume Snappi will have worn out his welcome should they not make significant strides at the Major. A player like k0nfig will only trust an in-game leader so long before they become fed up. The timeline makes sense but there are also contract issues that must be dealt with to make it a reality. Time will tell.