Photo: mousesports

Now that the team has been announced for a couple days, it’s time to reflect on what the future could hold for the new mousesports lineup.

However, we must take a look back before moving our eyes forward…

An organization that has been near the top of Counter-Strike since the 1.6 days, mousesports has struggled to be a consistent top 4 contender for what feels like too long. Even with the veteran experience and talent of the likes of Tomáš “oskar” Šťastný and Chris “ChrisJ” De Jong combined with the young star power of Robin “ropz” Kool and Miikka “suNny” Kemppi, the team always seemed to be held on the fringe of greatness, never quite crossing the threshold.

The roster attempted changes to the fifth man, swapping Martin “STYKO” Styk in and out with the likes of Janusz “Snax” Pogorzelski, a player feared from the glory days of Virtus.pro. It seemed snax would never find his fit in the long term though and the team would continue down it’s path. Although there were brief glimpses of possibility and hope when the team hoisted the trophy at ESL One New York 2018, or made it to a finals at ESL One Belo Horizonte, eventually the less than stellar results would be too much. The breaking point seemingly being the teams failure to qualify for the IEM Katowice 2019 Major, falling unexpectedly in the intense European qualifer.

Photo: DreamHack

It was time for a change and it wasn’t to be a small one. Three players were brought on board as Finn “Karrigan” Andersen, Özgür “woxic” Eker, and David “frozen” Cernansky joined the lineup. oskar, STYKO, and suNny would be mousesports stars no longer.

Karrigan is set to take over the reigns as a proven in-game leader having formerly led a majority of the current Astralis and FaZe Clan lineups, two of the most devastating teams in the scene. This leadership and experience has been needed and will play a great hand in providing value when joining hands with the other side of the roster move.

woxic, an extremely talented and young AWPer will have not only the guidance of a proven leader to help grow his play, but also a talented AWPer in ChrisJ to help add more variety to his style and ability with the big green weapon. This move gives an already stellar player a platform to grow and expand his play under the mousesports banner.

Photo: ELeague

Furthering their investment in young talent, frozen will move into a team where he has both young, old, experienced, and others learning all around him. Karrigan and ChrisJ can help provide the player with years of knowledge while he can build his chemistry and play style alongside the likes of ropz and woxic as they continue to find their identities as players.

When looking at this team from its composition and potential, it’s hard not to believe in the decision of mousesports. Did they let go of an absolute star in oskar? Of course they did. Do I fault them for it given the team they’ve pieced together? Not at all. The idea is there, the potential is there and it’s an investment worth making.

mousesports gave the tried and true approach time and effort, it gave them good results but seldom great results. This roster is capable of greatness and it may arrive sooner than you think.

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