His announcement came in the midst of reports that Natus Vincere (NaVi) is close to signing Ihor “w0nderful” Zhdanov from Sprout.

The 26-year-old AWPer shared his reasons for the upcoming break, citing the need to address personal matters and document-related issues.

So what��s next, time to take break as I wanted but that��s only half of story
Need to fix documents and take care of other people in my life
About switching to other org : never thought about it but would be interesting to see offers, maybe on rifle since awp a bit not impactful��

— Sasha (@s1mpleO) October 26, 2023

He also expressed curiosity about exploring other offers upon his return and mentioned the possibility of switching roles, considering that the AWP may have reduced impact in the new game.

While s1mple emphasized that no final decisions have been made, he expressed hope that fans would continue to support NAVI in upcoming tournaments.

During his break, s1mple revealed that he would be working on a CS2-related project, though he didn’t provide specific details.

S1mple’s break marks the conclusion of a remarkable seven-year tenure with Natus Vincere, during which he achieved significant success, including 17 notable trophies and the Intel Extreme Masters Grand Slam.

He also earned numerous individual accolades and topped HLTV’s top 20 list three times.

His desire for a break was initially mentioned in an HLTV interview in the middle of the previous year, amidst Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the benching of Kirill “Boombl4” Mikhailov.

Despite these challenges, s1mple remained an integral part of NAVI’s roster, earning recognition as the top player of 2022.

As 2023 began, s1mple’s personal form experienced a dip, though he remained among the top-rated LAN players.

NAVI, in an effort to regain championship-winning form, revamped their roster during the recent off-season, introducing a new in-game leader in Aleksi “Aleksib” Virolainen and adopting English as their primary communication language.

S1mple has been vocal about his criticisms of the transition to CS2, describing the game as “unpleasant” and advising aspiring pro players to wait for updates.

His absence from the first CS2 LAN event, IEM Sydney, raised questions, but it was later revealed to be due to issues with his EU residency papers.

The ongoing war in Ukraine has had a significant impact on NAVI players, forcing them to constantly travel to attend tournaments and taking a toll on their mental well-being.

S1mple’s decision to take a break was influenced by the need to address these personal matters and the continuous tournament schedule.

The future of NAVI’s roster remains uncertain, with discussions about potential changes within the team and organization.

In summary, s1mple’s decision to take a break from competitive play is influenced by personal matters and the challenges posed by the ongoing situation in Ukraine.

His departure from NAVI marks the end of a successful era in his CS:GO career, with the potential for new opportunities and role changes upon his return.

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Sprout have made numerous changes to their Counter-Strike team over the past weeks, including taking off Victor “?Staehr?” Staehr and Lauren?iu “?lauNX?” ?arlea during the off-season. Staehr is currently signed to Astralis, while lauNX was added to the Falcons lineup during the break shuffle.

The team’s recent move to end things with XELLOW leaves Sprout with only two active players, Rasmus “Zyphon” Nordfoss and Daniil “alpha” Demin.

A farewell post from Sprout read, “Half a year later and we are here to say goodbye to another part of the SPROUT family. Your time with us was brief but filled with many joyful moments and incredible flicks. We wish you the very best on your journey! Thank you & take care @XELLOWcs!”

According to reports, the organization have set their sights on Igor “?w0nderful?” Zhdanov from Team Spirit to replace XELLOW. The player has been a part of Spirit since June 2022 and currently holds an average rating of 1.12.

XELLOW, on his end, reached a 1.00 average rating during his six-month stint with Sprout. The team notably had issues in their 2023 CS:GO tournament appearances and failed to make any deep runs in the events.

Sprout faced even more issues after parting ways with Ismail “?refrezh?” Ali in March. They tried several new players as potential replacements before deciding on Aaron “?AZR?” Ward as the new in-game leader; however, there was no notable improvement.

AZR was taken off the lineup in April, less than two months after he was signed following Sprour’s inability to secure a place in the BLAST.tv Paris Major. The team were eliminated from the Europe RMR in 12-14th place after a loss to Apeks.

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gla1ve, who was part of the original lineup, leaves Astralis after seven years amid major team restructuring. Astralis are expected to announce the roster change soon.

?Staehr?��s contract with Sprout was initially supposed to expire at the start of 2024 after which he would join Astralis as a free agent. However, after a round of discussions, Astralis were able to speed up the process and reach an agreement with the German organization to sign Staehr months ahead of the contract expiration date.

With gla1ve��s absence, the in-game leader duties will be passed down to Benjamin “?blameF?” Bremer, who has more experience from his time as Complexity��s IGL. blameF already took up the captain reins to some extent before the move, as he has been leading the CS:GO team in matches on certain maps.

gla1ve started playing for Astralis when the organization was founded in 2016 and has led the team to win multiple top-tier events over the last years, including four major wins.

The move to replace gla1ve comes amid calls for a change following Astralis�� recent poor performances. The captain has also displayed poor individual form over the past few months.

If the report proves factual, Astralis�� CS:GO lineup will consist of ?blameF?, Staehr, Nicolai “?device?” Reedtz, Alexander “?Altekz?” Givskov, and Christian “?Buzz?” Andersen.

Astralis have made a number of other changes to their CS:GO division over the past week. The organization announced on Wednesday that it had parted ways with Head Analyst, Nicolai “?HUNDEN?” Petersen and their Director of Sports, Kasper Hvidt.

While it is not certain whether Astralis intend to continue their restructuring, the team need to wrap it up before the end of June 22. This is the roster submission deadline for the BLAST Premier Fall Groups which will be Astralis�� first outing in the fall season.

Any more changes after the deadline will require the tournament organizers�� approval and like result in a bottom seeding in the event for Astralis.

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The organization revealed the news in a lengthy Twitter post, stating that they intended to conduct a number of trials in both practice and official games for a new captain. This means that players would be fielded in the role on a weekly basis.

In the post, Sprout revealed that they decided to alter the lineup following careful deliberation and wanted to enter into the new era of CS2 ��without losing sight of our philosophy��.

A statement from Sprout��s CS:GO manager, Daniel Paulus, read: ��In the fast-paced world of esports, making the right call for player and roster changes can be challenging.

��Often, we��ve only had a brief time period to test various players and eventually pick a candidate. With little to no time, one will never know for sure if a decision is fitting until further. It simply isn��t possible to anticipate all circumstances and aspects that play into team dynamics.��

Sprout reiterated their commitment to raising young talents and revealed they intended to set up an academy team this summer. Danny “Berry” Kr��ger, the organization��s CS:GO coach, disclosed that he would be heavily involved with the academy project.

��Our primary goal is to find the right players who have the talent, skill, and dedication to compete at the highest levels,�� Kr��ger said.

The announcement comes barely a week after the team failed to scale through the BLAST Paris Major Europe RMR A. Sprout��s altered team consists of Victor “?Staehr?” Staehr, Rasmus “?Zyphon?” Nordfoss, Lauren?iu “?lauNX?” ?arlea and Adrian “?XELLOW?” Gu??.

AZR joined Sprout following a period of instability for the team when they parted ways with former in-game leader Ismail “?refrezh?” Ali. Prior to his signing, Sprout fielded Mikkel “?Maze?” Sparvath to take the place of Zyphon before ultimately benching refrezh and moving Zyphon back to the main lineup. Kr��ger filled in for them during the CCT Central Europe Malta Finals.

During his time with them, AZR led Sprout to a 6-10 match record, landing them only a single win against Apeks in the European RMR event. They failed to qualify for events like IEM Dallas, the European RMR, BLAST Spring Showdown, and ESL Challenger Melbourne. Sprout also finished joint-last in the BetBoom Playlist Urbanistic tournament.

AZR shared a TwitLonger concerning his departure from Sprout��s lineup. There, the former in-game leader revealed that the team faced some complications concerning their roles, and it was apparent from the start that he was not a good fit.

“It was clear early on that it just wasn’t a good fit with roles clashing and not having the same vision for the IGL to take and create space for the team,” he said.

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Rasmus “Zyphon” Nordfoss replaced Refrezh on Sprout’s roster, sparking several rumours linking him to the struggling North American outfit, which is in the process of reshaping its roster in order to return to winning ways.

The rumors are true��@refrezhCS is HERE. #LIVEEVIL pic.twitter.com/GSKU2nXZHO

— EG CS:GO (@EGCSGO) April 11, 2023

After taking over as the in-game leader at Sprout, refrezh chose to step down from his duties after being quoted as saying it “has been tough for him”.

The Dane will bring a wealth of tier-one CS:GO experience, having played for top European teams such as Copenhagen Flames and MAD Lions, as well as winning ESL Pro League Season 13 during his 16-month stint with Heroic.

Evil Geniuses desperately need someone like refrezh, who has been playing at the highest level for a few years and has attended all three CS:GO Majors in Stockholm, Antwerp, and Rio de Janeiro in the last two years.

Because they don’t have an official event until May 29, when IEM Dallas 2023 begins, EG will have plenty of time to integrate refrezh into the lineup.

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In a Twitter post, Sprout revealed that after a lengthy period of deliberation and testing, the organization settled on AZR to be the new in-game leader and fill the vacant spot refrezh left. The former IGL stepped down from Sprout’s captain position by mutual agreement last month and was moved to the inactive roster shortly after.

“After much deliberation and testing, we’re proud to announce that @Azr will be our new @CSGO IGL! It was a tough decision, but with his proven leadership abilities, we are confident that AZR will be a valuable asset to our team,” Sprout wrote.

The move marks AZR’s return to competitive play after the player went on a hiatus in October 2021. He last played with EXTREMUM but is mostly known for his time with Renegades between 2015-2019. AZR was made the squad IGL after Noah “?Nifty?” Francis left in 2018, and with him in charge, the team reached the playoffs of the StarLadder Berlin and IEM Katowice Majors.

ASR and the rest of Renegades’ roster were signed to 100 Thieves and then EXTREMUM by 2021; however, they were only together for nine months. After failing to qualify for the PGL Stockholm Major, EXTREMUM benched and transferred the entire squad. ASR was on the bench for seven months before finally securing a way to end his contract and leave the organization into free agency.

The last time the player completed professionally was with Encore last summer. He and Sean “?Gratisfaction?” Kaiwai were contracted to fill substitute roles in the squad for the IEM Rio RMR closed qualifier.

Encore lost to ORDER and finished the tournament in second place, losing the only available spot to qualify for the event. The veteran IGL played with the team until September 2022, after which he left and has been away from competing since then.

AZR also took to Twitter to announce the new development.

“Excited to be back in action with the Sprout boys. I have a lot to prove and have a lot of hard work ahead after being out of competition for a while but looking forward to it,” the player wrote.

With the new player, Sprout will hopefully close the chapter of an unstable period that featured several roster changes. These include refrezh’s struggles as captain, Rasmus “?Zyphon?” Nordfoss’ move to the bench a few months prior and reinstatement recently and Mikkel “?Maze?” Sparvath’s trial for the position of IGL. Danny “?BERRY?” Kr��ger also returned to compete in the CCT Central Europe Finals.

Sprout are set to participate in the ESL Challenger League Season 44 Europe and the European RMR A for BLAST.tv Paris CS:GO Major scheduled for April 6.
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The change was made due to a difference in views concerning the future of the team. Sprout also revealed that they were still in search of a new in-game leader and would inform the public once one was found.

“It’s with a heavy heart that we bid farewell to refrezh from our active roster. Due to different views on the project, we have made a mutual agreement to put him on the transfer list. We’re grateful for his commitment and the memories, especially our run to the Rio Major,” Sprout wrote.

In a follow-up tweet, the esports organization said, “With that said, @ZyphonCS resumes his role in the active lineup. As for the search for a new IGL, we’re actively testing candidates and will keep you updated on our progress as the week closes.”

Zyphon’s return to the starting roster comes 21 days after he was moved to the bench. While on the team, he averaged a 1.06 rating, but was sidelined after Sprout’s underwhelming performance at IEM Katowice 2023.

Refrezh was benched following Sprout’s early elimination from the CCT Central Europe Malta Finals, ending the player’s half-year stint on the active lineup. The player was also placed on the transfer list.

Refrezh joined Sprout with Zyphon last summer after moving from Heroic. He went on to reach the top three at the ESL Challenger League Season 43 Europe, ESL Meisterschaft Autumn 2022, Intel Extreme Masters Road to Rio 2022 European RMR A, and Elisa Masters Espoo 2022.

He took on the reins of the IGL as a rookie captain later that year and helped the team qualify for a spot in the IEM Rio Major Legends Stage. With refrezh on the lineup, Sprout recorded victories over teams like Spirit, FORZE, and B8 en route to their highest-ever placement at a Valve-sanctioned event.

Sprout were unable to maintain that level of play over the next few months, and refrezh notably had issues handling his IGL position. The team was eliminated early on in the IEM Rio 2023 Closed Qualifier and IEM Katowice

As a result, refrezh announced that he intended to step down from his in-game leader position at the start of February. Sprout hosted a number of trials to secure a new IGL, involving players like Mikkel “?Maze?” Sparvath.

Sprout’s updated lineup features Lauren?iu “?lauNX?” ?arlea, Victor “?Staehr?” Staehr, Adrian “?XELLOW?” Gu?? and ?Zyphon. The organization will need to sign a new in-game leader before the RMR registration deadline in order to compete in the Regional Major Ranking event slated for April.

For now, Sprout are participating in the BetBoom Playlist Urbanistic 2023 and ESL Challenger League Season 44. They are also getting ready for the BLAST.tv Paris Major 2023 European RMR A.

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The European closed qualifiers for the $250,000 CS:GO tournament has been plagued by persistent tech issues, affecting teams like ENCE, Bad News Eagles, BIG and Sprout.

BIG, ENCE and Sprout lost their opening matches to lower-ranked teams, with players reporting that the servers were lagging and the ESEA client was crashing.

The technical issues in the BIG vs Sprout series were so bad that the teams managed only six rounds of play in an hour.

Players from all teams involved didn��t hold back when they displayed their displeasure on social media, with two ENCE players — Pavle ��maden�� Boskovic and Marco ��Snappi�� Pfeffer — posting on their Twitter accounts.

��Two days in a row getting huge lags on three guys because of ESEA client,�� maden said.

��They don��t want to provide us good servers or fix this bug, and that also don��t let us play without the client, we lost full ecos, antiecos, (and) many other rounds because of it.��

We are 3 bo3s, 2 days in a row getting huge lags on 3 guys because of ESEA client, and they for 2 days dont wanna provide us good servers or fix this bug, and they also dont let us play without the client, we lost full ecos, antiecos, many other rounds cus of it

— ENCE maden (@madennCS) February 9, 2023

Players lagging out , esea client crashing , played 6 rounds in one hour , gotta love it

— Tarlea Laurentiu (@lauNXcs_) February 8, 2023

Another professional player, commenting on maden��s Twitter thread, declared that ESEA would ��never�� make a public comment to address the issue.

However, ESEA apologised to Snappi and said it was working on getting everything fixed ��as soon as possible��.

Sorry for the continued issues. We are working on getting everything fixed as soon as possible

— ESEA (@ESEA) February 8, 2023

With all of the problems with the ESEA servers, and with teams losing crucial rounds on their way to series losses, the legitimacy of the qualifiers are now under fire from many teams and players.

9INE, world number 33, were the first team to qualify for IEM Brazil, with HONORIS and BIG set to play the last series of the closed qualifier at 3:30pm CET on Friday, February 10, for the second and final spot up for grabs.

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The announcement of XELLOW’s signing was made on the franchise’s official Twitter page on January 9. The team welcomed him to the fold and emphasized its trust in his abilities.

“Please welcome @XELLOWcs to our ranks.

He has waited a long time to prove what he is made of and finally will be able to do so under the banner of Sprout,” the announcement read.

“We have no doubt that he will succeed with his skill set and cannot wait to see our team flourish in the future.”

The 22-year-old Romanian has been added to the active roster to replace Fritz “slaxz-” Dietrich, who left Sprout in late 2022 after being part of the team for two years.

XELLOW comes to Sprout from Nexus, where he played for almost six years across two stints from 2016-2022. Throughout this time, he consistently performed at a high level and recently earned a team-leading 1.20 rating in his latest five-month spell with the roster.

His skills in the game caught the attention of ECSTATIC, which signed him in April 2022. Despite only spending three months with the Danish franchise, XELLOW once again impressed with a 1.09 rating, second only to Dion “FASHR” Derksen (1.22) who was later signed by Fnatic.

Reacting to the news of his recruitment to the Danish franchise, XELLOW thanked the team for the privilege to represent its banner. While he promised to repay the trust, he stated that it is also an opportunity for him to display to the world his skillset.

“I am incredibly thankful for the opportunity that Sprout has given me. It’s a great chance for me to show what I can do at a different level,” XELLOW said.

“For the last five years, I’ve been preparing to make this step and I want to repay the trust that the organization has placed in me. Also, it’s amazing to play with Lau again, I really enjoyed our time together at Nexus and I think we had great synergy.”

XELLOW’s signing to Sprout sees the Romanian reunite with Lauren?iu “lauNX” ?arlea, with whom he previously played under the Nexus banner for a year. The two had a successful run together, picking up victories at local Romanian LANs and online cups.

Sprout has high hopes for XELLOW and his impact on the team. In 2022, the team reached a peak of No. 18 in the world ranking, and they hope that XELLOW will be the catalyst to help them reach even greater heights. The team has a busy schedule ahead of them, with upcoming appearances in the ESL Pro League Season 17 Conference Europe, the ESL Challenger League Season 44, and the IEM Katowice Play-In all on the horizon.

The head coach of the team, Danny “BERRY” Kruger, has expressed his excitement about the new addition. He described him as a strong player while assertively reassuring fans that he is what the team needs at the moment.

“I am really excited that XELLOW will be joining us for 2023. XELLOW is a very strong player in every aspect of the game, and we can make very versatile use of his abilities,” BERRY said.

“I do believe he will fill in gaps we had last year and play a major role to our roster reaching the next level.”

The new Romanian-Danish mix roster for Sprout now consists of Victor “Staehr” Staehr, Lauren?iu “lauNX” ?arlea, in-game leader Ismail “refrezh” Ali, Rasmus “Zyphon” Nordfoss, and XELLOW.

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“Just in time for the start of the RMR Qualifiers, we can announce the latest additions to our CS:GO lineup,” the organization said.

“In many ways, this is a turning point for us. Welcome home not one, but two greatly talented and skilled players [refrezh and Zyphon].”

Sprout’s roster is now back at its maximum capacity after the signing of the two players. The two new players are filling in for Timo “Spiidi” Richter and Rasmus “raalz” Steensborg, who left the team a little more than two weeks ago.

“With our age average down to only 20 and the experience that the duo already bring with them despite their young age, be it the major participation or the victory of the ProLeague, we are very confident about what the future holds.” Sprout said.

In addition to refrezh��s functions in rifling, he will be taking on the additional responsibilities of in-game leadership in Sprout, something that he has never executed before in his career journey.

The fact that refrezh and Zyphon are both familiar with the S-tier level of CS:GO means that they bring a high level of expertise to the Sprout team. The new in-game leader was instrumental in Heroic’s rise to prominence as one of the top teams in the world, culminating in their triumph in the ESL Pro League season 13 championship in April 2021.

On the other hand, Zyphon has not only assisted Copenhagen Flames in qualifying for the most recent two CS:GO Majors, but he also assisted them in reaching the playoffs at the PGL Antwerp Major back in May.

Both Zyphon and refrezh had been out of action since June, when Heroic removed refrezh from the active lineup to make room for the addition of Jakob “Jabbi” Nygaard. While Zyphon had been looking for a new team ever since the Copenhagen Flames benched him after the Major in June.

The 24-year-old Danish player refrezh contributed to the roster’s victories in the ESL Pro League Season 13 and, more recently, the Pinnacle Cup Championship 2022. During his time with the team, he also racked up a 1.02 rating and helped the team finish in first place both times.

Sprout were one of the first members to join the German Esports Federation, which is known as the ESBD. They are primarily recognized for their performance in CS: GO; however, in September 2021, the organization entered the League of Legends Esports scene by integrating with RULE.

The team have devoted the majority of the year to this point to competing in tier-two competitions, and they have had a mixed level of success as a result. Some of their more notable finishes include 5th-6th in ESL Challenger League Season 41 as well as 3rd-4th at ESL Challenger Valencia, although they have also finished last in the ESL Pro League Season 16 Conference.

The new Sprout roster will make its debut in the open qualifier for the IEM Road to Rio that began today. They will also be competing in the forthcoming season of the ESL Challenger League, where they will look to improve on their finish of fifth-sixth place.

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