Nemiga Part Ways With Lollipop21k

Igor “lollipop21k” Solodkov is set to leave Nemiga Gaming Counter-Strike: Global Offensive roster, as reported on Monday, November 1.

The Belarus CS:GO esports star will leave the organization after playing nearly 900 maps under Nemiga’s banner.

Nemiga Gaming Lose Its Star Player

In a surprising turn of events, lollipop21k announced that he is set to leave Nemiga Gaming, who lost its star and longest-serving player. The 25-year-old CS:GO player announced the news on his Twitter, revealing he has decided to leave due to conflicting views of the team’s future.

“I’m leaving Nemiga and benching myself, putting in transfer list,” said lollipop21k. “Unfortunately, my and the organization views about the future of the team differed. I hope Nemiga will achieve their goals but without me. I wish them the best of luck.”

With the departure of lollipop21k, Nemiga Gaming lost its best player. Lollipop21k has averaged a 1.17 rating for Nemiga Gaming across the last three months and 1.14 across nearly 900 maps.

Lollipop21k joined Nemiga Gaming in August 2018, just a year after the Belarus esports organization first appeared in the CS:GO scene. He has since established himself as a key player of the team and the driving force behind Nemiga’s success over the years.

Unfortunately, the team hasn’t achieved much in 2021, failing to win a single tournament. Their best placements happened in January and February when Nemiga placed top-three at Vulkan Fight Series and European Development Championship Season 2.

Nemiga have since been struggling with their performances, achieving only minor success in October, when they placed second in ESEA Season 38: Advanced Division.

Trouble For Nemiga

With the departure of lollipop21k, the Belarus esports organization found itself in a tough spot. As a team that has shown some promise in the latter half of 2020 – peaking at no.21 in the world – Nemiga have not achieved much of late.

And losing its star player surely can’t help Nemiga’s chances to reach the same heights.

Nemiga Gaming is left with four active players in their CS:GO esports roster, including Anton “boX” Burko, Aliaksandr “1eeR” Nahorny, Rassim “Jyo” Valijev, and Artem “iDISBALANCE” Egorov. The team also has Aleksandr “mds” Rubiec as a benched player, who is likely to step into the active roster while Nemiga searches for a replacement.

The Belarus squad is currently ranked no.38 globally, ranking as high as 36th in early October. And while this is the highest Nemiga have been since late 2020, it’s unlikely that they’ll manage to remain inside the top-40 for long.

The team has yet to reveal their plans for the future and whether they’re looking to sign a new player to fill in the gap left behind by lollipop21k. However, given their lack of success, Nemiga will have to find a way to get back on track.

Luckily the post-Major roster shuffle should present the organization with plenty of options to choose from. Most notably, Nemiga could look to sign players, formerly of Team Spirit, who will all get cut from the organization by the end of November.

Plans For The Future

The most likely solution for Nemiga is to sign at least one former Team Spirit player to their team; however, nothing has been confirmed as of yet.

Viktor “⁠sdy⁠” Orudzhev, Leonid “chopper” Vishnyakov, Nikolay “mir” Bityukov, Boris “magixx” Vorobiev, and Abdul “degster” Gasanov will all become free agents following the DreamHack Open November 2021 and could present a solution for Nemiga’s current situation.

Meanwhile, lollipop21k has not unveiled what his plans for the future are. However, as stated in his Twitlonger post, lollipop21k is going “to develop his media activity, to stream more often, enjoy life, and get ready for the upcoming season.”