North replaces MSL; Cadian and Gade jump in

Danish CS:GO organisation North have signed CadiaN to their Counter-Strike roster. CadiaN leaves North American organisation Rogue to return to Denmark and will be replacing MSL on North despite some commendable performances by the in-game Leader. Joining Cadian on the ‘new North roster’ will be Gade as he returns from his loan to Heroic Gaming. 

MSL goes back on the bench

MSL has led the team to victory at Dreamhack Masters Stockholm. His refusal to bench the young player and pick up the AWP himself bore fruit as MSL was awarded the MVP of Dreamhack Stockholm.

MSL has been one of the most criticised In-Game Leaders in Counter-Strike, often berated for his lack of individual performance. However, despite bursts of excellence the team failed where it mattered the most, losing out in The New Challengers stage at the FACEIT London Major was not the result that the organisation wanted.

A four-year-long journey has ended. It started out with Aizy leaving for FaZe and me and Kjaerbye building a new team of talents which surprisingly got in top-6 in the world. Since then, it has been a very interesting journey with a lot of ups and downs[…] Looking back, I’m very proud of what I have accomplished, being top-5 in average in 2017. Over the 4 years, I have won two big titles and four small ones and I’m very happy that I could finish my time in North by giving the fans that stuck with us a very big title. I want to thank all the teammates I have had through the time and thank North for the time. I will come back stronger!

For now, MSL will be looking for new opportunities and considering his talent and importance to the Danish scene, we are sure he will be on another team very soon.

CadiaN’s return to Danish Counter Strike

After a two year long hiatus from Danish Counter-Strike, CadiaN returns to the scene via North. During these two years, he has impressed us with his individual skill level as well as Rogue’s preparations and strategy. CadiaN will be taking on the role of the In-Game Leader for North replacing MSL.

Analysts and casters were pleasantly surprised at seeing the level of preparation by Rogue Gaming. Led by CadiaN , Rogue was still unable to make it past the New Challengers stage, but for an underdog team they showed several new exciting strategies against top teams. Rogue played teams like Space Soldiers, Spirit, Astralis, North and Vega and was able to take North to Triple Overtime before eventually losing the match 23-25. It was a very close affair with several tactical mid-round callouts on either team.

Despite the loss, it was obvious that teams were taking notice of Cadian’s leadership abilities. He was slowly climbing the ranks in Counter-Strike, where quality In-Game Leaders is not easy to find.


 

North gain a dedicated AWPer, Gade returns to the team

With Mertz not on the roster, North faced an AWP problem. This is primarily why MSL would take up the AWP. While he was quite good at the AWP at Stockholm, they need a dedicated AWPer, a player who can dictate the pace of the round, and MSL is simply not that player right now.

In addition to CadiaN, Gade is also making his return to the team. Niko will return to Heroic, although he is no longer a part of their ESEA roster, and with this move North’s current roster looks like :

  • Casper “cadiaN” Møller
  • Nicklas “gade” Gade
  • Philip “aizy” Aistrup
  • Valdemar “valde” Bjørn Vangså
  • Markus “Kjaerbye” Kjærbye

Gade’s movement to North will be extremely crucial as the player was picked up solely because of his talent. Formerly at the North Academy, Gade has proven himself in the past with exceptional skill and a sound mind on his shoulders. For the past eight months, he was on loan to Heroic and will now return to North to play under CadiaN.

CadiaN has a totally new roster on his hands, something that he can mould into his particular style of play. With MSL on the bench, CadiaN has free reigns to dictate the pace and playstyle on North Gaming.

The next offline tournament for North will be StarSeries i-League Season 6 which takes place 7th – 14th October in Kiev, Ukraine, while the forthcoming official matches will be the ECS Challenger Cup and ESL Pro League Season 8.