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Team Singularity announced its return to the Counter-Strike: Global Offensive competitive scene. As revealed on Tuesday, September 7, Singularity have formed a new roster comprising of five CIS players.
Two Veterans Reunite
Team Singularity’s new CS:GO roster will feature two former Natus Vincere players in Denis “seized” Kostin and Ladislav “GuardiaN” Kovacs, who will team up with three Russian esports pros, aged under 21. Joining the two veterans are Evgeny “Norwi” Ermolin, Timur “clax” Sabirov, and Daniil “d1Ledez” Kustov.
This, however, is not the first time the quintet will play together. GuardiaN and co. have previously played under BEZ EP and attended IronWar Grand Prix in August, where they placed third-fourth.
It also marks the return of GuardiaN, who was last seen playing for Natus Vincere between September 2019 and January 2020. Since leaving the team, the Slovak esports pro traveled around and served as a stand-in for Dignitas, Sinners Esports, and Trident Clan while also appearing in several low-tier tournaments as a member of independent rosters.
GuardiaN will now reunite with his former NaVi teammate, who he played with back in 2012-2017. The duo parted ways after seized got released from NaVi and has since played for Vega Squadron, Cyber Legacy, and most recently, Trident.
Although seized and GuardiaN never won a major championship, they have helped NaVi reach back-to-back Major finals. That includes silver medals from DreamHack Open Cluj-Napoca 2015 and MLG Major Championship: Columbus 2016.
Those are, to date, NaVi’s best placements at a Major Championship. The Ukrainian esports organization has since made it to the CS:GO Major finals only once – in 2018, at the FACEIT Major: London 2018.
A New Era For Singularity
By signing the CIS roster, Team Singularity have taken a new path, having previously fielded projects from Denmark and NA. This marks the first time that the Danish esports organization will field a CIS roster.
“After being committed to the Danish scene for about 1,5 years, after our previous American adventure, we needed a breath of fresh air,” said Alte S. Stehouwer, CEO and Founder of Singularity.
“Therefore, I decided to explore our options outside of the national borders once again, where I found this hungry and talented CIS team perfectly balanced with young machines and experienced knowledge.
“I’ve high expectations of the team, and I’m looking forward to provide the framework necessary for this team to find further success in the scene.”
This, however, is not the first time an esports organization decided to sign “proven veterans” and up-and-coming talents. Although this might seem the right strategy to start building for the future, it remains to be seen how much success this project can achieve.
Although seized and GuardiaN are proven talents in the scene, they’ve both been out of tier-one competitions for years. Siezed was last seen competing at the highest level with Gambit Esports in 2018.
Meanwhile, GuardiaN was last seen competing at the top level at the end of 2019 during his second stint with Natus Vincere. Both have since mostly represented second-tier squads while trying to re-launch their careers.
The youngsters on the team, however, have yet to have a chance to prove themselves. Norwi and clax are mostly known for their time at EXTREMUM in 2020 and Trident Clan, who they played for earlier this year.
D1Ledez is the least-known player of the new team, having first appeared in a professional scene in February 2021 with SG.Pro. Throughout his career, D1Ledez has only 45 maps to his resume.
Joining the team as a head coach is Artem “Fierce” Ivanov. The 31-year-old has led Vega Squadron through September 2016 – August 2018 and was most recently in charge of Team Unique.