The 2022 CS:GO season has already come to an end. There have been some best moments from the king of shooters, especially S1mple’s emotional speech on the IEM Katowice and a Boombl4’s kick due to “high reputational risks”.
But there are also some Valve’s shooter players who, surprisingly, won’t continue to play in the main line-up of their respective teams next season. Here are some of the most notable free agents and benched players from the 2022-2023 season.
Boombl4
New year, new opportunities. Kirill “Boombl4” Mikhaylov’s contract with Natus Vincere has officially come to an end after seven months away from the active roster of the Ukrainian team. Boombl4 was benched by the organization at the end of May 2022 due to several reputational risks and the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
It was sort of obvious that Kirill would no longer wear the Ukrainian team’s shirt, but being a free agent he is more likely to sign for a new squad soon and come back to the professional stage. The 24-year-old player admitted that he’s looking for new opportunities and peaks that he had not reached before.
It is worth noting Boombl4 won numerous S-Tier titles during his time at Natus Vincere. In 2021, the Ukrainian team was unbeatable at the competitive scene, claiming seven major trophies along the way. The 2022 season, however, has been very irregular for NaVi after Boombl4’s departure. For this reason, the organization has already confirmed the removal of sdy and the promotion of npl. If you are interested in their current matches and line-up updates, head to visit the https://cover.gg/matches/current webpage.
K0nfig
K0nfig’s case is probably one of the craziest of the entire 2022 season. It has been mutually decided between Kristian Wienecke and Astralis that his contract be terminated as the Danish organization benched him due to personal reasons.
Soon after, the 25-year-old player admitted to his involvement in fistfight in Malta during EPL season 16, which resulted in a broken leg for the star rifler and eventually led to him missing out on the Europe RMR for the IEM Rio Major.
Along with that, other reports showed up related to k0nfig’s aggressive behavior. He was violent to broadcast talent and hotel staff at IEM Cologne in July. Kristian admitted the report and added that he’s trying to get back on track by participating in psychotherapy sessions and quitting drinking.
At the moment of writing, it is unclear what the future holds for the former Astralis player in the early 2023 season, as he is still recovering from the physical altercation. The Astralis roster itself is completed with the recent signing of Christian Møss “Buzz” Andersen after k0nfig’s removal.
Hades
The polish Aleksander “hades” Miskiewicz player had successfully handled the AWP role for ENCE since June 2021. During his time at ENCE, he helped the organization become a solid top-five team in the world while heading into the 2022 season. The team strung together a multitude of victories, also winning ESL Pro League season 15 in April and IEM Dallas in June among others, in addition to claiming a top-four finish at the PGL Antwerp Major in May along the way.
That said, the organization thinks that hades’ removal from its active CS:GO line-up is needed for the squad to reach new heights. Soon after, ENCE brought Spanish AWPer Alvaro “SunPayus” Garcia from Movistar Riders for the direction they have been going for.
Other CS:GO Free Agents
Apart from these three promising youngsters that are on the market right now, there are also other free agents who have been placed on the bench list recently. This list includes but is not limited to Miikka “suNny” Kemppi (from TITANS), Ladislav “GuardiaN” Kovács (from Sampi), Nikolay “mir” Bityukov (from Team Spirit), in addition to the two Danish players Markus “Kjaerbye” Kjærbye (from Endpoint) and Lucas “Bubzkji” Andersen (from Astralis) among others.
Before the CS:GO game returns to the competitive stage in 2023, many teams are bringing in new acquisitions to their respective rosters. That’s why we look forward to seeing some of the current free agents back in the pro game later this month.
