Today is only the second after the conclusion of IEM Katowice 2019, ESL’s record-breaking event in Poland, but things move fast in CSGO and the roster madness has already begun. A pair of stories, published over on HLTV and Dextero respectively, show just how hard reporting on the changes can be, as they appear to be basically contradictory in nature. One has Cloud9 eying a potential move for suNny, from mousesports, while the other has Mousesports making move to sign benched FaZe IGL karrigan (despite a bit of bait from allu suggesting an EZ pickup for ENCE).
It doesn’t make a lot of sense that both transfers would go through, unless karrigan has identified a selection of players he would bring to the team with him, and suNny as a problem. The reason for saying that is that the Finn is extremely talented, and there is no surface reason to cut him from an org already down to just three active players after the benching of ChrisJ and STYKO. Of course, none of those moves are set in stone, and any new leader at mousesports could bring one or both of those players back to the active roster.
So, how would the move work out for both parties, if mousesports can get their man and unite him with the current team? We know that karrigan is the sort of leader who has his own ideas about who plays where, but we also know he’s coming from FaZe Clan and won’t be cheap for mouz to secure, meaning he will probably have to work with the pieces he already has. In that scenario, it could be any selection of players from the existing five that he decides to keep, and assuming ChrisJ or STYKO will remain benched is risky.
Team composition is a big issue for top tier-play, and that is why we say not to assume STYKO is gone. Mousesports currently have a very good AWP player in Oskar, but they also have a very difficult and streaky player in the form of Oskar, while ChrisJ can technically do the same job with way less stress. Sure, there may be a few less highlight reel moments, but in a team with plenty of talent already that won’t matter too much, and it may be that the lack of cohesion we saw over the last year for mouz is about more than just a lack of practice in-game.
Cash money
On the other hand, we have the suNny-to-Cloud9 move, which makes way less sense. For all that the Finn has had a tough few months, he is still one of the most exciting young talents in world CSGO, and should have far better options than the failing NA org if he is on his way out of mouz. The one thing C9 can offer is cash, in far greater amounts than mousesports, too, and maybe the chance to be the star of the team, but suNny doesn’t seem to be the kind of man to trade hope for a title for the chance to be a big fish in little pond.
If the NA org is seeking to make more moves, which would make sense with the news Zellsis and flusha are going to be out of the team, then there could be another ambitious signing to convince suNny it’s worth the risk. It’s not as though his current team is too good to leave, but the choice between what mouz might do and what C9 can offer is more rock-vs-hard-place than anything else. With kio, autimatic and Golden already on board, there is reason to be cheerful about the project, but maybe not enough to walk away from a team with ropz, Oskar and karrigan…
Watch this space
How you feel about the moves will come down to which team you care about more, but karrigan to mousesports would allow a lot of people to test what has been a pet theory for some time now. The success that karrigan enjoyed with FaZe saw many folk suggest he would also be a success with the mice, as that team was often labelled the mini-FaZe due to their similarities, with the extrapolation being that he would also succeed, as he was at that time with FaZe.
From our point of view, neither move is 100% negative if it comes off, but for suNny at least there are almost certainly better options than a C9 team lacking direction. The idea of karrigan to mouz is certainly intriguing, but his reputation is based on things he did a year ago now, rather than anything that has happened recently, and will need to be rebuilt. One thing is for sure though, the potential ceiling of the mousesports team is incredibly exciting, and any neutral of the game would have to be excited about what karrigan could achieve with a selection of Europe’s best young players to work with. Rostermania rocks!
Picture: Copyright ESL | Helena Kristiansson
