The squad informally known as ‘The Boys,’ the ex-Renegades roster, has recently been transferred to the ever-growing North American organisation 100 Thieves.

Many fans have been waiting in anticipation for the team’s next move, with news swirling from as early as Berlin, where the boys were eliminated 2-0 by eventual runners-up AVANGAR in the semi-finals, earning themselves a place at the next major.

Around the same time, 100T founder Matthew ‘Nadeshot’ Haag made it quite clear Counter-Strike was once again on the agenda for the flourishing org, especially after they have rebuffed a place in Activision’s impending 2020 Call of Duty League.

According to the former COD pro, returning to CS:GO has been part of 100T’s plan since the organisation was founded three years ago. They were just waiting for the right roster.

“There’s just so much history, so many storylines, so many players and organizations that have been here before us,” Nadeshot said in the team’s announcement video. “And I’m so damn excited to be able to participate in it again.”

For Oceania, the move is massive. The acquisition brings with it a host of potential opportunities for the overall esport industry and the ongoing role in the legacy of Counter-Strike.

100T are among many organisations who are entering the CS:GO landscape with the intent of building a highly competitive, championship-calibre lineup. With this change coming at the end of the Major cycle, 100T will also be able to ease into the changeover.

It is also important to note this roster’s top-four finish in Berlin means they will fly the 100T banner high at the next Major, and will likely be a shoe-in for invitations to other international tournaments on Aussie soil like IEM Sydney in 2020.

The team is currently competing in the ESL Pro League, and – as of the publication of this article – are still battling for second place behind Astralis in Group A at IEM Beijing.

I am so damn excited to enter CS:GO and assemble a Championship caliber roster. We are flying to Berlin next week for the conclusion of the Major with a goal of signing players that are hungry to build a winning legacy here with @100Thieves. Let’s get to work!

— 100T Nadeshot (@Nadeshot) August 30, 2019

While playing under the Renegades banner, the team made steady improvements on the global scene, peaking at fifth on the HLTV.com official rankings thanks to back-to-back top eight finishes at both of 2019’s Major Championships.

With this pressure comes the expectation to perform, and aim for trophies with the clearly-strong lineup. There’s now eyes on the team, wondering what they can achieve both with their recent success, and a new upgrade in terms of organisations.

For Oceanic fans, the chance to support a massive global esports brand in 100T is massive for the scene, and one that fans have already begun to embrace with both hands.

For the players, there’s only upside.

“We got approached by a couple of organisations after the Major… (we’re) pretty happy with the way it’s going (so far),” Aaron “AZR” Ward told HLTV during their Beijing campaign.

“I think, for us, we just needed a chance. It was a big thing to make the move to 100 Thieves. The fanbase is huge, that’s something we didn’t really have in Renegades. I don’t want to talk down on Renegades, but 100 Thieves is just a lot bigger.”

Furthermore, the move offers a more valuable goal for the Oceanic region to shoot for, with the team often touted as the pinnacle of the region’s talent.

Jay “Liazz” Tregillgas and Sean “Gratisfaction” Kaiwai were two recent players who made the step up from the domestic circuit into the star-studded Renegades roster, and both spent time as potentially the best players in Oceanic CS:GO before making the switch.

While there’s been no major indication that Nadeshot and 100T will look Down Under for roster replacements should any of the core players step away in the near future, if they stay on course with the same moves, 100T could stay as the pinnacle team for Australia talent.

As for the initial eye test, Beijing has been the first showing for the team with their new organisation. A 2-0 thrashing of ENCE was followed by a disappointing struggle against Astralis, but the results have still set the team up for a possible playoff appearance.

Under the leadership of AZR, as well as the addition of hometown heroes Liazz and Gratisfaction, the roster seemed to have been revitalised in recent times.

A slump following Katowice, which included a poor run at IEM Sydney where they missed playing in front of their home fans at Qudos Bank Arena, meant the ex-Renegades team was unable to keep the ball rolling in terms of consistency and placings.

This new change, however, is another opportunity for them to rewrite the script.

“We had that pretty bad period in June and July, I remember after Chicago when we got knocked out in last place we went straight to the practice room and talked for like four hours about how we can fix our shit,” AZR revealed.

“The main points were about being more open with each other, since tensions started to build in the team because we were losing a lot. The other thing was the ability to reinvent our stuff because we hadn’t been up in the top 5-10 and didn’t have teams watching us before.”

“After Katowice we talked about our strats and were like, ‘we have a pretty good strat book, we don’t have to change anything,’ but obviously that wasn’t the case [laughs]. After Dallas we watched our demos and could see teams were reading us, so we had to completely change.

“We did it for the Major, and since then we’ve been constantly revamping to not fall into the same path that we did.”

Now, the team seems to have fixed their internal problems, and are wearing new colours on-stage in a new period of potential success for the Oceanic roster.

With Liazz and Justin “jks” Savage once again finding their rhythm, and AZR and coach Aleksandar “kassad” Trifunovi? finally settling on plays, tactics, and how they want to approach Counter-Strike, it seems like the team is back on the right path.

Whether the boys can hang with the likes of current global powerhouses like Evil Geniuses, Team Liquid, and Astralis has yet to be confirmed, but with the backing of two countries and the entire 100T fan base behind them, they’re giving it their best shot.

Follow 100 Thieves on Twitter. Catch the boys in action during IEM Beijing at live.intelextrememasters.com.

Header image credit: Logan Dodson / 100 Thieves

After roaming my way across IEM Sydney, I’ve returned home to Brisbane and had the chance to chat with Daniel “Mavrick” Lang about the upcoming BrisVegas LAN and how it plays into the role Grassroots plays in Australian CS:GO.

Grassroots esport is defined through how it connects the general public and fanbase of a game with the upper echelons of the professional realm. Much like how club sports and athletics programs can provide younger people with the foundational skills into various sporting endeavours, so do open LAN events and esport events such as the BrisVegas LAN series of events.

BrisVegas LAN has been an ongoing activity for passionate fans in the Australian Counter-Strike community to be a part of, whether that be from the perspective of a player, production talent or as a spectator. Nonetheless, Daniel ‘Mavrick/Mav’ Lang has shown his worth as a leader of grassroots CS:GO in the region and an excellent event lead.

You may be familiar with the type of event that BrisVegas LAN typically is, also a similar format/genre to the recent ‘MC LAN’. These particular events all have their own flavour and style but what is constant is the necessity of such events. Mav is arguably one of the most qualified people when it comes to the production and execution of these LANs. As these events can often be the launching platform for all varieties of talent, their function is forever important as are the people who are behind the wheel of the grassroots esport ship.

The next edition of BrisVegas LAN is soon approaching; a 3-day event, July 5-7th. As such, we were able to catch up with Mav as well as reflect on the significance of these events and what is on the cards for next weekend and beyond.

BrisVegas LAN has been building a brand and reputation as the hub for grassroots CS:GO in Brisbane but also as an icon in the greater Oceanic region.

“I see the ‘Beyond the Summit’ and ‘TakeTV’, homegrown type events with the small studios and think they’re amazing. I’d personally love to have something similar myself… (Grassroots LANS) are necessary for any scene. The opportunity to gain all kinds of experience is what these events are best for. This environment is optimal for people who want to get prepared for future events as they look to become a professional of their craft.”
Daniel ‘Mavrick’ Lang

As such, the BrisVegas LAN has been growing out its presence and brand accordingly. With a dedicated Discord server and Twitter account, updates and information regarding the event are regularly available. More importantly, this enables further community interaction and discussion about events, matches and so forth. The accessibility of the event is a feature that sometimes ‘Tier 1’ events cannot quite nail and as such is a breath of fresh air.

Being able to focus on this supplementary aspect of the industry is an important rung for anyone on the rise, but also a genuine and authentic representation of the regions heart and passion for a game. Similar to the iconic BTS CS_Summit events, BrisVegas LANs are no strangers to special guests such as Dickstacy, jks, and Taffy. This attention from community figures legitimises these events further and extends on the idea these events are excellent platforms for experience and opportunity.

“An aspect of these LANs that I think is truly remarkable is how many people travel interstate to be a part of the weekend. There are a handful of teams for this event again that coming from Melbourne and Sydney”
Daniel ‘Mavrick’ Lang

This ability to be a foundational aspect for a career in esport really captures the importance of any grassroots event. Furthermore, partnering with QUT Esports further supports this as they bring in their passionate team who are also looking to develop this level of the industry and lay the groundwork for larger projects down the line.

The event will feature 16-teams from around the country duking it out for the title of BrisVegas Champions. Be sure to tune in this weekend via the QUT Esports Twitch channel for the live coverage of the games and support a great team of people who are enabling the future of many rising talents in the space.

Follow Mavrick & BrisVegasLAN on Twitter for more.

We had the pleasure of speaking with BIG’s veteran leader gob b after their elimination from IEM Sydney 2019. We caught up on BIG’s major future, their VISA issues, and what they can take away from an event where they weren’t at full strength.

How has BIG reacted to Valve announcing the dates for the next 4 Majors?

It was always difficult to plan ahead further than maybe a few months, but now you know when you need to be having a peak as a team. There will always be tournaments such as the majors or like Cologne that are more important to some teams, so being able to plan and use your energy more efficiently over the course of the season is really good, especially for us. I also really the dates they’ve chosen as to me they are where the year climaxes and I think they did a good job with that.

Of course, BIG wasn’t one of the only teams plagued with VISA issues for Sydney. How does something like this effect the game plan going in?

To be honest, we didn’t have a backup plan ready. We initially went to Smooya, but due to ESL rules he was unable to play with us unfortunately. So our next best choice was to play with Legija. He is more familiar with our strategies and we have really good chemistry.

Our game plan was to come here and play as best we can without pressure but to also have fun and hopefully surprise one or two teams. If we had Xantares with us, I would have had higher expectations. But I feel like we definitely took some good steps forward.

You really were able to surprise, especially in your first game against Mousesports. What changed between the first match against them to when you later met them in the elimination match?

In that first game, Tabsen obviously played really well and when that happens it is a lot easier for us. I also believe in the best of one, mousesports felt like they were afraid to lose. In the next match it was a best of three and they played like they wanted to win. Due to playing with a stand-in, we also didn’t have as strong a map pool and replacing Xantares as well as the positions he plays was difficult, particularly on maps like Mirage where I believe he is one of the best players in the world.

What are some of the things BIG is taking away from IEM Sydney?

We need to keep doing what we were doing before ESL Pro League. We had good talks, a good plan for practice that included our roles which we’re comfortable with. We just need to have a little more experience with this setup. We have more Pro League matches coming up which is good because we have nothing to lose there in our group and a lot of experience to gain. Then we have a couple more weeks after that to shape up and be ready for Cologne, so the timing is overall great for us and I want to use all this to achieve the results that we deserve.

Cologne and qualifying for the Berlin Major must mean a lot to both you and the whole team at BIG. What challenges do you see yourself facing on the road to these events?

The biggest challenge was finding the right roles and giving them to the correct players. The first few months together I believe we had these wrong, so we tried to solve this. We want to be more dedicated to our goals and what we want to achieve.

The Berlin Major is so far ahead, we want to use the time leading up to get better and better, so that we are in a position to play our best Counter-Strike and enter this mode in time for the event. I have no doubts that we will go to the European Minor and be ready for it and that we will make it. I am confident, even though we are starting from one of the most difficult minors, I am ready to go from the bottom again all the way to the top.

What have you thought about the local food and sightseeing while here in Sydney?

We’ve been able to try a whole range of food and I enjoyed it a lot. I love the city so much; in fact it might be my new favourite city.

With not much other than Pro League and their path through the Minor on the horizon, it was a real shame that VISA issues blocked one of BIG’s best chances to prepare for the road to the Major with XANTARES. Their next tournament is ESL One Cologne in early July.

Photo credit: ESL | Bart Oerbekke & Timo Verdeil