Can Dignitas Regain Their Dignity?
Dignitas has recently gone back to their original roots by producing a familiar revamp that all fans of competitive Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO) once loved. While their logo has changed, Dignitas is still running the same exact roster from last year.
They’ve participated in three different events with high expectations but low results. Veteran players Patrik "f0rest" Lindberg and Adam "friberg" Friberg are still active within Dignitas, but have lost their touch within day to day competitions.
Even though they were once on top of the competitive scene, both f0rest and friberg are struggling to keep up with the newer generation of players. The rest of Dignitas is still in the midst of learning as a team which takes time. Perhaps they’ll find the right balance this year to dominate their opponents.
A NEW CHAPTER FOR DIGNITAS
After designing new jerseys and collaboration with social media talents, Dignitas went off to compete at their first event of 2021. They started out at the Vulkan FIght Series, a B-Tier event made up of twenty different teams.
Dignitas was invited to the playoffs along with forZe, Gambit Esports, and Nemiga Gaming meaning they didn’t have to participate in the group stage. Dignitas went up against SINNERS Esports in the quarterfinals.
An extremely talented amateur team that was constantly showing off at the Vulkan Fight Series. They beat Dignitas on both maps and even took Dust2 by a total of twelve rounds. It’s safe to say that Dignitas had a rough start to the year and need to adapt within their brand-new environment.
CS_SUMMIT 7
Next up was a much larger event known as cs_summit 7 which was built around twelve legendary teams. Dignitas struggled in the group stage but managed to remove themselves from an 0-2 situation. They earned their one and only set against Complexity Gaming by taking both maps.
FaZe Clan and NiP on the other hand lost all of their maps meaning they were out of the series. Same thing went for Dignitas, but they still put up a good fight against Complexity. They made their way into the last chance stage and lost to NiP in a not so close best of three series.
Dignitas took Vertigo by two rounds but were absolutely destroyed on both Train and Inferno. While Virtus.pro went home with $100,000, Dignitas left the scene with empty pockets.
SNOW SWEET SNOW
As for their final event, Dignitas went into Snow Sweet Snow after two losses. It’s possible that their losing streak had an effect on their confidence. Dignitas faced off against a strong player pool full of talented orgs.
They were invited to the main Swiss stage which was made up of fifteen different teams. Compared to their previous events, Dignitas won not one, but two sets in their series. After a hard fought battle they beat both Team GamerLegion and Esports Club Kyiv in a best of five series.
The fact that they lost their other three matches meant Dignitas was out of the race. So far the new and improved Dignitas might need more than a simple logo change but instead time away from competing. They need to regroup as a team and prove they're talented enough to face the competitive circuit.
Click to enlargeFRIBERG LOOKS TO REBUILD HIS PORTFOLIO
Dignitas has been on a crucial downfall since their run at EPICENTER Moscow back in 2016. They took home $250,000 that day, and proceeded to face loss after loss. Their roster that year was an aggressive one at best which is what led them to so many events.
Friberg joined the team last year along with four brand-new players. He’s spent the past thirteen years playing at a competitive level within the Counter-Strike series. The last time friberg won an event was in 2018 during his time with Heroics. They won two tournaments that year before removing Friberg from their active lineup.
ONCE A LEGEND, ALWAYS A LEGEND
F0rest on the other hand was at a loss after parting ways with his team of seven years in 2020. He spent his entire CS:GO career with NiP before moving to Dignitas. F0rest won a tonne of events with NiP, but they fell off after 2017.
That being said, NiP spent roughly three years on the bottom of the global leaderboard. Digntias being a veteran team took notice of f0rest and felt that he still had a grip for competing.
The only downfall is that he hasn’t caught up with his previous wins quite yet. F0rest has had an insane career and is simply known as one of the best. Now he has to decide if he still has a feel for CS:GO, or is it time to change positions.
The rest of the team is quite young and still needs time to learn the ways of competing. They have two great teammates with years of experience which can easily be passed down throughout the org. Friberg being a team captain will be responsible for whipping his team into shape and make Dignitas a threat.
Images via Dignitas