Sunny, Flusha, And Autimatic – Future Number One?
Following the report by Jared “Dekay” Lewis on January 7, 2021, stating that professional Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO) trio Timothy “Autimatic” Ta, Robin “Flusha” Ronnquist, and Miikka “suNny” Kemppi would be looking to find an organisation as a trio, speculation has been rampant on who could possibly fill out the remaining two spots on the roster and which organisation they could play for.
When evaluating each of the trio individually, one thing that is for certain is they don’t lack experience. As part of the only North American team to ever win a CS:GO major, Autimatic will be looking to return to his glory days after a somewhat lacklustre spell on a Gen.G roster, where he was forced into the AWP role that he hadn’t really played full time at the highest level. Despite this fact, Autimatic still averaged a more than respectable 1.08 hltv rating throughout his time on Gen.G, still showing that he has what it takes to compete at the highest level.
Click to enlargeOnce a part of what was seen as the greatest team of all time before Astralis, flusha has spent most of his career as a member of legendary Swedish organisation FNATIC. As far as achievements go, there are very few players that can claim to rival flusha’s. In a career that has consisted of him winning three major tournaments and 20 LAN events, it is unquestionable that the Swede knows what it takes to make it far in major events and taste the winning feeling, something he will be keen to repeat since winning the European section of the ESL Pro League Season 11 which concluded in April 2020. Known for his insane awareness, flusha should be able to help with strategy on the team, being able to make midround calls based on his unreal instincts and years of experience.
Last but not least, suNny joins the trio off the back of what can only be described as a disappointing run on all Finnish roster ENCE. The rifler ended his time on ENCE with a below-average 0.98 hltv rating average whilst on the team, far below what many people expected for him. However, if you look back further in his career to his time on the international mousesports roster, suNny was at his best, winning four LAN trophies during his time on the roster. He peaked individually when he was ranked 16 in the world – according to hltv.
Potential players to join the team
The first potential player that could join the trio would be Owen “oBo” Schlatter formerly of Complexity. Since taking a leave of absence from the team, oBo has been without a full-time role on a roster, and given his superstar potential, any organisation looking to pick up a promising player should definitely be looking to pick up oBo. The question mark surrounding oBo is his dedication to the game and willingness to travel, however, given the complete downfall of the North American scene, if oBo really wants to compete at the highest level and get back onto a roster that could potentially challenge for major international events, and this roster may be the best chance he has.
The next possible option could be benched Team Liquid rifler Russel “Twistzz” David Van Dulken. After announcing he wanted to stay in Europe on Twitter, could Twistzz potentially be the star player that the team needs to be able to compete at the highest level? Whilst the past year hasn’t been the best of his career, at his peak, it is unquestionable that he can definitely play at a championship level, which was shown during Team Liquid’s dominant run winning multiple major LAN events and being the consensus best team in the world.
Back in this run, Twistzz was a monster, and this was shown during the end of year rankings, being labelled the number nine player of 2019 – according to hltv. Any team that could get this version of the North American headshot machine would instantly be able to challenge a majority of teams in the world, and could be the missing piece that the trio needs.
Click to enlargeFinally, if the team is looking for a more natural AWPer instead of Autimatic, newly benched Cloud9 player Ozgur “woxic” Eker could be the option. Whilst it has been a turbulent period for the Turkish AWPer, being kicked from two international rosters in the space of a few months, many people would question if he should be given another chance at the highest level immediately. Although, given his unmistakable skill and flashy clutch plays, woxic could definitely be the player to round out the roster. Also given his time on the mousesports roster alongside suNny at one point in time, winning multiple titles together, the pre-existing chemistry between the two could be a deciding factor for the trio deciding to pick him up.
Potential organisation?
After reports came out in the last few days that Team Envyus would be transfer-listing their entire roster and taking a temporary leave of absence from the CS:GO scene, it may seem a strange suggestion that they could potentially pick up the roster. However, after owner Mike “Hastr0” Rufail tweeted that they would still have a “good budget to CS for the right opportunity in the future.” In terms of picking up a team with both high-level experience and ability to perform at the top level, there may not be a better opportunity to come along all year for organisations looking to field a roster in CS:GO, and if Hastr0 is serious about these comments, fans would expect Envy to at the least field an offer for the team.
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