forZe put facecrack on transfer list

The Russian team has been seen competing with five different players in the past two months.

FORZE have put Dmitriy "⁠facecrack⁠" Alekseyev on the bench, the organization has announced. The 26-year-old was missing in the team's matches in late January, in DreamHack Open January and in Snow Sweet Snow 1.

The organization has stated that it will announce further changes, which are likely to concern the team's AWPer, Bogdan "⁠xsepower⁠" Chernikov, who also sat out the aforementioned two tournaments while the team was seen playing with a variety of stand-ins.

forZe have benched facecrack

Late last year, FORZE played with Volodymyr "⁠Woro2k⁠" Veletniuk and Igor "⁠Forester⁠" Bezotecheskiy in the European Development Championship, before facecrack and Almaz "⁠almazer⁠" Asadullin returned to the roster for two more tournaments at the end of 2020 and for the Vulcan Fight Series in January.

Woro2k and former NAVI Junior member Eugene "⁠Aunkere⁠" Karyat then took part in DreamHack Open January with FORZE, while in Snow Sweet Snow the team used Aleksandr "⁠zorte⁠" Zagodyrenko and Aleksandr "⁠Kiro⁠" Sherov instead of facecrack and xsepower.

Changes in the team's core quintet, which was one of the longest-standing rosters in the top 30 after having played together for over two years, follow a rather unremarkable 2020. The year saw FORZE's form take a hit as they dropped from 13th place in the ranking in February to the brink of the top 30 in August, where they have remained since then.

FORZE now have:

Evgenii "⁠FL1T⁠" Lebedev
Almaz "⁠almazer⁠" Asadullin
Andrey "⁠Jerry⁠" Mekhryakov
Bogdan "⁠xsepower⁠" Chernikov

Dmitriy "⁠facecrack⁠" Alekseyev (transfer listed)