Official: niko joins OG

17/3/2021 - 15:01

The Dane has become a permanent member of the team after a short period as a stand-in.

OG have announced the signing of Nikolaj "⁠niko⁠" Kristensen from Heroic, the team he had been on the bench of since late February, making this OG's first new incorporation to the roster since the squad's inception in 2019.

The deal comes as no surprise as niko had already been linked with OG and had been standing in for the European squad during the DreamHack Masters Spring closed qualifier and in ESL Pro League, taking over the spot left open after Nathan "⁠NBK-⁠" Schmitt was removed from the starting lineup in February.

niko is OG's first signing since the original roster came together

OG struggled to adapt quickly in their first matches with niko as a stand-in, missing out on a DreamHack Masters Spring spot with losses to Complexity and VOYVODA, and were then unable to make it through the ESL Pro League group stage, losing the final round robin fixture to FunPlus Phoenix, who took the playoff spot in play.

A caveat during Pro League was that niko had to sit out one of OG's matches, their defeat at the hands of Heroic, as the 22-year-old rifler was still on the Danish squad's books after being benched following the signings of Ismail "⁠refrezh⁠" Ali and Rasmus "⁠sjuush⁠" Beck.

The squad led by Aleksi "⁠Aleksib⁠" Virolainen are still down to four players despite niko's signing, however, as Issa "⁠ISSAA⁠" Murad was benched by the team following their ESL Pro League elimination. Despite the setback, OG will now have time to hold tryouts and find a new fifth player to bring into the fold, as they aren't scheduled to play any official matches until BLAST Premier Spring Showdown, which runs on April 13-18.

"I’m happy to announce that I have signed for OG," niko said about his new venture, "it’s an amazing opportunity for me and I’m sure we’re going to achieve great things together. Also, I want to say thanks to Heroic for the memories and time together, I’m going to miss my previous team mates, but I’m also excited to open a new chapter of my career and join the OG ranks. I will do my best to make OG-fanbase proud!"

OG's roster is currently:

Aleksi "⁠Aleksib⁠" Virolainen
Mateusz "⁠mantuu⁠" Wilczewski
Valdemar "⁠valde⁠" Bjørn Vangså
Nikolaj "⁠niko⁠" Kristensen

Casper "⁠ruggah⁠" Due (coach)

Nathan "⁠NBK-⁠" Schmitt (benched)
Issa "⁠ISSAA⁠" Murad (benched)

expected, now i wonder who will be 5th

2021-03-17 15:02

46 replies

+Nivera pls

9 replies

expected

2021-03-17 15:03

yeah tha twould work really well!

2021-03-17 15:04

Nt we all know it's gonna be XGOD Dosia

2021-03-17 15:05

6 replies

2021-03-17 15:45

2021-03-17 16:33

+111

2021-03-17 18:22

2021-03-17 18:44

+1 plz

2021-03-17 20:13

2021-03-18 06:42

borup

4 replies

Sadly, this will be the case

2021-03-17 15:41

3 replies

I don't think so. Why would they remove a whatever role ISSAA is playing to a support player?

2021-03-17 15:44

2 replies

B0rup works well in more roles.

2021-03-17 16:41

I think maybe b0rup will take NBKs roles and niko goes for issaas roles. Might also move valde to issaas positions, niko to valdes and b0rup to nbks because they have a month to prac now. Interesting to see how it plays out.

2021-03-17 17:41

EspiranTo

1 reply

Yes please!!

2021-03-18 08:53

Probably Espiranto since Aleksi and valde were seen with him on a server together

12 replies

Source?

2021-03-17 15:14

11 replies

no, global offensive

2021-03-17 15:39

haha

2021-03-17 15:43

KKKKKKKKKKKKKKKJJJ

2021-03-17 15:49

lmao

2021-03-17 16:03

thanks, got some good laughs

2021-03-17 16:04

ahahahah

2021-03-17 17:22

jajajaja

2021-03-17 17:26

+1 haha

2021-03-17 21:16

classic. well done, sir.

2021-03-18 09:50

2021-03-18 16:36

prnt.sc/10oc00p

2021-03-17 16:45

+ Thorin Main AWP

2021-03-17 15:08

thorin as baiter

2021-03-17 15:11

ez major +1

XDDD

espiranto, michu, calyx most likely

2021-03-17 15:10

7 replies

Bubzki

2021-03-17 15:25

From his side it seems like he would rather be a bench warmer in Astralis

2021-03-17 15:28

Assuming from what he writes on twitter, I don't think he wants to leave Astralis

2021-03-17 15:33

ropz mb?

2021-03-17 16:31

perhaps

2021-03-17 17:05

I wouldn't be surprised if they looked for more "young talent' not already on the scene. The Dota 2 team did it a couple times before they found thw right player

2021-03-19 20:12

I wish it was Michu, but if kuben join MAD Lions as couch, Michu will join ML too probably

2021-03-18 09:31

aizy maybe

+flusha?

2021-03-17 19:56

flameZ FOR THE LOVE OF GOD PLS

2021-03-17 20:10

ez for woxic

2021-03-19 04:56

Nice

2021-03-17 15:01

Pog

Unrealz, from G2 to this! Oh boy!

+1 I think he was unhappy for hyprid role, gl him and OG

Not THE niko

2021-03-18 14:55

No please god no

oh no

nice.

wow

Not good enought

Reply needs to have actual content ?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

2021-03-18 09:44

Hyyyyyppppeeeeeeeeee! Lets gooo!

Wow really unexpected

why would niko join OG when G2 won already?

+1 exactly what I was thinking, leaving G2 as soon as they start winning is a big yikes

2021-03-17 15:31

niko very good I like

No one try to predict 5th Player?

cringe tweet

Yesterday, or today morning someone from Sweeden (I dont remember who, I only know he is Swedish) made thread, or made a comment it thread, that today at 15:00 niko move will be official....

Yes, Vladyslava the OG CSGO team's GM said it in the twitch chat during HLTV Confirmed

Expected, he seemed really confortable standing in. Now OG needs another dane so they get the flag and all their troubles are gone.

i don't think that they will get a third dane i think it's Nivera or someone young

2021-03-17 15:06

rip G2 unlako

they just need a strong entry and OG could honestly be a really fucking scary team in T2.

whAt A sURPise

Solid player, hope he'll do well in the new squad.

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Expected.

Expected

We could see this coming but congratulations niko! :D

-Aleksib +MSL -mantuu +CajunB +Kjaerbye

-Aleksib+ aizey -mantuu+CanjunB +Kjaaetbye

2021-03-20 00:49

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣😂😂😂😂😆😆😆🤢🤢🤢🤢🤢🤢🤢 imagine ruining ur team like this

0/8

2021-03-17 15:35

niko stats in og 1.02 avg rating. 7/17 maps positive rating 71.1 adr (poor) kd ratio 0.93 better than nbk? nah, sidegrade, no upgrade or downgrade

2021-03-17 18:20

very much a surprise , no one could have saw coming. Out of the blue suddenly. Good job on OG to keeping it a secret

in all seriousness , Sunny would actually be such a great fit to the team as an entry in the 5th slot but it aint gonna happen.

8 replies

he will most probably stay with FPX or go with his project with flusha

yea like i said , aint gonna happen. But a man can dream.

2021-03-17 15:07

yeah it would be really nice to see suNny playing under aleksib. But yeah it will not happen.

did he entry on his peak in mous?

2021-03-17 15:47

yes he played with the entry fragger tag with his name but not a single guy is always entrying but he did it often , hence the entry fragger

2021-03-17 15:52

ok thx for info

2021-03-17 15:53

that’s cool, but who’s the 5th

WTF 2 IGLs???

lol

kkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk

Now sign a rifler that can carry with Valde and OG might become a top 10 team

+Niko perhaps?

who is 5th??!?!?!?!?!

Espiranto prolly.

2021-03-18 05:28

Niko is Faze now not OG

Gl 5th player was in prac server today His name was in Japanese

-> weeb -> nivera/cis star

its probably nivera lol

2021-03-17 15:23

Awful sign

WELCOME NIKO! OG SOON TIER 1 AGAIN

Sunny 5th inc

overrated as fuck

Didn't say he was good, I just think he will be the 5th

2021-03-17 15:09

nice

ISSAA AND NBK KICKED FOR THIS? LOOOL

from Faze to G2 to this LUL

OMG WHAT A SURPISE

Better than NBK for sure

nice bait vladyslava

What an uninspired signing. This team will never be tier 1.

it already is

2021-03-17 15:34

I hope +ropz

2021-03-17 15:12

POG I HAVE MY ASS hltv.org/news/31314/niko-to-stand-in-for..

2021-03-17 15:13

good for him, now +ropz

kaash yaaar :(

2021-03-17 21:27

and +Kjaerbye will be good major winner also young player

2021-03-17 15:16

Kinda expected

2021-03-17 15:15

omg, he is so overrated

niko is honestly underrated. He was one of the most consistent players for Heroic and he was also on that North roster who won Dreamhack master stockholm against Astralis while also winning a few lan events with Optic later on. So despite him only being 22 years old he has a lot of successful experience both on lan and online.

2021-03-17 15:19

ropz or frozen please

2021-03-17 15:17

i dunno, i dont think niko is a tier1 player

2021-03-17 15:21

What i did not expect that coming. Next time you'll tell me Karrigan is joining faze.

niko left g2 for this?

2021-03-17 15:22

Actually a solid pickup. An experienced guy (Flusha.......?) to round out the roster seems the way to go, hopefully.

EspiranTo or Fer pls

rip g2

ch0k0 master mind First destroyed mouz then faze then G2 now gonna destroy OG

2021-03-17 15:26

Aleksibot changed half-bot on full-bot

2021-03-17 15:27

2021-03-17 15:29

pew pew boy?

2021-03-17 15:30

Good move

-aleksib +chrisj igl not awper +kjaerbye

Hmm...i mean...its OK, not amazing but OK. But the 5th needs to be a very good player.

From a good international team to another danish-nordic team...

You say this as if making changes wasn’t necessary. The old lineup had hit is potential ceiling, OG doesn’t want to settle for a “good” roster.

2021-03-17 15:42

One change was mandatory but it didn't happen. Now the team will go deeper into the T2/T3.

2021-03-17 15:56

+ nivera as 5 maybe was a good choice

2021-03-17 15:38

Shit.

+Nivera/Bubzkji with 6-man rosters dead and OG is legit

Nice, they needed someone like him, he fits the role they needed perfectly, now only take someone who will increase their firepower and we have a great team. GL niko, GL OG.

2021-03-17 15:46

-aleksib +frozen +ropz valde to IGL ez top 5