OG to bench valde and niko - Report

The European squad looks to be the first to move in anticipation of a post-Major shuffle.

OG have decided to bench Valdemar "⁠valde⁠" Bjørn Vangså and Nikolaj "⁠niko⁠" Kristensen, according to a Tuesday report by 1pv.fr.

The decision comes after the European side was unable to live up to expectations in the European Regional Major Ranking tournament, where the team around Nemanja "⁠nexa⁠" Isaković went out in 9th-11th place with a 2-3 record and missed out on a spot at the PGL Major Antwerp.

The disappointing showing in Bucharest, which came as a result of upsets at the hands of forZe and Eternal Fire, followed OG's last-place finish at the IEM Katowice main event two months before that, a stark contrast to the team's impressive first showing in their debut with nexa at BLAST Premier Spring Groups.

It appears that despite only having about four months with the new roster, OG have decided to pull the plug already in anticipation of the aftermath of the Major, which often results in several teams looking for changes and players seeking out new opportunities.

It's not the first time that rumors are swirling around valde and his potential exit from OG in recent times, as at the beginning of the year the Dane was linked with a move to Evil Geniuses.

In an extensive interview with HLTV.org conducted in March, without sharing any concrete names the 26-year-old confirmed that he had received "strong" offers both in the winter off-season and in the summer before that, which didn't come to fruition as a result of poor timing.

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valde: "I've always strived to become a world champion; I don't care if people think it's overambitious"

In the same interview, when asked about his current deal with OG (lasting until the end of 2022) and where he wants to be by the end of the year when renegotiation talks happen, the Dane said that he wants to be "on the team that is contending for titles" and to "go to every Major there is and eventually hold the Major trophy" — a far cry from where his current team stands at the moment.

valde's departure would leave OG with just one of the founding members of the team remaining in Mateusz "⁠mantuu⁠" Wilczewski. niko has been with the squad since March 2021, having replaced Nathan "⁠NBK-⁠" Schmitt in the first set of moves the team made a year and a half after their inception.