HEAP leaves Johnny Speeds, cutting the Swedish roster to two players

Ludvig "HEAP" Alonso has left Johnny Speeds after a year with the organisation, HLTV reported on July 29. The outlet said his contract was not renewed, making him the latest in a run of departures that has reduced the Swedish Counter-Strike 2 side to two players.

The exits began before HEAP's. Jacob "jocab" Nerheden left for FOKUS and Anton "Sapec" Palmgren also departed, while Jonas "Lekr0" Olofsson, Tim "nawwk" Jonasson and coach Adam "friberg" Friberg were all benched. Between the departures and the benchings, HLTV reported the active roster had been cut back to Hampus "hampus" Poser and William "draken" Sundin.

Tryouts ahead of Stake Pulse Beat I

With too few players to field a team, Johnny Speeds moved to tryouts rather than a straight signing, with HLTV reporting the organisation intended to build its new lineup around hampus and draken. The immediate deadline was Stake Pulse Beat I, where the side was scheduled to open against Metizport on August 3 — days after the report, and a narrow window in which to settle three positions.

The pattern is a familiar one in the Swedish scene, where organisations have repeatedly rebuilt around a small core of established names rather than keeping intact rosters together. Both players Johnny Speeds is building around have long tenures in Swedish Counter-Strike, which gives the rebuild a recognisable spine even as the remaining places are filled from tryouts.

The scale of the turnover is what distinguishes this from a routine roster move. Two players left outright, two more were benched, and the coach was benched alongside them — five changes to a six-person setup, concentrated into a single window rather than spread across an off-season. An organisation that reaches that point is not replacing a player but rebuilding a team, and it was doing so against a fixture already on the calendar.

Neither the outcome of those tryouts nor a completed lineup was confirmed at the time of HLTV's report, and the benched players' longer-term status with the organisation was not addressed.