Counter-Strike 2 team Nemiga have benched their in-game leader, Aliaksandr Nahorny, who plays as 1eeR, and brought in Nikita Dushin, known as robo, on a trial basis. HLTV reports that the former Spirit Academy player takes over as captain, the second time this year that 1eeR has lost his place in the starting lineup.
Nemiga coach Anton Burko, who goes by boX, credited the outgoing captain in the announcement, saying 1eeR had led the team through a challenging period and given everything he had, before framing the change as a structural decision rather than a verdict on his form.
As in any other sport, there comes a time when it's necessary to try new approaches and fundamentally change the structure of the game.
The move repeats a sequence from earlier in the year. 1eeR was benched and transfer-listed in January after Nemiga signed Aleksandr Anashkin and Daniel Ageyev, then reinstated as captain in February, with Burko saying at the time that adapting a new captain to the team's structure would take significantly longer than the organization could offer. The reinstated lineup went on to win ECL Season 51 Europe Cup 2, BC Game Masters Season 1 and CCT Europe Series 1, peaking at 29th in the global VRS standings.
robo arrives at 20 years old with close to two years in Spirit's academy system behind him, most recently playing under the ex-RUBY banner. HLTV notes he finished second at CCT Europe Series 4 with that roster, beating Gentle Mates and Virtus.pro along the way. The 24-year-old 1eeR leaves the starting five despite that run of results, with Nemiga turning to robo to captain the side for the new season.
HLTV reported that the new-look side would debut within the following week at BLAST Bounty Season 2. The roster now reads:
- Maksim Beketov (sowalio)
- Aleksandr Anashkin (KaiR0N-)
- Beksultan Ospan (khaN)
- Daniel Ageyev (syph0)
- Nikita Dushin (robo, on trial)
- Anton Burko (boX, coach)
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