by G2 Esports has announced the addition of Copenhagen Flame’s Rasmus “HooXi” Nielsen. The player will join the team’s Counter-Strike: Global Offensive ranks and take the place of G2’s former in-game leader, Aleksi “?Aleksib?” Virolainen.
The news of the new G2 team captain confirms previously circulated reports after Aleksib was taken off the lineup. HooXi joined the team after leading his previous squad, Copenhagen Flames, to impressive heights.
Under him, the team reached the quarter-final stage of the PGL Antwerp Major. The Copenhagen Flames were also present in recent Stockholm Majors and, at some point, joined the best teams in the world in the top 10 world rankings.
G2’s new in-game leader is the last player from the Copenhagen Flames to get signed to a team in the offseason successfully. Sprout had taken on Rasmus ‘Zyphon’ Nordfoss, Jakob ‘jabbi’ Nygaard is now a part of Heroic, and Fnatic signed both Fredrik ‘roeJ’ J?rgensen and Nico ‘nicoodoz’ Tamjidi.
Earlier this summer, HooXi was linked with Evil Geniuses. However, the organization ended up adding K23’s Sanzhar ‘neaLaN’ Iskhakov to their roster. The Danish player was previously criticized for his lack of international experience as well as some individual issues.
In the press release made by G2, the German organization revealed that the player being an experienced leader combined with his “cool comms” is a perfect fit for the organization.
“HooXi (who?), is an experienced IGL who has qualified for back to back Majors and is ready to help G2 win one. His cool comms and insane entry frags have us watering at the mouth as we await his G2 debut.”
When facing up against some of the top 10 opposition, the player averaged a 0.84 rating while Aleksib had a 0.93 rating. HooXi has also only been in attendance at three major tournaments, which include IEM Katowice 2022 and two PGL Majors.
The previous in-game leader of G2, Aleksib, was allowed to consider other opportunities after an unimpressive season with no trophies for the European team. After a particularly poor performance at the IEM Cologne, Aleksib announced his benching and asked interested teams to contact the team’s head.During the competition, G2 crashed out of the $1 million prize pool tournament in the early stages.
“Hey everyone, I’ve been allowed by G2 to explore my options elsewhere,” Aleksib tweeted. “Feel free to reach out to @G2Mayne if you have any interest. More to follow.”
The player was signed to the team in January of this year and took the place of Nemanja “nexa” Isakovi? to lead the team in tournaments. He had a good start with the team at the beginning of the year as the franchise finished as runners-up at the IEM Katowice held in February.
However, they were unable to build up on that. G2 proceeded to lose in the early stages of events like the PGL Antwerp Major, ESL Pro League season 15, and the most recent, the IEM Cologne.
The possibility of Aleksib being benched started circulating when the founder and CEO of G2, Carlos Rodrigues, announced the team’s intention to evaluate its CS:GO roster before the summer player break.
Hooki will be looking to start his debut strong in the BLAST Premier Fall Groups on August 20 as they go in as -158.73 favourites with the top esport betting sites against Team Liquid.
