G2 Esports’ CS:GO experiment with superstar Nikola ‘NiKo’ Kovač is moving in a new direction, following a March 4 update from the team. Per the announcement, G2 is moving NiKo to a rifler/AWPer hybrid role, as legendary AWPer Kenny ‘kennyS’ Schrub is benched. G2 is moving on from the former major winner with Team Envy (then known as EnVyUs), and are allowing him to explore new opportunities. Returning to the starting roster as a rifler is Audric ‘JACKZ’ Jug, who was moved to the bench back in December roughly a month after NiKo joined.
kennyS has played his final map with the G2 CS:GO roster (Photo via ESL)
In the announcement, coach Damien ‘maLeK’ Marcel says he hopes NiKo’s move to a hybrid position brings a more “open minded approach [that provides] more flexibility within our game and the current meta.” While NiKo has produced star-like numbers since joining in October 2020, that production hasn’t translated to an ideal amount of wins. The team has looked lackluster since, and are still seeking that new era-defining win. kennyS’s inconsistent AWPing has been a noticeable fault of G2’s over the past few months, and NiKo can only do so much.
JACKZ now returns to the lineup, and coach maLeK has high hopes for what he can bring. Specifically, he hopes to see JACKZ bring “flair, creativity, and a new balance” to the team. G2 will test their new CS:GO approach at ESL Pro League Season 13, versus Ninjas in Pyjamas on March 13.
What will happen to kennyS?
Evidently, kennyS will not be taking too long of a break. Just prior to G2’s announcement, kennyS revealed on Twitter that the news of his next signing will come out either the same day or the following day. So far he’s given no indication of what he’s doing next. He could be joining a new CS:GO team, switching to VALORANT, or considering either coaching or commentator work. We will update as soon as this information is revealed.
