OG parts ways with CS:GO captain ahead of CS2

He's ready to join another project.

Professional CS:GO player niko spotted after OG's elimination from BLAST Paris Major in May 2023.
Photo by Stephanie Lindgren via BLAST

Danish in-game leader Nikolaj “niko” Kristensen has left OG today and is looking for an opportunity elsewhere ahead of the release of CS2 this summer.

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Niko had been standing in for OG since February after the team’s original captain Nemanja “nexa” Isaković stepped down from the active lineup due to personal reasons. Niko had previously played for OG between 2021 and 2022 as a rifler and came back this year for four months to be their shot-caller.

OG didn’t win anything under niko’s leadership, but they qualified for the BLAST Paris Major in April with a 3-2 record in the Europe RMR. Nobody was expecting them to make the final CS:GO Major after losing nexa, so that was a big accomplishment.

Now that niko’s second stint with OG is over, he’s open to all opportunities. “I am more than ready to get a new home winning trophies,” the captain wrote on Twitter on June 8. Niko’s departure from OG had already been reported after their elimination from the BLAST Paris Major Challengers Stage in May, but it was finally confirmed today.

Related: Live Counter-Strike 2023 roster tracker: CS:GO signings and rumors ahead of CS2 release

Despite being just 25 years old, niko is a veteran in the competitive scene. He has been competing since 2015 and most notably played for Heroic and OpTic Gaming before moving to OG in 2021 and returning in 2023.

It’s unclear if OG will bring nexa back into the active lineup now that it has officially parted ways with niko. The Serbian captain tweeted “break over” after the announcement of CS2 in March and said in an interview with Dexerto on May 25 that he’s currently exploring his options.

Author
Image of Leonardo Biazzi
Leonardo Biazzi
Staff writer and CS:GO lead. Leonardo has been passionate about games since he was a kid and graduated in Journalism in 2018. Before Leonardo joined Dot Esports in 2019, he worked for Brazilian outlet Globo Esporte. Leonardo also worked for HLTV.org between 2020 and 2021 as a senior writer, until he returned to Dot Esports and became part of the staff team.