- The team’s IGL has to step down from his position due to personal reasons
- OG brought former rifler Nikolaj “niko” Kristensen to substitute him
- It’s unknown when nexa will return to OG’s active lineup
OG will have to participate in the upcoming BLAST Premier Paris major qualifiers without their in-game leader Nemanja “nexa” Isaković, who is temporarily leaving due to personal reasons
Nexa Steps Down as IGL
The closed qualifiers for the BLAST Premier Paris Major in spring are drawing closer, and teams are preparing for the important event. However, not everything is going smoothly for every team and OG is one such team. The organization recently announced that it will go into the qualifiers without its in-game leader Nemanja “nexa” Isaković, who will be temporarily stepping down from the position.
The international squad, which is currently training in Poland, will be led by former rifler Nikolaj “niko” Kristensen, heading into the closed qualifiers for the Paris Major. The addition of the 24-year-old Danish player is not a one-for-one substitution for nexa, but it seems OG has no other choice right now.
“nexa will temporarily leave the team for personal reasons,” the organization’s official statement on Twitter reads. “The team is still determined to qualify for BLAST.tv Paris Major 2023 and is currently going to a week-long bootcamp in Warsaw.” OG also explained that niko's inclusion in the team will only be momentary, however, it will last as long as OG remains alive in the Major cycle.
nexa joined OG early last year and during the season, the 25-year-old captain helped the team win BLAST Premier: Spring Groups 2022 and BLAST Premier: Fall Groups 2022. Under nexa’s leadership, OG also ended in the top three of many tournaments, such as the Global Esports Tour Dubai 2022, and others.
Neither OG nor nexa have explained how long the player will be absent. It’s unknown if this change would have a big negative effect on OG, which is currently performing rather well, being No 8 in the world rankings. Despite losses to FaZe and Heroic, OG has been putting up strong results against teams of their caliber such as fnatic and MOUZ early on in the season.
It will be interesting to see how the team performs in the upcoming majors without their leader. OG will go into the following tournaments with this lineup:
- Adam “NEOFRAG” Zouhar
- Maciej “F1KU” Miklas
- Shahar “flameZ” Shushan
- Abdul “degster” Gasanov
- Nikolaj “niko” Kristensen (stand-in)
Casper “ruggah” Due (coach)
