G2 Esports have unveiled the signing of 16-year-old Counter-Strike: Global Offensive AWPer Ilya “m0NESY” Osipov in a video posted to Twitter by the organization’s CEO Carlos “ocelote” RodrÃguez. The Russian national played for Natus Vincere Junior before making the leap to the Tier 1 team. The move was previously reported by 1pr.fr in early December.
https://twitter.com/CarlosR/status/1476889443751575558?s=20
French player François “AmaNEk” Delaunay will reportedly move out of the starting lineup to make room for the young star, but G2 have yet to announce the move. The organization is reportedly looking for an in-game leader as well, according to 1pv.fr, and has been in talks with OG Esports’ Aleksi “Aleksib” Virolainen, as well as a new coach after the departure of Damien “maLeK” Marcel.
G2 have not had a true sniper on the roster since Kenny “kennyS” Schrub took a step back from competition in March of 2021. AmaNEk has picked up AWPing duties since.
M0NESY has been with the Commonwealth of Independent States team since 2020 and has terrorized the European FPL and smaller tournaments. His most recent result was at the WePlay Academy League second season where he and his team placed second, losing to MOUZ NXT 0-2 in the final.
Over the course of 2021, m0NESY has recorded a kills/deaths ratio of 1.47 and nearly 1,400 kills with the AWP according to HLTV. He also posted a 1.36 HLTV 2.0 rating over the course of the year.
G2 add m0NESY for a potential championship run
G2 came close to Counter-Strike: Global Offensive glory in 2021 at the PGL Major, making the final but losing to NAVI 2-0. The organization is seemingly bolstering their roster to make another run at potential CS:GO glory after coming so close in 2021. The team even mentioned their lack of championship wins in m0NESY’s signing announcement on their website.
“Following a year of success despite not earning a championship title, we started looking for roster change opportunities that would help us secure the worldwide N0. 1 spot,” the announcement said. “After long conversations with the team and our CS:GO coaching staff, we decided it’s time to make a significant change in the team structure and introduce Ilya ‘m0NESY’ Osipov as the starting AWPer for 2022.”
