According to DBLTAP sources, Nathan “NBK” Schmitt and Dan “apEX” Madesclaire are planning to field a new French CSGO team. The rumored members to join the new team will be Vincent “Happy” Cervoni, Cédric “RPK” Guipouy, and Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut. Also, they are reportedly in discussion with Team Vitality, a major French esports organization. If Schmitt and Madesclaire are creating this team, they will have to wait until next February to compete in a Major via open qualifiers.
G2 Esports would place NBK and apEX on the bench in early June. G2 Esports would then replace Schmitt with Kévin “Ex6TenZ” Droolans as a temporary in-game leader. On the other hand, G2 would bench apEX due to the return of Richard “shox” Papillon. NBK has said on stream that he had stepped down due to Shox not wanting him as an in-game leader. Therefore, NBK and apEX have been waiting for a buyout from North American and European teams for some time. There were rumors that NBK would join Cloud9 as a stand-in to replace Pujan “FNS” Mehta, but that would never happen. A big problem for the two players was the situation with their supposed buyout price of $800,000. Apparently, this steep payout was a big reason why apEX would not join Mousesports back in June.
Possible French Powerhouse?
In an interview with French CSGO news podcast Flickshot, Madesclaire said that he would want to play with RPK and ZywOo. This is because he thinks RPK is strong and disciplined, and ZywOo is also very strong. It is quite odd that Happy is in the discussions, as apEX thinks that Cervoni has not changed his playstyle in a while. He also spoke on his relationship with NBK, stating that he and Schmitt got along quite well until recently. Apparently NBK tried to join the new G2 Esports project to leave Madesclaire, even though they had agreed to play with each other even after being benched. As a result, their relationship has been under strain, but he still believes they can work together.
After Team Envyus would release their entire CSGO roster, Happy and RPK would try out for Tempo Storm but would not be successful with the team. On the other hand, young talent ZywOo still resides with classic French team, Against All Authority. ZywOo is only 17, and wishes to complete school before deciding to go fully pro in CSGO. However, his talent and potential to become a star is worth the risk for people creating a new team, like NBK and apEX.
The Future
If this French powerhouse were to become reality, the team would need to wait for the newly announced IEM Katowice in February. Also, they would need to battle their way to the main stage, by means of Open Qualifiers. This is by no means a walk in the park, as this would be the first big test for the new squad. Hopefully NBK and apEX are in progress of confirming the rosters, so they can have the most practice time together for the Major.
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