OG esports have extended the contracts of their three core players on Monday: Aleksi “Aleksib” Virolainen, Valdemar “valde” VangsÃ¥ and Mateusz “mantuu” Wilczewski, until the end of 2022. The team has signed two new players in the past two months in Nikolaj “niko” Kristensen and Shahar “flameZ” Shushan.
OG has equated the trios extension to that of the big three from various NBA teams, and securing these contracts officially ties down their roster for the next slate of majors. Aleksib, valde and mantuu will form the core of OG for the future as the squad attempts to bring glory to the OG brand in Counter Strike: Global Offensive.
“The three of them have shown all along the way their commitment to the game and the competition, but also to the OG values and to their teammates,” said aid Charlie Debs, COO of OG esports. “High potential, stability, trust, friendship, fun. We are convinced that all the elements are gathered to keep growing towards our goal: the top of the Counter-Strike Scene.”
The Big Three Reloaded.
We are proud to announce @aleksibcsgo, @officialvalde and @m4ntuu have renewed their contract until the end of 2022.
🌻 More details: https://t.co/Hh6I0xLVCK
The journey has only started. #DreamOG pic.twitter.com/dJ8o6pIBWW
— OG Counter-Strike (@OGcsgo) April 19, 2021
All three players signed with OG on their original roster back in December of 2019. They debuted at cs_summit 5 and started OG’s journey in the esports title during the 2020 online era. Notable tournaments results in that year include second place at Intel Extreme Masters XV and Flashpoints Season 2. They also took a top three spot at the Blast Premier Fall 2020 regular season.
Individually, all three players performed well in 2020. Aleksib garnered praise for his in-game leading and consistency, with a .91 Kill/Death ratio on OG and an average 1.00 rating on HLTV. The team’s sniper, mantuu, has not been a bastion of consistency like his IGL, but his highs have outweighed his lows. The 23 year-old player boasts a 1.21 K/D ratio and averages just under one kill per round.
As for valde, the Dane is not as hot as he was in 2017 or 2018, when he broke into the top 20 players list for HLTV. But just like the rest of the trio, he has been a stable presence in the squad. Valde has the highest headshot percentage of the three extended players at 49.6%. He can also still pull off valuable lurks for the team.
The core will return to action May 10 at Flashpoint 3.
