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Complexity Gaming has made some significant changes to their Counter-Strike: Global Offensive roster. The North American esports organization has completed a roster swap, signing AWPer Hkon “hallzerk” Fjaerli and relegating Paytyn “junior” Johnson to a substitute role, with a possible transfer away from the franchise eminent.
In line with Dignitas’ departure from the competitive CS:GO scene after acquiring the core of the Ninjas in Pyjamas roster in 2020, hallzerk became a free agent earlier this month. He had joined Dignitas alongside the famous group consisting of f0rest, GeT_RiGhT, Xist, and friberg. Xizt and GeT_RiGhT left the organization before the end of 2020, and since then, Dignitas has found it difficult to compete on an international level, despite bringing in new talent from Norway and Sweden.
The Norwegian professional esports player holds the record for the longest known win-streak on FACEIT, with 136 consecutive games won from July 16 – October 24, 2018. The 22-year-old was also one of the best players on the Dignitas team, posting a 1.09 rating in the past 12 months.
During his time with Dignitas, hallzerk played a crucial role in the team winning the Elisa Invitational Spring 2020, BLAST Nordic Masters: Spring 2021, and BLAST Nordic Masters: Fall 2021. He also helped the team attain a top three spot at Eden Arena: Malta Vibes – Week 6, Funspark ULTI 2021: Europe Season 1 and Funspark ULTI 2021: European Playoffs #2.
Hallzerk took to Twitter to react to the signing: “Extremely excited and proud to announce that I have signed with Complexity Gaming. I can’t wait to start this journey and meet everyone in the organization. I’m packing my suitcase and leaving for the USA,” he wrote.
His signing was facilitated by the esports management and marketing agency, ULTI Agency. The agency manages a long list of professional esports players and franchises like Party Astronauts and Team 43tri, cutting across all esports titles.
Following a six-month stint with FURIA in the first half of 2021 and now another with Complexity in 2022. Junior has been moved from the active roster to the inactive roster for the second year in a row, roughly six to seven months after signing with the North American roster at the start of the year.
Complexity has yet to make public their reason for these changes, but they have said that they are committed to helping junior find a new home in the competitive CS:GO scene.
Embed: https://twitter.com/Complexity/status/1552758933567201280?t=dks5JbfM7e1CApKL3OrvTA&s=19
After parting ways with their European roster at the end of 2021, Complexity re-entered the North American scene at the start of this year. Their Danish players went on to play for Astralis and NiP. Complexity signed JT, FaNg, and floppy from Extra Salt, as well as Grim from Team Liquid and junior from the FURIA bench.
The team has not had any success on the international stage, finishing at the bottom in the ESL Pro League, the IEM Dallas and Cologne, and the PGL Antwerp Major, only defeating Mongolian IHC in the Challengers stage. Junior has been a common target of criticism by fans, as the player holds a 0.98 rating over his 75 maps played in his time representing Complexity.
The new Complexity Gaming roster includes:
– Johnny “JT” Theodosiou
– Justin “FaNg” Coakley
– Ricky “floppy” Kemery
– Michael “Grim” Wince
– Håkon “hallzerk” Fjærli
– Tiaan “T.c” Coertzen (coach)
Hallzerk will make his debut for Complexity Gaming at the BLAST Fall Groups with the franchise being a BLAST partner team and ESL Pro League Season 16, which are scheduled to hold in the upcoming month.
