French organization Vitality is set to expand its CS:GO roster in the near future, according to a report by French website 1pv.fr.
Vitality has reportedly already identified four targets who are capable of becoming a sixth player: Bryan “Maka” Canda and Nabil “Nivera” Benrlitom from Heretics, Ali “hAdji” Haïnouss from LDLC, and Nicolas “Keoz” from K23.
The choice of who will be Vitality’s sixth player won’t depend on his role, experience, and skill, according to 1pv.fr’s report. It will also reportedly depend on how the negotiations between Vitality and the other organizations develop.
Hadji is the most experienced player on Vitality’s shortlist, having played for Envy in 2018. The 24-year-old was also targeted by Vitality earlier this year when the French team benched Alex McMeekin, but Vitality ended up signing Kévin “misutaaa” Rabier instead.
Maka and Nivera had a good run with Heretics earlier this year, specifically between April and June when the team played well at ESL One: Road to Rio Europe, the first Regional Major Ranking (RMR) event. Heretics grabbed a sixth-place finish in that tournament and almost broke into the top 20 of HLTV’s world rankings.
Keoz, on the other hand, helped his team qualify for the StarLadder Berlin Major in 2019 when K23 was still known as Syman Gaming. Unlike the other names, Keoz has never competed in tier-one tournaments with a French lineup.
The idea of a six-man roster in CS:GO has gained traction this year because of the game’s exhausting schedule, especially in this online period caused by the coronavirus pandemic. Astralis was the first big esports organization to add more players to its roster earlier this year. Now, Vitality, Cloud9, and FURIA are all heading in the same direction, which should allow players to avoid fatigue between tournaments.
