Friberg takes over in-game leadership of Dignitas, vENdetta replaces Fifflaren as head coach

Friberg is Dignitas’ new CS:GO captain and the team’s former analyst, Halvor “⁠vENdetta⁠” Gulestøl, has become their head coach, Dignitas announced today.

This move comes one week after Dignitas benched two of its CS:GO players—GeT_RiGhT and Xizt—due to the team’s poor results throughout the year. Dignitas forfeited its DreamHack Open Fall closed qualifier spot as a result of the roster changes and is looking to find two substitutes until Flashpoint season two, which is expected to start in November.

With vENdetta taking over the head coaching role, the organization will move former head coach Robin “⁠Fifflaren⁠” Johansson to a full-managerial role, becoming Dignitas’ VP of esports. The ex-NiP player was the team manager and head coach for the last few months and the workload has impacted his own health, according to Fifflaren.

Fifflaren explained on Dignitas’ YouTube channel that the cancellation of the ESL One Rio Major in November earlier this month triggered the roster changes and that friberg was already the in-game leader in recent tournaments.

The players liked Xizt’s tactical playstyle when they were together on NiP in 2015, but thought that the team needs to have a bit more structure nowadays, according to Fifflaren. Friberg, who’s been an in-game leader for OpTic Gaming and Heroic in the past, has switched up the team’s tactical approach since then.

VENdetta, on the other hand, is most known for his role as broadcast talent at CS:GO events. With the head coach responsibility, he’ll follow in the footsteps of his former colleagues, such as Jason “moses” O’Toole (Team Liquid) and Janko “YNk” Paunović (FaZe Clan), and has fully retired from the casting gig.

“When Fifflaren pitched me to the rest of the guys they were pretty open to it,” vENdetta said. The 31-year-old said he’ll need to learn during this new position, but has “picked up a little bit” from Fifflaren already because of the team’s practices.

Dignitas is now looking for potential prospects to complete its CS:GO team. The timing isn’t great because a lot of people are trying to make roster moves right now that the Major has been canceled, according to Fifflaren. The new VP of esports, however, said they aim to win Flashpoint season two.