Boombl4 could return to pro CS:GO 8 months after NAVI kick

PGL Stockholm Major winner and former Natus Vincere’s IGL Boombl4 is reportedly leaving the sidelines and joining full-Russian CS:GO team 1WIN alongside the former Entropiq duo of Igor “Forester” Bezotecheskiy and Aleksey “NickelBack” Trofimov, CS:GO insider Aleksey “OverDrive” Biryukov said today.

Boombl4 has been away from the competitive scene since his removal from NAVI in May 2022, mere days after the team lost the PGL Antwerp Major grand finals to FaZe Clan. At the time, NAVI said that Boombl4 was leaving because of “high reputational risks” to the organization and that the decision wasn’t related to his gameplay whatsoever. The Russian captain has been a free agent since Jan. 1, 2023 after his contract with NAVI expired.

Related: NAVI removes Boombl4 from CS:GO roster due to ‘high reputational risks’

Just like Boombl4, NickelBack is a free agent, while Forester is seemingly still under contract with Entropiq. Should the trio join 1WIN, they would play alongside up-and-coming AWPer Denis “deko” Zhukov and Aleksandr “TRAVIS” Timkiv, according to OverDrive. NickeBback has already stood in for 1WIN in January, and the players that would leave to make room for Boombl4 and Forester are Aleksandr “glowiing” Matsiyevich and former NAVI rifler flamie.

1WIN are currently ranked 51th team in the world, according to HLTV’s ranking. They peaked at 28th in the world in September 2022 with flamie, deko, glowiing, TRAVIS, and Ihor “lollipop21k” Sołodkov. Deko has been the best player in 1WIN by far and is the organization’s most valuable asset, having averaged a superb 1.21 rating in 2022, according to HLTV.

Should these roster changes reported by OverDrive come to fruition, 1WIN would get one Major champion in Boombl4 and two players that have attended Majors in NickelBack and Forester. It’s unclear who’ll be the in-game leader though, as both Boombl4 and NickelBack have been captains throughout their careers.