Vitality reportedly replacing CS:GO legend with young prodigy ahead of CS2 launch

Vitality is reportedly looking to swap one of its CS:GO players for an up-and-coming prodigy ahead of Counter-Strike 2’s launch this summer.

The French organization is in the final stage of talks with Shahar “flameZ” Shushan, according to a report from Blix.GG today, June 19. The Israeli player would replace Peter “dupreeh” Rasmussen on the roster.

This decision comes as somewhat of a surprise after Vitality picked up trophies at IEM Rio 2023 and the BLAST.tv Paris CS:GO Major. These successes elevated them to become the highest-ranking team in both HLTV and ESL’s rankings.

Dupreeh is the only player to have won five Majors and compete in every Major event in CS:GO history. But the Dane became a father this February, forcing him to take a break from the game.

If Vitality follows through with this move, flameZ would become the second Israeli player in the team alongside Lotan “Spinx” Giladi. FlameZ was reported to leave his current squad, OG, on May 24.

Related: Evil Geniuses reportedly ditching NA “talent pipeline” in favor of international signings

OG is reportedly looking to do a complete overhaul of its CS:GO roster, with Maciej “F1KU” Miklas being the only player left from the lineup.

The CS:GO scene is currently going through a summer player break, and numerous transfers have been already reported. With CS2’s launch imminent, we should see confirmations of some of them in the near future.