Dust settles after French Counter-Strike scene shakeup

The dust has settled after the wave of change in France’s Counter-Strike: Global Offensive scene.

It was reported last week that the country’s three top Counter-Strike teams, Epsilon, LDLC, and Titan, would be reshuffling their rosters together. But few predicted that things would work out quite the way they did.

After Titan confirmed the additions of three former LDLC members as expected, the remaining dominoes fell.

Rumors about a team headlined by star player Richard “Shox” Papillon have proven to be true. Papillon’s teammates come from each of the three teams involved in the shuffle, most notably TItan’s Nathan “NBK” Schmitt.

The team announced earlier today it had already found a new sponsor in the form of LDLC, who had just lost their previous team thanks to Titan’s poaching.

Schmitt offered a statement on the team’s website discussing the move.

“This is a fresh start for this team, and a new beginning for LDLC,” Schmitt said. “We start with a good foundation but only with work and discipline will we continue to evolve.”

The biggest unknown now is where the remaining five players—left over after the formation of the new Titan and LDLC teams—will go. Some rumors pin Belgian star Adil “Scream” Benrlitom opting for retirement after having been surprisingly left out of both of the newly revamped squad.

But Benrlitom proved not to be done just yet. The famed player has chosen to stay in the game, and will be joined by Robin “GMX” Stahmer, Gordin “SF” Giry, Kevin “Uzi” Vernel, and Joey “Fxy0” Schlosser.

Some fans have been surprised by the addition of Vernel, who had occasionally fallen under criticism for his play while with the former LDLC. Still others were concerned that Schlosser would be left out of the new set of teams after having recently broken through as a member of the former Epsilon. Now, both players have come together.

This team has already begun to play under the Epsilon name, signalling that they’ve found a sponsor already. This completes a shuffle that has kept the same three sponsors and 15 teams while dispersing them differently.

All three teams are currently participating in the second FACEIT League season with their new rosters.

Screengrab via ESL/YouTube