Flipside Tactics drops half its Counter-Strike roster

The recent wave of changes among top Counter-Strike teams has hit Sweden.

Swedish team Flipside Tactics have announced the departure of two core players from their Counter-Strike: Global Offensive roster: Miran “Dumas” Matkovic and Benjamin “Bendji” Soderena.

Both players had been with the squad since its reformation in the fall.

The departure has come as a surprise. Flipside appeared to be on the verge of a breakthrough in recent weeks. After DreamHack officials disqualified Titan and Epsilon from DreamHack Winter after players from those teams being caught cheating, Flipside were among the four teams invited to compete in a last chance qualifier for the event. The Swedes were able to upset Norwegian team London Conspiracy in a sweep to qualify for the tournament, and they weren’t yet satisfied.

At DreamHack Winter, Flipside Tactics managed to upset myXMG and nearly eliminated Natus Vincere from the competition, taking the team to overtime before falling just short.

The move is only more confusing considering it had seemed that Mathias “Pauf” Kohler had left his former squad, Team Orbit, in order to play with Flipside. Kohler appeared on Flipside’s roster immediately following his departure from Orbit, but when Flipside manage Hector “Frost” Rosario addressed the changes in a statement today, Kohler was not among the players mentioned to still remain with the team.

Rosario’s comments allowed only for more speculation.

“I am sad to see these guys go, but we expect to see great things from them in the future,” Rosario said.

Whether this means Matkovic and Soderena have already picked out a new landing spot remains to be seen.