Envy will be looking completely different in the new CS:GO season that’s set to start.
The organization released two of its former North American players today, Ryan “ryann” Welsh and Kaleb “moose” Jayne, and transitioned its former head coach Nikola “LEGIJA” Ninić to a player role. Polish head coach Jakub “kuben” Gurczynski will be taking LEGIJA’s spot, the organization announced.
Ryann joined Envy in September 2019 and moose arrived in January 2020. Envy, one of the founding members of CS:GO league Flashpoint, saw its team finish at the bottom alongside Copenhagen Flames. Ryann and moose leave Envy with a 0.86 and 1.01 average rating in 2020, respectively, according to HLTV’s statistics.
This will be the second time that LEGIJA has transitioned back to being a player. The 29-year-old started his CS:GO pro player career in 2012, became a coach in 2015, played again in 2016 and 2017, and has been coaching since 2018, initially for BIG and later for Envy since January 2020.
It’s unknown if LEGIJA will be taking over the in-game leadership duty from Noah “Nifty” Francis since the 29-year-old isn’t exactly a fragger. This move would allow Nifty to focus only on the AWP. With these roster changes, Envy has become an international team since Nifty is the only North American player and the rest are European.
As for kuben, he gets a new opportunity after being inactive for more than six months. The veteran coached Virtus Pro for almost five years and helped the Polish squad win several tournaments, including ELEAGUE season one in July 2016. Kuben was sidelined by VP at the end of 2019 and had been open to offers since February. He’ll be Envy’s head coach and manager.
Envy are still one player short, though. The North American organization will seek to sign a player on loan or on a short-term contract for the remainder of 2020 before making new investments in 2021.
Envy’s CS:GO roster after today’s changes includes Nifty, Michał “MICHU” Müller, Buğra “Calyx” Arkın, LEGIJA, and coach kuben.
