Kiwi CS:GO star set to make competitive return with Asian squad

A Kiwi CS:GO player could be returning to the competitive scene after a year and a half hiatus.

Sean “Gratisfaction” Kaiwai is reportedly transferring to Team NKT soon, according to the Mongolian news site Meta Gaming, via Pley.GG. This would mark Gratisfaction’s return to the competitive scene after 18 months since he was benched from EXTREMUM in October 2021.

The Kiwi is set to replace Yesuntumur “nin9” Gantulga in Team NKT. In the squad, he would join other Asian CS:GO players like Hansel “BnTeT” Ferdinand, who first made a name for himself during his TYLOO and EXTREMUM days.

With 100 Thieves and Renegades, Gratisfaction was one of the best CS:GO players from the Oceania region. The AWPer was a crucial part of the team’s successes at StarLadder Berlin Major 2019 and IEM Beijing 2019. In the former, Renegades reached the semifinals, which was the deepest Major run ever accomplished by an Oceanian team. In China, they went all the way to the grand finals before losing to Astralis.

Gratisfaction has kept himself in shape by standing in for the lower-ranked team Encore in the past few months. Team NKT are scheduled to play in the ESL Challenger League season 44 Relegation: Asia-Pacific, which begins on March 23. The tournament could mark Gratisfaction’s return.

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The Kiwi wouldn’t be the only player from the former Renegades/100T roster to make a return to competitive CS:GO in recent weeks. His former teammate, Aaron “AZR” Ward, joined European team Sprout on March 3.