North and Heroic swap players in loan deal

Two of Denmark’s top Counter-Strike: Global Offensive teams are swapping players with one another.

The trade will see North loan out its former AWPer Daniel “mertz” Mertz for Nikolaj “niko” Kristensen.

Mertz joined North’s main team on Jan. 29 after starting his career as part of the team’s academy roster. But on July 9, the 19-year-old was placed on the bench. Niko, meanwhile, was regarded as a veteran on the Heroic roster. Having joined the squad in 2016, niko quickly became one of the focal points of the roster due to his fragging ability.

The move confirms a report by VP Esports on Aug. 3.

“North is one of the best teams in Denmark and a team with great ambitions. In that sense, it’s not far from what I’m coming from but I’m excited about this new challenge,” niko told HLTV.

The addition of Niko to the roster means that North will be the first team to make use of the FACEIT London Major’s updated transfer rules. Prior to 2018, players that had competed in any pre-qualifying stage of a Valve Major were barred from joining a team that had already qualified for the Major itself.

Niko attempted to qualify for the FACEIT London Major with Heroic. The team was, however, eliminated in second-to-last place in the closed European online qualifier, spelling an early exit for the team.

Aside from competing with North at the FaceIt London Major, the 20-year-old will also join the team at DreamHack Masters Stockholm between Aug. 29 to Sept. 2.