In a post on X on Tuesday, the 30-year-old stated he is immediately available to trial with any team, serve as a stand-in, or join a new project, expressing his motivation to give his all and continue his esports career.
Restricted Free Agent and ready to play anytime.
Thanks for sharingpic.twitter.com/qKKs2Tbxtw
— Nathan Schmitt (@NBK) October 29, 2024
The two-time Major champion, who has not been too active in the top tier since the release of Counter-Strike 2, has spent nearly five months as an in-game leader of Revenant Esports, who he joined in June as a part of a major roster rebuild.
However, his stint with the team has not led to any notable accomplishments, as they have been attending mostly lower-division competitions — including the Champion of Champions Tour.
With the recent departure of Adelin “adeX” Nica and NBK- entering free agency, Revenant Esports are now down to three players.
Regardless of his lack of accomplishments over the last year, NBK- stated he is ready to join any Counter-Strike team which intends to be competitive.
In the announcement, he explained that many factors outside the game have prevented him from focusing purely on Counter-Strike, but now he feels ready to compete at the top level.
NBK- has not played for a top-tier team since late 2023, when Team Falcon released their entire lineup and started a rebuild with Marco “Snappi” Pfeiffer, Pavle “maden” Bo?kovi?, Alvaro “SunPayus” Garcia, and Emil “Magisk” Reif.
The French in-game leader has previously played for some of the top European Counter-Strike esports teams, including G2 Esports, Team Vitality, OG, and MOUZ.
Most of his accomplishments came in the earlier years of Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, when he won DreamHack Winter 2014 with Team LDLC and DreamHack Open Cluj?-?Napoca 2015 with Team Envy.
NBK- won his last S-Tier title in June 2019, when he led Team Vitality to victory in the Esports Championship Series Season 7 Finals.
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TSM coach says American LoL teams must ‘level up’
A disastrous performance across the board for North American teams at the 2020 League of Legends World Championship has drawn both ridicule and criticism. With not a single NA team making the playoffs, the effectiveness of esports development strategies in the region has been called into question.
TeamSoloMid’s coach, Parth “Parth” Naidu, spoke up after his team’s crushing 0-6 run at the tournament. “I think one of the things that the NA region has constantly done is rely too much on their veterans and their leadership to carry them through their games,” he said in an exclusive interview with ONE Esports.
The coach added that “North America has to level up” when it comes to developing rookie talent. According to Parth, it’s the only way the region can remain competitive going forward.
Asia esports news
Onic Esports Win Ultimate Warrior Showdown
The likes of Tencent Games, Esports Fight Club and Verasity Tech combined forces to stage the inaugural edition of the Ultimate Warrior Showdown. This 12-day tournament saw more than 1,000 Asian PUBG teams compete for US $15,000 in prizes.
Many of the most renowned international esports teams participated in the competition. That includes the likes of T1, Orange Esports, Team Secret, and FaZe Clan.
In the end, Onic Esports walked away with the first UWS title. Second place ended in a tie between TRX and Secret TH, followed by GF ID in third. T1 made the top 10, finishing ninth, while Orange Esports were 13th, and FaZe finished 15th.
Africa esports news
AEC Organizers Listens To Players
After the Africa Esports Championship organization announced the game selection for the upcoming national league tournaments, many players were upset. The tournament was slated to include FIFA 20 and Street Fighter V, two choices that didn’t go over well with players.
Many fans spoke out, demanding that the newer FIFA 21 replace its older iteration in the roster. An equally loud contingent complained about Street Fighter V, a less popular title than fan-favorite Tekken 7. The AEC was listening, though.
As a result of the online feedback, the organizers have announced two modifications to the roster, conceding to both demands. This move speaks positively of the AEC and its willingness to work with its audience. It’s also expected to help increase esports betting interest online.
Europe esports news
Kjaerbye And NBK- Clash On Twitter During IEM New York Final
FaZe Clan recently dominated OG in the Grand Final of the Intel Extreme Masters New York 2020 Europe tournament. The news made the headlines across CS:GO betting sites and esports news trackers. What didn’t make the headlines at first, though, was the heated banter.
FaZe Clan’s Markus “Kjaerbye” Kj?rbye may be the clan’s newest member, but he proved he’s among the loudest. He and OG senior member Nathan “NBK-” Schmitt got into it on Twitter, both before and during the match.
Kjaerbye fired the first shot, tweeting to his 127,000 followers that OG would “choke” again in the Grand Final. NBK- shot back, posting a screencap of Kjaerbye’s three-month stats and calling out his performance.
During the match, Kjaerbye dominated the first map with 33 frags. He then took another potshot at NBK, tweeting for him to “join the server”. After FaZe’s victory, Kjaerbye doubled down, quoting the earlier stats and sarcastically quipping, “This aged well”.
South America esports news
SporTV Series Latin America Digital Conference Brings Together Key Players
As South American esports leagues continue to mature and seek commercial viability, key business interests are starting a dialogue. Market research firm Dataxis have organized a digital conference for stakeholders to discuss challenges and strategies in the region.
SporTV Series Latin America features more than 400 different executives, sports leagues, clubs, teams, rights owners, and broadcasters. The event will discuss current trends and future technological requirements of the nascent Latin American esports ecosystem.
Fan engagement will be another major topic in the conference, with marketing executives assessing different strategies for the region. The issues of piracy and broadcasting rights will also be focal points.
A dedicated panel will discuss broadcasting rights negotiation within the context of the pandemic. Monetization, attracting bookmaker and betting interest, and long-term sustainability are also key concerns for this South American esports conference.
Oceania esports news
Ground Zero Gaming Beat Mindfreak In Overwatch Contenders Australia Season 2 Finals
The second season of Blizzard’s Overwatch Contenders Australia has come to an end. The matches are over, and the results are in: Ground Zero Gaming are the champions.
They beat Mindfreak, who overcame the losers’ bracket to reach the final. Ground Zero dominated the decider, dispatching Mindfreak with a comfortable 4-0 score to claim the US $20,500 grand prize.
Mindfreak didn’t go home empty-handed, pocketing $15,875 as the runners-up. Third-placed Dire Wolves won $26,562 all up, thanks to their first-place finish in the regular season.
]]>A lot of things have happened in the CS:GO esports scene following the Berlin Major, most notable of which was the benching of NBK-.
But he is not the only player who will be leaving his team in September. It was announced earlier that G2 Esports will no longer need the services of shox and Lucas “Lucky” Chastang, who will be both released and forced to look for a new team.
The reason behind the decision to replace shox and Lucky was mediocre results that have plagued G2 since their runners-up finish at ESL Pro League S9 Finals. The French giants have already found two replacements in Nemanja “nexa” Isakovi? and Nemanja “huNter-” Kova? from CR4ZY.
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That surprise move by G2 is quite a convenient one for Vitality, who are reportedly very keen on signing shox as a replacement for NBK-. That would require Vitality to splash the cash, but there is a strong belief the deal could go through.
Vitality and G2 have a good relationship, as it was G2 who helped Vitality enter the CS:GO scene by letting them sign Dan “apEX” Madesclaire and NBK- in October 2018.
Should, however, the French powerhouse fail to land shox, it is believed they will give kioShiMa a chance to return to the CS:GO professional scene.
The former FaZe Clan, Team Envy and Cloud9 player has been without a team for over five months now, but the two-time major champion has expressed a desire to once again play for a French team.
Which of the two stars will end up in Vitality remains a mystery, however, it should not stay so for long.
Vitality are in a race against time, as they will need to have their roster finalized before Friday, September 13, when BLAST Pro Series Moscow begins.