NiKo’s four-year stint with G2 is about to end.
Bosnian CS2 star Nikola "NiKo" Kovač will leave G2 this December, according to the organization's CEO Alban "Stilgar" Dechelotte on Oct. 31.
NiKo's future has been up in the air ever since August, when Sheep Esports reported that he'll join Falcons after the Perfect World Shanghai Major at the end of the year. Esports.gg had the opportunity to ask Falcons' coach Danny "zonic" Sørensen about the move in August, but he declined to comment.
Although what Stilgar said doesn't confirm that NiKo is joining Falcons, it's the first time that someone from G2 acknowledged that NiKo is leaving the team after four years.
G2 CEO hints malbsMd will take NiKo's roles after he leaves
Stilgar said in an interview with MGG France that G2 could have kept NiKo, but considered that allowing departure is the right decision.
"If we wanted to keep NiKo because he has several years left on his contract, we could have done so," Stilgar said, according to a translation made by the French journalist neLendirekt on X. "If we did, it's because we consider that this is a moment, perhaps an amount, perhaps a phase for this roster, where it's the right decision."
The G2 CEO also said that maybe the team will move Mario "malbsMd" Samayoa to NiKo's positions when he leaves, and maybe sign another anchor. Prior to joining G2 in July, malbsMd was playing star positions on M80. G2 put malbsMd to anchor bombsites as many of his positions overlapped with NiKo's own.
"The fact that we signed malbs in July, when he's playing the same positions as NiKo, maybe it's a bit of an anticipation of what's to come, and maybe we're already working on who will replace malbs in his anchor position, and he could move into the positions that NiKo will be leaving at the end of December," he said.
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G2 CEO comments on m0NESY rumors
Ever since the report that NiKo will join Falcons was published, fans have been wondering if G2's star AWPer Ilya "m0NESY" Osipov would tag along as they're close. Esports reporter Richard Lewis said on a stream in September that he heard these rumors, too.
This doesn't seem likely, though, according to Stilgar. G2 wants to keep m0NESY as he's the "heart" of their CS2 project. Letting NiKo leave is already a big hit to G2's ambitions in CS2 as he's one of the best riflers in the world, hence why they want to keep m0NESY around.
"In any case, he has a contract of more than a year. It's up to us. For him to leave, we'll have to accept that. I think he has a special relationship with NiKo — he's been his mentor, he admires him a lot, NiKo helped him a lot in his career.
But today, he's also the best player in the world, and he has an opportunity to become the leader of the roster in his own right. So we're working on what the G2 CS roster will look like in the future. For us, Ilya is at the heart of the project."
Falcons recently signed Oleksandr "s1mple" Kostyljev on loan until the end of the year, but it's unclear if CS2's best player ever will stay there for next year. It probably depends on their results at the European RMR and the Major, should they qualify for it.
That's all for now. Stay tuned to esports.gg for more CS2 news.
