SK to build international team - Report

After unsuccessful experiences with two all-Swedish teams, SK Gaming have seemingly decided to give Counter-Strike - the game that turned it into one of the biggest organisations in the business - another chance, but this time with a much more ambitious project with three Nordic players, one Belgian and one Portuguese.

The new line-up in the making, reports Vakarm.net, features former SK Gaming member Mikail "⁠Maikelele⁠" Bill, who, after confirming his departure from LGB, wrote on Twitter that he had "big things going on" in his career. 

Maikelele will be hoping to prove his critics wrong after his spell in Ninjas in Pyjamas was cut short due to his lack of top-flight experience, which made the team sign Aleksi "⁠allu⁠" Jalli despite the language barrier between the Finnish ace and his Swedish team-mates.

The former NiP player will reportedly be joined by fellow countryman Alexander "⁠SKYTTEN⁠" Carlsson, who is on the market after parting ways with the former Orbit team on Friday.

Rounding out the trio of Nordic players will be Håvard "⁠rain⁠" Nygaard, who seems to have caught the eye of Maikelele during the time the duo spent together in LGB eSports, which included a 5th-6th place finish at Copenhagen Games.

From Western Europe comes former Titan member Adil "⁠ScreaM⁠" Benrlitom, whose future has been the subject of much speculation since the disbandment of Epsilon's team following a match-fixing scandal that involved his four team-mates. 

Earlier in the month, the Belgian star, who is widely regarded as one of the best aimers in the game, with headshot percentages that have made him a fans' favourite, stepped in for EnVyUs to replace Fabien "⁠kioShiMa⁠" Fiey on a temporary basis.

The last player is without a doubt the biggest talent in the history of Portuguese Counter-Strike, Ricardo "⁠fox⁠" Pacheco, who has decided to end his long association with k1ck as he looks for his big break in the game. This will be his third international team after spells in Infinity-eSports (UK) and x6tence earlier in his career.

Contacted by Vakarm.net, ScreaM admitted that he is interested in building an international line-up but did not confirm whether any of the reported players or SK Gaming will be involved.

"As you may know, it’s been two months since I have been representing Epsilon alone," he told vakarm.net.

"I want by all means to become again a key player in the competitive scene. The top French teams are stable and strong at the moment, so I have turned to the international scene, trying to find other possibilities. An international team is one of them.

"For the moment it’s just in a starting phase. I’m looking for players to join me. The players mentioned are just options like many others.

"Regarding the organisation, Epsilon remains a possibility, just like SK Gaming or any other.

"I am using a lot of words to express my doubts because, in reality, I’m looking to create a team, but we are still in the discussion phase with the players and the organisations, and nothing is certain at this point."

SK Gaming's new CS:GO squad will reportedly feature:

Mikail "⁠Maikelele⁠" Bill
 Alexander "⁠SKYTTEN⁠" Carlsson
 Håvard "⁠rain⁠" Nygaard
 Adil "⁠ScreaM⁠" Benrlitom
 Ricardo "⁠fox⁠" Pacheco