LGB confirm rain interest

28-4-2015 21:14

LGB eSports have now officially confirmed that an organization is interested in one of their contracted players, Håvard "rain" Nygaard, however they have also specified that he currently remains under contract with the organization.

When it was announced earlier this week that SK Gaming were looking to build an international CS:GO team mainly around players Adil "⁠ScreaM⁠" Benrlitom and Mikail "⁠Maikelele⁠" Bill, one player's name who suddenly appeared in the spotlight was young Norwegian talent Håvard "⁠rain⁠" Nygaard.

However, Swedish player Maikelele later confirmed that a stumbling block in the way of these acquisitions was rain's very own LGB, who appeared reluctant to acquiesce with the player's departure unless a transfer fee were paid.

rain has an "interested organization" on his heels

Later rumors began to swirl that the Norwegian hotshot had been bought out to the tune of $40,000 by SK, however with an outright denial coming from LGB's management, mentions of this rumor began to disappear from the internet in due time.

LGB have now felt it prudent to come forward with their own press release about the situation in order to quash any ongoing rumors on this developing story; the organisation had this to say on the matter regarding rain:

"On behalf of LGB eSports we would like to bring some clarity surrounding the latest rumors regarding our player, Håvard ”rain” Nygaard. We hereby confirm that there are ongoing discussion with an interested organization regarding a potential acquisition of one of our five talented CS:GO players. As for the time being Håvard is still a part of LGB eSports until an agreement has been reached. If an agreement is not reached, Håvard will continue under his current contract in LGB eSports."

The statement therefore both confirms the interest of an organisation in acquiring the Norwegian player, yet also specifies that for all intensive purposes he remains a part of LGB.

Additionally, Hicham Chahine, the founder and CEO of Diglife, which owns LGB eSports among others, released the following statement, which adds the informative figure of rain's contract being in effect for the next 22 months:

”We have received initial interest from an international gaming organization regarding acquiring the services of Håvard. The player is still under contract with LGB eSports for the next 22 months. As for any contract there are legal obligations in place to protect the best interest of LGB eSports as an organization and the best interest of the player in our working relationship. Diglife and all organizations in our group , which includes Ninjas in Pyjamas, Copenhagen Wolves and LGB eSports, has the highest respect for contracts between players and their organizations on the global electronic sports scene. We therefore expect the same mutual respect from competing gaming organizations on the global scene regarding our players.

With that in mind we are currently discussing the compensation for releasing the player 22 months prior the expiration of his contract with LGB eSports. It is very important to us to find a solution that is fair to LGB and Håvard in order to minimize the effects of a transition. The professional electronic sports scene has traditionally been poor at respecting the boundaries of contracts, which we intend to follow up in order to further professionalize the electronic sports industry we are a part of. We will keep all our fans and partners updated on the progress, and hope to have some more news regarding this matter in the near future.”

With continuous news breaking in the CS:GO scene regarding player transfers, the composition of new teams and superleagues with increasing prize-pools, only one thing can be sure: it is an exciting time to follow Counter-Strike.

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Welp this is going wrong

2015-04-28 21:15

3 replies

Who else thought that LGB was interested in the weather?

2015-04-28 21:24

1 reply

i mean here its raining all the time

2015-04-28 21:45

for all intensive purposes he can say lavee to lgb

2015-04-29 08:01

no pls

expected

GOGO SK <3

w0t

Fuck yes, SK tier 1 inc if everything goes right.

16 replies

tier1 with not a single star in the lineup hahaha nice joke

2015-04-28 21:31

13 replies

without**

2015-04-28 21:35

unfinished lineup and you already talking?

2015-04-28 21:47

nice Lurppissss copy pasta

2015-04-28 21:46

Depends what you consider a "star"? Most of the players mentioned definitely have star potential and are more than capable of competing with the best players around: Scream & rain: hltv.org/?pageid=188&matchid=19806 Rain: hltv.org/?pageid=188&matchid=20017 hltv.org/?pageid=188&matchid=19155 Scream: hltv.org/?pageid=188&matchid=19018 hltv.org/?pageid=188&matchid=18472 maikelele: hltv.org/?pageid=188&matchid=18729 hltv.org/?pageid=188&matchid=19068 Etc. people are being way too harsh on this lot. They're all very good solid players with potential to be brilliant. Perhaps not in a random mixed language line-up but they're not exactly getting any better chances/offers.

2015-04-28 21:50

4 replies

Nice reading. Shows that these players can deliver sick games against the best teams in the world. The problem for me is fox. How good will he fair in an international scene? He has always had this secure position in k1ck, where he could do whatever he wanted, as he was Portugals best player. Here he will be one of many. Then again I like SKYTTEN. I imagine that he will function as a caller. Still I have seen a couple of individual aces in official matches these last two weeks. Pretty sick ones too.

2015-04-28 23:04

Fox had some good matches before. I'm pretty sure he has, and will have a similar role to kenny, where he will get a pick and then rotate to get more picks. hltv.org/?pageid=188&matchid=17281 hltv.org/?pageid=188&matchid=16701 hltv.org/?pageid=188&matchid=16547 hltv.org/?pageid=188&matchid=16452 Granted, these were very very old matches, and those teams(besides HR) have improved drastically. He also had alot more bad matches.

2015-04-29 18:03

hltv.org/?pageid=246&playerid=7390 look at all that red

2015-04-28 23:06

He's played for a shit mix team for almost a year where players constantly rotated and some were just bad (uzii, b1ggy etc). Wtf do you expect when they lost almost every game? amazingly he still has loads of awesome games on an individual level even when the rest played shit.

2015-04-29 17:15

reading lurrpis much? ScreaM, Maikelele and rain combined can tear apart any tier1 team. Stop reading lurrpis.

2015-04-28 22:07

If CS:GO was all about individual skill, maybe. But it isn't. Most successful teams so speak the same (native) language and there are strats to think about. You can't just put 5 good players aim-wise together and expect results.

2015-04-28 22:41

+1 But if they manage to find out how to do strong teamwork combined with individual skills I can a see tier 1 team easy, at first I think they will start off at t2 but as they play and practice more with each other I see them going far. All of the players SK has in mind have some sort of talent.

2015-04-29 00:25

+1 The language isn't a problem. They all can enough English to deal with it, and enough skill to start a proper team. They just need training, training and training to get know each other better and adjust their playstyle. With those three doing entrys etc in any tactic they can be on tier 1 lvl with aim already.

2015-04-29 01:21

Sure, its not going to work if you only put the team that is good aim-wise but you have to consider that after a while they will get used to each other. Its how it goes.

2015-04-29 09:32

Shitty org signing a shitty team. Not sure where this hype came from.

2015-04-28 23:01

SK is going to have so high % on lounge and then they will lose to ROCK or something like that :D

2015-04-29 21:51

YES

2015-04-28 21:16

i doubt they would keep him against his will. What LGB is asking is way too much.

2 replies

They have every right to do so.

2015-04-28 21:32

I really don't think it's too much. It's great for eSports that they want to enforce the contracts players sign.

2015-04-28 21:51

#13 Also cool

SK.

no Rain no LGB. pozdro 600

No rain no grain

2015-04-29 10:51

great news

damn

expected.

2 year contract in esports?? i arent think that

2015-04-28 21:17

Taz and co. signed 2 year-contracts with VP...

2015-04-28 21:34

outlier

stay lgb pls

nice

good :)

stay dont ruin a good norwegian team

pls join SK

2015-04-28 21:19

I wonder how long this contract is. If it'snot too long then it's better to wait instead of paying $$$.

12 replies

more 22 months under lgb contract

2015-04-28 21:20

11 replies

holy shit. I bet he was drunk when he was signing with them. who would sign 2 years contract with tier 4-5 team. VP's 3 year contracts make sense but with LGB. LOL

2015-04-28 21:22

10 replies

Yeah, Commitment is a rare word in eSport. So i guess thats why it doesnt make sense to you i assume.

2015-04-28 21:25

Since he seems to be willing to sign with SK, rain probably wasn't as committed as he seemed when he signed the contract.

2015-04-28 22:01

if you could quit your job and get the same salary in cs i think u would take it

2015-04-28 23:43

That has nothing to do with what I said (or what sharaN said). It wasn't a smart move for rain to sign such a long contract if he was open to listen for better offers.

2015-04-29 00:27

LGB tier 4-5 team? wp -_-

2015-04-28 21:27

How the **** are they Tier 4-5. Stupid turk.

does it matter? LGB doesn't worth to sign for 2 years. get the point u idiot.

2015-04-28 23:27

If your a pro and want to make a living playing video games, you have to take any opportunity you get.

You have to know that this also is for his own future, I doubt you want to have a job which can end at any day. And if the salary is ok, why not?

2015-04-29 09:15

What Jesus said. A two year contact on a relatively strong team with his friends, getting (hopefully) a proper salary. I don't see why he shouldn't take it? If we look at the pro CSGO scene there are not many teams that has players from lots of different countries and I wouldn't see any other Norwegian team outpacing the LGB lineup anytime soon, so I think it's fair to say that LGB was, at the time the safest bet he had.

2015-04-30 17:25

$40k is complete bullshit though

Rain INSANE player very nice

interesting

2015-04-28 21:23

SK will be a pretty interesting team with potencial. Hope that fox could shine there but i'm a bit worried that he couldn't do it

I still don't understand contracts as it seems they don't mean fuck all unless the organization says so, so he has 22 months left what if LGB decide the team is shit and cuts them, what happens to the contract then? Or when SK signed a team for a month, it's like contracts don't mean shit from the players perspective which to me defeats the purpose of a contract.

6 replies

To clarify that for you, even if it was to happen, and i dont see it will, its not like we can just as an organisation, throw anyone out without compensation. Everyone knows what they sign up for, if its LGB, SK, TSM and what not.

2015-04-28 21:28

Ok fair enough, so players get compensated if the contract is ended prematurely? thanks for that, I've always wondered how they worked in e-sports.

They were signed for a month because the team was new, then pita retired and they did not find a suitable replacement so they decided not to renew the contracts. Get your facts straight.

That was an example and SK isn't the only team to just decide the team is shit and cut them even with them under contract, so get fucked.

2015-04-28 21:30

Like in the NFL??? You dont perform, you lose ur $$$.

Not sure how it works in NFL but over here (real football) if you are shit you still get paid, that's what a contract is unless it has performance based bonuses

2015-04-28 21:41

22 months holy fuck :X, hope this get sorted out and all parties come out satisfied

2015-04-28 21:26

oh really ?xd

just stay rain an help LGB to world domination!

GO SK GO

HAHA 40k my ass...who believed that rumor has to be braindead potato

This is getting complicated |:

2015-04-28 21:29

i lold @ nip having high respect to their players. already forgot about maikelele drama?

+1, basically wall of bullshit saying, want rain? pay

Does like no one here follow football at all? It's the exact same thing, if a player is under contract then the other team has to pay extra, how is this a big deal? Pretty sad that it's news.

it makes it way more interesting when the players actually decide by theirselves with whom they wanna play. it should be kept this way. it would be a huge sellout if this becomes business as usual, like its already the case in other pro sports

2015-04-28 22:05

then what in the hell would be the point in a contract dude??

2015-04-28 22:13

google: contract, you can do it, i trust in you still doesnt mean it has to be a sellout, oppressive contract where players arent allowed to organize themselves

2015-04-28 22:17

So... This means that he will play today vs x6tence?

2015-04-28 21:33

Yes he is playing.

2015-04-28 21:36

Typical SK

Plz don't leave a top 10 team for a top 482010 team

If he doesn't play against x6tence in 45 minutes it confirms he's going.

rain, please stay in LGB -___- :(

2015-04-28 21:37

that's just holding himself back, sorry man

2015-04-28 21:40

u right, I love LGB but rain need to go

2015-04-28 22:28

Damn there's a lot of stuff going on right now!

2015-04-28 21:39

COMON RAIN + SCREAM NOW !!!! hicham ma man let him join scream ty

2015-04-28 21:42

What if Rain doesn't play serious in purpose, and be a weak player, just to get LGB to kick him ? *just wondering*

2015-04-28 21:44

rip lgb then?

top kek, what is next? hiko

2015-04-28 22:04

LGB doesn't even have a proper IGL at this point... Srsly just let him go.

"that for all intensive purposes" Malapropism. It's actually "for all intents AND purposes". You are welcome.

2015-04-28 22:06

God... Signed 2 years contract... GG

2015-04-28 22:09

Please LGB, don't be a dick organization. Just follow 3DMAX's example who let allu join NiP with no problem.

2015-04-28 22:11

i assume diglife wants him to stay cuz he can at sometime maybe go to nip or they have big expectasions for LGB with maybe a new member in for maikelele that can pull them the extra mile to get into top6 ish

2015-04-28 22:21

Please see the bigger picture.

2015-04-28 22:39

Why would he sign a 2 year contract with a lower tier org. ^^

2015-04-28 22:16

" which we intend to follow up in order to further professionalize the electronic sports industry we are a part of" I love when people spin it off as if they are doing it for the greater good. They are doing it to get paid, no more, no less. That's not a bad thing either, since the player is under contract, but don't try to feed my bullshit and expect me to eat it up.

2015-04-28 22:20

Pretty much everything in that statement was the truth. The Esport industry has always been terribly unprofessional when it comes to contracts and such. What exactly are they doing wrong when they are saying they want to actually respect contracts? It's a good thing for esports. Stop assuming they don't care about that and only want the money. They SHOULD be compensated for releasing a player 22 months prior to his contract.

If you think the reason for them wanting SK to buy Rain out of his contract "to further professionalize the electronic sports industry we are a part of" then I'll wager you're the same kind of person who believed everything politicians then you, and what's in the newspaper. Don't be so naive.

2015-04-28 23:09

Apparently I'm dyslexic with the amount of mistakes in this post, corrected since it won't let me edit: If you think the reason for them wanting SK to buy Rain out of his contract is "to further professionalize the electronic sports industry we are a part of" then I'll wager you're the same kind of person who believes everything politicians tell you, and what's in the newspaper. Don't be so naive.

2015-04-28 23:12

What about the time people invest in this besides the players, do you actually think that everything runs by itself?

Explain the relevance of your comment to what I said. There is none. I explicitly stated that there is nothing wrong with them wanting rain to be bought out of contract, but to pass their reasoning for that off as them wanting to uphold some kind of integrity within the world of e-sports is laughable.

2015-04-28 23:10

Alright, thats your point of view and i respect that! :) Have a nice evening.

2015-04-28 23:13

a deja-vue

2015-04-28 22:25

Rain dosent play!

2015-04-28 22:29

gg rain not playing thats awkward

2015-04-28 22:30

i want lurppis to write articles

2015-04-28 22:31

22 months holy balls

2015-04-28 22:38

The original writer of these news over at Gamermag.no just tweeted that it will be between 20 and 40k euro, so a big sum regardless of it being a bit off or not.

2015-04-28 22:50

:D Oh my.

9 replies

All these stories :-D

2015-04-28 23:05

You just being here, don't you :'D

2015-04-28 23:07

7 replies

You just what ?! :D

2015-04-28 23:08

Oops! You just love being here, don't you? :'D

5 replies

I always love theese kind of posts, i mean it started at 40k .. It's just too easy to say between 20-40k .. I can tell you its between 1 Euro and a 100.000 .. You get my point. Why dont they just wait untill its out! :D

2015-04-28 23:11

And I never got why people are so obsessed with ridiculing posts based on rumors.... You, Semphis and some others can just never restrain yourself from commenting on it left and right when it happens... And even if it's almost correct you laugh at it and say it's just way off, when in reality it's almost always close to the truth. Most of the earliest reports of juicy news in the world are based off of reports and uncertain rumors. It's like that in sports and in regular journalism... People always want to know what's going to happen as soon as possible. I mean, if you're into football or something you must know this ;)

2015-04-28 23:17

Im usually trying to clarify things without saying to much.

2015-04-28 23:38

keep RAIN and get Mysic in the team! will be make them compete with the very best

2015-04-28 23:40

You got that right :p

2015-04-28 23:55

Woops :s

the fee seemed huge but now it's more understandable when they said he still have 22 months left on his contract.

2015-04-29 00:14

Anyone reacted to " a international organisation" ? SK-gaming isnt international or am i wrong? Would been awsome if it was Evil Geniuses / Alliance :D

2015-04-28 23:14

u freaking wot m8

2015-04-29 02:05

This is so retarded. This is not like football, where you have transfer markets and stuff. And also, people in CS or in e-sport are not used to play with somebody for 2+ years (there is few cases but those teams was succesful like nip). But giving 2 years contract to tier 2/3 team is just stupid

esports is growing. Can't hardly be that difficult to understand that this stuff was bound to happen? In MOBA's players have been bought out of their contracts for lots of money. No, this isn't football, but transfers are gonna happen and there is only one way to deal with transfers.

And? What tells you that cs will not fail soon? This is big money, and we dont talk about players who play for 10m prizepools tournaments, and having big fanbase. Rain has talent, but thats to much money

The growth of players, viewers and prizepools tells me CS will not fail soon. Are you even following CS at the moment?

2015-04-29 00:09

Stich pls, it's "for all intents and purposes" not "for all intensive purposes"

2015-04-28 23:44

this so much

2015-04-29 02:50

Selling rain lgb can just dream about getting to a major again

2015-04-29 00:20

Scream to Rain: Play like shit the few months and maybe they will cut you and you can join SK! Rain to Scream: Alright m8 sounds goochi! Rain to Scream(2 months later): Yo they cut me =] Scream to Rain: We already found a fifth its all good you didnt have to do it ;) Rain to Scream: But now no organization wants me :( Scream: oh, that sucks to be you =3

2015-04-29 00:32

thats exactly what i thought haha

2015-04-29 02:12

Reminds me of Delpan in 2011 signing with SK.Gaming...

2015-04-29 01:28

GO SK

2015-04-29 01:40

If it was a 2 year contract wouldnt this be all over the fucking news? He's just BSing.

2015-04-29 03:43

I'm stalking Rain, and last night he only had Maikelele from this team on his friends list. Now he has all of them. GGWP.

2015-04-29 05:18

But you're snute bro, Aint you a former cs star? I mean i've heard your name before mate :]

2015-04-29 17:08

He's definitely stuck in an odd position. He obviously wants to be part of a tier 1 team and no doubt there's frustration with the amount of losses LGB has endured. I can't really think of any international teams that have had huge success in CSGO; for him to leave LGB he'd be taking a huge risk in hopes that they could deliver results and contend with tier 1 teams. I personally believe the lineup for SK could be extremely strong, but most likely they'd stay at best a top tier 2 team.

2015-04-29 06:55

They are a tier 2 team by default imo, just pugging. Tier 2 = teams like g2, lgb, dignitas, f3, mouz, penta, keyd, property, etc. They're definitely on that level no matter what just on aim alone.

2015-04-29 06:59

Its like a football transfer BUT IN CS, ITS HAPPENING BOYS

2015-04-29 07:53

Let's go SK SK SK SK!

2015-04-29 08:57

Rain to sk... :P

2015-04-29 12:05

So when they found out that their players dont want to play under their organisation, they are trying as hard as they can to prevent their players to play at all... It all seems to me that the LGB management is just salty and butthurt.

2015-04-29 12:19