OG core trio sign new contracts

Aleksi "⁠Aleksib⁠" Virolainen, Valdemar "⁠valde⁠" Bjørn Vangså, and Mateusz "⁠mantuu⁠" Wilczewski have renewed their contracts with the organization until the end of 2022.

OG have announced that they have renewed contracts with three of their players, Aleksib, valde, and mantuu. The move signifies the organization's commitment to the core of their roster, whom they call the "Big Three", following recent changes to the team that had remained intact for over a year.

"I'm happy to announce that I'll be extending my contract with OG until the end of 2022," Aleksib said in a statement. "I believe that the current project has all the right pieces to reach new heights, and it's up to us to put in the work and show it."

OG commit to the original core

The trio has been a part of OG since the organization entered CS:GO in late 2019 with a then-brand-new international squad. The original roster reached their peak sixth ranking in November and remained the same until February, when a series of poor results and in-game differences caused the team to bench Nathan "⁠NBK-⁠" Schmitt and bring in Nikolaj "⁠niko⁠" Kristensen.

Issa "⁠ISSAA⁠" Murad followed the Frenchman to the bench only a few weeks later, with OG acquiring 17-year-old up-and-coming star Shahar "⁠flameZ⁠" Shushan from Endpoint to fill the void. The European side has since shown good promise with a win over Astralis and a close affair with G2 in the BLAST Premier Spring Showdown, while flameZ put up an impressive individual showing with a 1.24 average rating over five maps.

OG's next appearance will be in the first European Regional Major Ranking tournament of 2021, Flashpoint 3, which will run from May 10-30. The event will feature the brunt of the region's best teams, including Astralis, HEROIC, and Vitality, among others.