RMR rosters locked: Snax, Lekr0, fox, olofmeister listed as substitutes

Find out which players the likes of FaZe, G2, and Natus Vincere have put down as backups for the Major qualifier.

ESL has revealed the rosters that have been submitted for the Regional Major Ranking tournaments, which have been locked in since September 8th, allowing insight into teams' substitute players.

Academy players, benched members, as well as veterans such as Jonas "⁠Lekr0⁠" Olofsson, Ricardo "⁠fox⁠" Pacheco, and Olof "⁠olofmeister⁠" Kajbjer can be found on the roster sheets. A name that jumps off the list is Janusz "⁠Snax⁠" Pogorzelski, who impressed in his stand-in stint with ENCE at IEM Dallas, but is a sub for Vitality — not the Finnish organization he represented in June.

Vitality listed Snax as their substitute

If Eetu "⁠sAw⁠" Saha's squad needs a stand-in for the RMR, they won't be turning to loaned out Olek "⁠hades⁠" Miskiewicz either, but towards their 20-year-old academy player Henri "⁠HENU⁠" Ylilehto. The same strategy was employed by quite a few teams including Astralis, Cloud9, BIG, Natus Vincere, Ninjas in Pyjamas and OG, who listed players from their secondary squads.

The importance of a good substitute was highlighted by Kristian "⁠k0nfig⁠" Wienecke's injury, which sees the Danish star miss out on the qualifier and Astralis with an uphill battle, trying to qualify for the IEM Rio Major with Astralis Talent player Mikkel "⁠MistR⁠" Thomsen.

Read more

k0nfig to miss Major qualifier following injury

It comes as no surprise to see FaZe put down olofmeister as their backup, but seeing his countryman Lekr0 as G2's reserve player will certainly raise some eyebrows. The 29-year-old has been competitively inactive since April, when Dignitas failed to advance from the RMR and subsequently disbanded the team.

Similarly, 00NATION have listed 35-year-old fox as their substitute, the player that helped Epitacio "⁠TACO⁠" de Melo and Marcelo "⁠coldzera⁠" David make the semi-final of the ELEAGUE 2017 Major as a temporary replacement for Lincoln "⁠fnx⁠" Lau.

Lucas "⁠Lucky⁠" Chastang, Jayson "⁠Kyojin⁠" Nguyen Van, Aurimas "⁠Bymas⁠" Pipiras, and Timur "⁠buster⁠" Tulepov are signed up as substitutes for organizations they are benched from, while former North man Nicklas "⁠gade⁠" Gade can be found on HEROIC's team list.

A number of teams have not listed a substitute, which means they will be forced to use their coach as a stand-in in case of an emergency. The most prominent team to not list a sixth player is Liquid, whose coach Damian "⁠daps⁠" Steele would come in as a player if needed.

Below you can find the list of all RMR teams and their substitutes:

Europe A:

1win: Artem "⁠mouseTT⁠" Karyagin
Astralis: Mikkel "⁠MistR⁠" Thomsen
Aurora: No substitute
B8: No substitute
Bad News Eagles: No substitute
Cloud9: Daniil "⁠alpha⁠" Demin
ECSTATIC: No substitute
Eternal Fire: Yasin "⁠xfl0ud⁠" Koç
FaZe: Olof "⁠olofmeister⁠" Kajbjer
fnatic: Peppe "⁠Peppzor⁠" Borak
G2: Jonas "⁠Lekr0⁠" Olofsson
Ninjas in Pyjamas: Max "⁠maxster⁠" Jansson
Sprout: No substitute
GamerLegion: No substitute
Spirit: Myroslav "⁠zont1x⁠" Plakhotia
FORZE: No substitute

Europe B:

Benched Heroes: Thomas "⁠Thomas⁠" Utting
BIG: Elias "⁠s1n⁠" Stein
ENCE: Henri "⁠HENU⁠" Ylilehto
FANTASY: No substitute
HEET: Lucas "⁠Lucky⁠" Chastang
HEROIC: Nicklas "⁠gade⁠" Gade
K23: No substitute
MOUZ: Aurimas "⁠Bymas⁠" Pipiras
Monte: No substitute
Natus Vincere: Daniil "⁠headtr1ck⁠" Valitov
OG: Max "⁠Marix⁠" Kugener
SAW: No substitute
Sangal: Marko "⁠kressy⁠" Đorđević
Falcons: Jayson "⁠Kyojin⁠" Nguyen Van
Vitality: Janusz "⁠Snax⁠" Pogorzelski
Outsiders: Timur "⁠buster⁠" Tulepov

Americas:

00NATION: Ricardo "⁠fox⁠" Pacheco
9z: Gustavo "⁠tge⁠" Motta
ATK: No substitute
ARCTIC: No substitute
Complexity: No substitute
Evil Geniuses: Wesley "⁠viz⁠" Harris
FURIA: Lucas "⁠decenty⁠" Bacelar
Imperial: No substitute
Infinity: Stephane "⁠Guepard⁠" Cazzotes
Isurus: No substitute
MIBR: No substitute
Nouns: No substitute
O PLANO: No substitute
Liquid: No substitute
TeamOne: No substitute
paiN: Gabriel "⁠nython⁠" Lino

Asia:

Rare Atom: ZhiHong "⁠aumaN⁠" Liu
Grayhound: No substitute
IHC: No substitute
JiJieHao International: No substitute

For more information on all things Major related, check out our IEM Rio Major Coverage Hub.