AZR returns to competition with Sprout

3-3-2023 12:01

The Australian in-game leader found a permanent squad ten months after his departure from EXTREMUM.

Sprout have announced the signing of 30-year-old Aaron "⁠AZR⁠" Ward as their new captain. The Veteran IGL filled the vacancy left by Ismail "⁠refrezh⁠" Ali following the Dane's decision to step down from leadership and his subsequent move to the inactive roster in late February.

The German organization hope to put an end to a period of instability which included Rasmus "⁠Zyphon⁠" Nordfoss' benching and comeback, refrezh's struggles as captain, Mikkel "⁠Maze⁠" Sparvath's trial with the squad, and Danny "⁠BERRY⁠" Krüger return to competition at CCT Central Europe Finals.

AZR will return to the server for the first time since September 2022

AZR is one of the most recognizable names from the Oceanic region and is most well known for his stint as part of Renegades between 2015-2019. The 30-year-old became the team's captain after Noah "⁠Nifty⁠" Francis' departure in 2018 and led the roster to the playoffs of both the IEM Katowice and StarLadder Berlin Majors before their acquisition by 100 Thieves the following year.

The roster was then signed by EXTREMUM in 2021, but their partnership only lasted nine months as the Russian organization decided to bench and transfer-list the entire roster following their failure to qualify for the PGL Stockholm Major. He then spent seven months on the bench before finding an agreement to terminate his contract and leave as a free agent.

Sprout bench refrezh; Zyphon returns to active roster

AZR was last seen on the server last summer with Encore as the organization secured the services of the veteran IGL and AWPer Sean "⁠Gratisfaction⁠" Kaiwai for the IEM Rio RMR closed qualifier. The team finished in second place behind ORDER, missing out on the only qualifying spot for the event. AZR only played for Encore until September and has been sitting on the sidelines ever since.

"After much deliberation and testing, we're proud to announce that AZR will be our new CS:GO IGL! It was a tough decision, but with his proven leadership abilities, we are confident that AZR will be a valuable asset to our team."

Sprout are now:

Aaron "⁠AZR⁠" Ward
Laurențiu "⁠lauNX⁠" Țârlea
Adrian "⁠XELLOW⁠" Guță
Rasmus "⁠Zyphon⁠" Nordfoss
Victor "⁠Staehr⁠" Staehr

Danny "⁠BERRY⁠" Krüger (coach)

Ismail "⁠refrezh⁠" Ali (benched)

pog

2023-03-03 12:01

10 replies

big W

2023-03-03 12:03

5 replies

Oi oi oi

2023-03-03 12:06

4 replies

good choise

2023-03-03 13:21

3 replies

Never heard about this guy before the betway meme with "it has to be s1mple"

2023-03-03 14:55

2 replies

it's gotta be s1mple, right?

2023-03-03 16:17

ur newfag yes

2023-03-04 15:56

huh

2023-03-03 13:22

I'm happy for my Aussi fans

2023-03-03 15:13

1 reply

hype

2023-03-03 15:31

pog 30 y.o. prodigy

2023-03-03 17:06

wb azr

13 replies

goatest igl australia ever had in csgo

12 replies

lil spunjey matey goatest azr carried by justin savage

2023-03-03 12:39

Spunj did also play with mr Savage

2023-03-03 12:50

fair mens)) i just like mr savage name. swap their first names and u get chad savage, absolute masterpiece of a name.

2023-03-03 12:58

2023-03-03 14:34

lol :)

2023-03-03 16:13

Thats Like saying Ben Simmons is the greatest Australian Basketball Player of all time tho

2023-03-03 13:06

6 replies

better than nothing ig

2023-03-03 13:58

Aussies 2 semi final placements at major Germany??????????????????

2023-03-03 16:03

this has nothing to do with australia. this is about ben simmonds being shit

2023-03-03 17:19

oh my bad carry on

2023-03-03 17:20

ben simmonds is really really really bad

you aint wrong

2023-03-03 17:33

Not sure if nice, but nice is yes

lol nice

lol

berry better

then refrezh

2023-03-03 13:10

s1mple

AZR: s1mple

2023-03-03 13:15

It's gotta be s1mple

2023-03-03 13:57

bahaahhahahahahahahha

Ok, this is unexpected but sounds like a great addition. Hope it works out for them.

Very debatable how "great" it sounds. For sure it is unexpected move.

2023-03-03 12:40

love it

-XELLOW +Grat

2023-03-03 12:02

LETSGOOOOOO AZZRRRR

WHAT UNEXPECTED

goat is back

F one of the last chance for COL to get a good IGL

surely it's not the fact that they only have 1 player who is (recently) consistent enough, it must be JT's on deez nuts fault for that.

YK lastly when Fang became a closer COL needed, then somehow floppy got one of those rare bad games , but the thing is JT is consistently lowest, can't fill in when one of the players are having a bad day, and certainly not the best IGL

2023-03-03 13:26

Nah, JT has put together beautiful T rounds. Name another IGL that made Ancient look T-sided in the A1-S meta. The roster needs another year before I'd consider replacing anyone, and I don't think JT is who I'd replace.

2023-03-05 08:02

Holy shit wtf no way let's go sprout

2023-03-03 12:04

Haha, nice!

WHO??

never disrespect AZR like that again

2023-03-04 07:35

unexpeded but nice

Heh?

Mouz 2.0 except azr is a bot compared to sexter

WHT

Let's go Sprout

??? (Reply needs to have actual content)

2023-03-03 12:07

Holy W

WHAT

POG

2023-03-03 12:08

Unexpected but let’s go AZR

Actually a good signing

could either be really good or really really bad

2023-03-03 12:09

Well it was between fear(ex navi jr) snax and azr from what i know, not alot of igls available rn

2023-03-03 14:26

imo fear would be better, but azr could surprise me

2023-03-03 14:28

I think fear is still too inexperienced enough to lead such a young team but yeah we will see how it goes

2023-03-03 14:30

i agree but i feel like i would much rather have an inexperienced 22yo igl than a 30yo igl who hasnt played t1 for 3 years now

2023-03-03 14:33

unexpected but cool

No fucking shot lmao. Let's see if he's still relevant

Sweet, hope it goes well

2023-03-03 12:10

2023-03-03 12:11

Actually a really promising move. Unexpected from Sprout, I'm excited to see AZR back in the server with some young guns.

really unexpected but hoping it goes well

2023-03-03 12:12

good pick

banger signing

ay yo what, btw POG

SHIBALLLL NANIIIII

My GOAT

2023-03-03 12:13

rofl

2023-03-03 12:14

finally he´s back, good signing

2023-03-03 12:15

fuck yeah sprout still making the best decisions out of all top 30 teams. This will make them super competetive soon

-fear ((

2023-03-03 12:16

what a lineup out of ass

11 replies

yeah , the best young riflers (launx and staehr) , zyphon nuts aswell , xellow mediocre but he needs time to get used hopefully azr knows how to use him and yeah , the goat of au cs is here aswell "LINEUP OUT OF ASS"

2023-03-03 12:28

does this lineup achieve anything?

2023-03-03 12:36

are they meant to tho? I don't think so . This sprout team won't win anything , even if they get niko instead of zyphon let's say . This team should keep his legacy of making good players and selling them . I don't know why they didn't sell on big bucks launx and probably even staehr . If they get to the majors is fine for sprout for sure . They don't need to win anything from the organisation POV , ofc the players can win , but it depends on their work ethic :)

2023-03-03 12:44

players are also not ready for t1 yet

2023-03-03 12:49

i think launx to ence should have been accepted and done by far and somehow there was 3 offers from ence for launx and they all got declined xd . with a lot of money

2023-03-03 13:00

And staehr to Astralis imo should have been accepted, they said no to a lot of money for those two!

2023-03-03 14:59

they are good but still a lineup out of ass /closed

2023-03-03 17:44

from polish cs with oranguTaZ?

2023-03-03 12:48

TaZ 1 major

2023-03-03 17:41

ahahaha when? with 3 professional teams in competitive scene?

2023-03-03 17:48

hltv.org/player/161/taz you don't have an ability to read?

2023-03-03 17:49

nice move

Really unexpected

2023-03-03 12:17

UNEXPECTED

Very cool

2023-03-03 12:18

Still dunno how any NA org did not pick him WAYYY earlier. GL.

Scraping the bottom of the barrel

unexpected af, good move tho hope he can make xellow shine more like he did gratisfaction then this team can really shine

Time for azr to show that he can igl without JKS being on the team. But nice to see him back

2023-03-03 12:20

HUGE!!!1

Wtf I thought he retired or valorant already been so long

Same here

2023-03-03 13:41

wadafak!!!!

2023-03-03 12:21

Wow nice! Now please save BnTeT from NKT

Top 10 team inc

2023-03-03 12:22

Weirdest move tbh, but huuuuge

nice

2023-03-03 12:23

for a moment i thought it was AZK lol

2023-03-03 12:24

its probably s1mple

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOW

2023-03-03 12:26

OMG NO WAY LETS GO

happy for him

2023-03-03 12:27

you kicked refrezh for this pepelaugh

2023-03-03 12:29

deserved . back to the janitory room "ismail"

2023-03-03 13:19

let's fucking go

2023-03-03 12:30

holy W

gG ez 4 snappi's brother from amother father

2023-03-03 12:31

JKSEX PLEASE BLESS AZR IN HIS RETURN TO CS

lulz

2023-03-03 12:34

It must be simple .

2023-03-03 12:35

Signing of the year

kinda ass tho

2023-03-03 12:37

Does he have the funny...ozzie accent? Like this guy...mate! youtube.com/watch?v=9QCgqQdmr0M&ab_chann..

2023-03-03 12:51

idk what are u talkin about mate, im not aussie

2023-03-03 14:29

There goes of all hope of AU scene rebuilding. At this point last hope is: -XELLOW⁠ -Zyphon⁠ -Staehr⁠ -launx +Liazz +INS +Alistair +Vexite

i see everyone include alistar as the best AU awper but his stats arent very impressive for farming AU scene why is this? also why did that roster pick him up when Sico was already playing good with awp

2023-03-03 14:36

because sico is worse

2023-03-03 16:14

obv stats arent everything but when your the awper putting up 1.00 rating against AU teams is he really better?

2023-03-04 00:42

Copying mouz much

Yooo I forgot about him. Nice! Cheers

2023-03-03 12:42

gotta be s1mple

Actually not bad can’t wait for the game tomorrow

2023-03-03 12:47

Tough decision? It must've been simple, right?

He is smart but i hope he isnt too rusty

no way they win anything

what the fuck

Nice.

Very good pickup

Lets goo, great move from Sprout. The best of luck to AZR and the team. Might make me a Sprout fan

2023-03-03 12:54

Incredible news

oh come on what are they doing it's better than stuttering refrezh but will you guys settle on 1 roster

2023-03-03 12:55

Anyway they'll shuffle in a month again. My favourite show

2023-03-03 12:56

s1mple must be very happy now xD

2023-03-03 12:57

Very good igl

Rip sprout

POG,BIG W

2023-03-03 12:59

AZR: s1mple?

2023-03-03 13:02

Really excited to see him back in the Compitition. Let's Goooooo

2023-03-03 13:04

NO FUCKING SHOT THE GOAT

2023-03-03 13:05

it's gonna be s1mple right?

All Australian IGLs are going to germany

bro thinks hes dexter 💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀

2023-03-03 13:08

9 replies

azr accomplished more than dexter lil bro

8 replies

bro smokin crack 💀💀💀💀

2023-03-03 16:15

7 replies

newfag not around for vox renegades 100t?

my guy called renegades and 100t achievement aint no way 💀💀💀💀

2023-03-03 16:18

playoffs at both majors 2019 decent better than mouz

2023-03-03 16:36

mouz got the semis-final in the major 💀💀 what bro on about ?????????? 💀💀💀💀💀💀

2023-03-03 16:41

so did renegades lmfao

2023-03-04 15:58

in which year? and which major i dont remember

2023-03-04 18:41

yeah i figured ur newfag

2023-03-05 08:30

Top 10 most random moves ever

2023-03-03 13:11

what is s1mples opinion on this

2023-03-03 13:12

Gotta be s1mple, right?

2023-03-03 13:13

2023-03-03 13:16

good bloke but dexter is our only t1 IGL

2023-03-03 13:18

To be fair sprout isn’t T1 org

Even berry would be a better igl

AZR is, or at least was a very high impact IGL, he was a better fragger than dexter. He was also a pretty good IGL, taking Renegades to top 4 at a major, and a consistent top 5 team in 2019. He's also seemingly a nice guy, this move might take time to work but I think this was the best English speaking IGL option. ALEX is the only other choice really, but he's has personality problems for every team he's ever been in.

2023-03-03 15:29

Nice

2023-03-03 13:20

F’ing awesome. Grats immuNity Azr.

2023-03-03 13:29

oi mate i hope you like aussies in yer eueooean team cos we imported some kangaroo meat

2023-03-03 13:31

i don't think this is a good move, i said the same thing when mouz added dexter, but azr does not equal dexter

2023-03-03 13:33

Name one replacement that available and also good.

2023-03-03 13:34

one good one, what about snax? they were trialing him too, not sure what happened 2nd one maybe bubble, more experience and better fragger than azr

2023-03-03 13:42

AZR was a better player than dexter, if he still is than this might end up being a great move.

2023-03-03 15:30

Nice. GL for AZR. Miss the whole gang renegades/100t tbh.

Same here ;(

2023-03-03 13:39

GOT TO BE S1MPLE

2023-03-03 13:35

yoooooo

why everyone talking about s1mple??

idk either

2023-03-03 13:43

S0mple fanboys cannot go even a minute without mentioning him, even if they were talking about canooing.

2023-03-03 13:59

It's a meme guys, chill out with the flaming youtu.be/7XnU7V7pFuM

2023-03-03 14:45

great move

nice, now -xellow +hallzerk and u got a top 15 team

Great move, lets hope they do good!

2023-03-03 13:46

LETS GOOOOOOO

2023-03-03 13:47

Kinda feel bad for refrezh. He left a top tier team for a subpar t2 team and ends up getting benched.

2023-03-03 13:54

he was kicked from heroic though?

2023-03-03 14:03

He got kicked from heroic and now they're the 2nd best team without him buddy, he didn't leave heroic for sprout

2023-03-03 14:44

I always expect the unexpected from Sprout, but somehow I still end up get ting surprised

2023-03-03 13:56

Truly unexpected I was waitin for fear or Snax at least but AZR Sheesh, well good luck for him in Sprout

that makes me wonder if the rumors of snax going to OG are true

2023-03-03 14:04

Quite possible, cuz as I heard he got offers from either OG or Sprout Sprout got AZR, so either OG or mb even other team

2023-03-03 14:05

Pog

2023-03-03 14:02

nice one, au cs great again

wait he is still alive?

R.I.P Snaxzilla :C

2023-03-03 14:09

LET'S GOOOOOO

2023-03-03 14:10

good choice

2023-03-03 14:11

GOD AZR RETURNS!!!! LETS FUCKING GO!!!!

Unexpected

big W for sprout

mouz 2.0

2023-03-03 14:49

PLEASE AZR BE A GOOD FIT FOR SPROUT! PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE!

2023-03-03 14:54

AZR he is the north american player but the titan he is the french stars.

What

now we gettin desperate

2023-03-03 15:14

Extremum were terrible even against tier2/tier3 competition, they didn't achieve anything, it was a borderline fiasco. 2 years later, with no current european meta experience, this dude is back... Well, good luck ^^

2023-03-03 15:20

what are these guys doing...

2023-03-03 15:23

azk he is the north american player but titan he is the french stars

2023-03-03 15:27

azr he is the australian player but sprout he is the german stars doesn't have the same ring to it tbh

2023-03-03 21:15

FOR THE BOYS!!!

2023-03-03 15:52

why

2023-03-03 15:53

Return of the king

2023-03-03 15:59

Coolio

2023-03-03 16:02

hopefully he hasn't forgot how to play cs, he was aight in Renegades

azr he is the australian player but sprout he is the european stars

2023-03-03 16:09

2023-03-04 02:20

I've always liked AZR :)

Wow. Never saw this coming. Very interesting. Welcome back azr!

2023-03-03 16:19

“AZR AZR, BU KADER BİZE NE YAZR” POGGGGG

2023-03-03 16:20

Desperate move much?

2023-03-03 16:21

Lesgo breather

2023-03-03 16:27

nice to have him back on the scene!

It wasn't s1mple for our boy Azr to find a team after all

2023-03-03 16:28

Great!

2023-03-03 16:32

Let's gooo AZR

2023-03-03 16:35

Nice!

ok ?

2023-03-03 16:38

expected

2023-03-03 16:39

i mean it gotta be s1mple aight?

2023-03-03 16:46

This guy was "boring" to play against when he played in 100T Glad he came back

2023-03-03 16:55

Welcome back, strange that he came back with Sprout

2023-03-03 16:58

MY GOAT

2023-03-03 17:42

0.80 incoming, nice for azr tho, didn't rlly think I'd ever see that name again

2023-03-03 17:43

GL AZR

2023-03-03 17:51

Wow this great

2023-03-03 18:06

LETS FUCKING GOO

2023-03-03 18:08

Unexpected, hope it works out for them

2023-03-03 18:10

I dont see Sprout going far...

2023-03-03 18:13

Wow wtf what a wild signing

2023-03-03 18:15

LETSFUCKINGGOOOOOO

2023-03-03 19:33

gl AZR, would be interesting to see him play

2023-03-03 20:30

Man did not expect this.

2023-03-03 20:48

refrezh only got kicked cuz he is black, racism still rules the world I cannot imagine what those folks are going through on a daily basis

2023-03-03 21:46

Yooo

2023-03-03 22:09

This is probably a good move. If they don't perform its likely xellow that needs replaced

2023-03-03 22:27

now -xellow +mantuu

2023-03-03 23:11

unexpected

2023-03-04 00:04

pog, azr goat

2023-03-04 00:43

Azr will make the boys great again

2023-03-04 01:25

Gratisfaction>Xellow

2023-03-04 01:31

Xellow didn't fit in this team...in my opinion is more talented then Gratification.. let's hope AZR give him the calls that he needs..

2023-03-04 07:07

He came with 1,31 rating and now it's just falling down (1,13 atm)

2023-03-04 15:44

Yes... I don't know why they put him support AWP..why he throw the names..he is aggressive aper..why did they sign him..I know u already have Lau/Staer 2 aggressive players already..but..

2023-03-04 19:52