Sangal: From outsiders to Shanghai Major hopefuls

LNZ’s troops arrive in China aiming to secure their place in CS history after climbing 60 spots in the world rankings.

Breaking out of online tier-two Counter-Strike has long been one of the game's most arduous feats. The list of teams that successfully ascend to LAN competition is a short one, and even shorter is the list of those who can stay there. That doesn't mean the lower reaches of competition are without standout rosters waiting for their chance to shine.

Sangal are chief among them, as their three online titles in the summer have given them a way out of the online grind as they are crowning their recent rise with three LAN appearances in less than three months.

Linus "⁠LNZ⁠" Holtäng and company made their offline debut at ESL Pro League, competed at RES Regional Champions in Belgrade, and broke into the top 20 of the HLTV rankings for the first time in their history, but their biggest test to date awaits them at the Shanghai Major's RMR.

Sangal qualified with a 3-0 record in the closed qualifier and are going into RMR A with a chance of securing one of the seven available Major spots.

Despite an uninspired showing at RES Regional Champions, Sangal have enough firepower to dispatch the lower-ranked squads in their group, whom they regularly faced during their tier-two crusade.

Victories against FaZe and HEROIC at ESL Pro League Season 20 also show they have upset potential, which means they won't be pushovers in any of their matches, especially the opening best-of-ones.

The Swedish IGL is the longest-standing player on the roster alongside fellow countryman Simon "⁠yxngstxr⁠" Boije and has been a crucial part of Sangal's recent rise. LNZ was a part of the WePlay Academy League generation of players and rose to notoriety when he joined Young Ninjas back in 2021.

He earned a promotion to the main team after just five months to replace Erik "⁠ztr⁠" Gustafsson as the organization experimented with the team's composition. "This opens up an opportunity for LNZ, a gifted player who has been on the rise in Young Ninjas, to try his fortune on the main roster," Björn "⁠THREAT⁠" Pers, Ninjas in Pyjamas's coach at the time, said about the move in 2021.

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LNZ's stint in Ninjas in Pyjamas was far from easy, as he averaged a 0.91 rating even though the team claimed the title at IEM Fall 2021 Europe. Despite his struggles, LNZ said he learned a lot from the experience in an interview with HLTV, conducted during RES Regional Champions in Belgrade.

"I think it made everything for me," the Swede began. "Firstly, I think it brought a lot of confidence, maybe even too much. I was not humble after NIP, and I think I learned a lot since that time. Now, three years later, I've found myself in a new role, and I'm feeling like I just keep hitting my peak.

"I feel like it really showed me the best of tier-one Counter-Strike, and it also put me down on the bottom, from where I had to fight myself back up."

LNZ returned to the academy team in November of 2021 and spent the next 20 months competing online before he eventually moved to Sangal, where he was tasked with leading an international team for the first time in his career.

"It's pretty similar to when I was calling in Young Ninjas. The only difference is that you can use some keywords sometimes and have a bit more freedom, which allows players to make more individual decisions. It's not always easy to have the best communication in international rosters, so playing perfectly as a team might not always be the right approach," LNZ said about his adaptation.

The 22-year-old joined Sangal alongside yxngstxr when Can "⁠kyuubii⁠" Ali and Max "⁠PANIX⁠" Hangebruch were still in the team, and Klesti "⁠stikle-⁠" Kola was the coach. They found success hard to come by and peaked in a lowly 74th place at the end of 2023, which sent them into another rebuild after fielding 11 players in 12 months.

Jimmy "⁠Jumpy⁠" Berndtsson, who took over the head coach role in February, was the first piece of the puzzle. The Swedish veteran gave the team some much-needed experience and LNZ attributed much of the team's success to his coach.

"He was here for maybe two months before we switched to SaMey and jottAAA. But after that, we started really well, and it was mainly because of him."

The additions of Dawid "⁠SaMey⁠" Stańczak and Samet "⁠jottAAA⁠" Köklü propelled Sangal up the competitive ladder as the team quickly gained momentum with the new starting lineup.

"We had slight role difficulties in our previous lineup, and bringing in SaMey brought in more of a passive AWPer," LNZ said. "With jottAAA, we upgraded the firepower and got that unexpected aspect in a player. It allowed us to have good players in the roles we need, which we didn't really have before."

LNZ, as the in-game leader, was tasked with integrating the duo into the squad, and the Swede admitted that Sangal play somewhat of a "weird style."

"We have a mix of set rounds and defaults, where we have this context calling, but we're also involving the players in defaults, with some set ways of taking map control. The balance we've found is really working so far," he said.

"Our style is pretty aggressive since we have players like jottAAA and xlf0ud, who are Turkish and just swing everything sometimes. I would say it's a weird style, but we have a good mix of everything."

When the Turkish duo joined, Sangal immediately took the tier-two scene by storm and won three online tournaments over a busy summer period, but LNZ admitted the phase of constant officials was a rough time for the squad.

"It was very tough mentally because you have to play almost two games a day. Even one game every day is very tough because you never really get time off and don't have time to practice and find new stuff. You have to take care of yourself mentally to make it."

Following their three tournament victories in just over three months, the team soared into the top 30 for the first time in the organization's history. "I was very happy since I haven't had any real success in a team since NIP, which was like three years ago now," LNZ said about the achievement.

"For me to come into a different role, being an IGL now compared to before, and also going through a lot of difficulties personally, it means the world to me to be able to play in such a good team. It feels so good to play CS at a high level again because I love every single part of it."

The next step in Sangal's rise was an appearance at a tier-one LAN, and the team checked that off the list at ESL Pro League Season 20 in September. "It was a really big step, considering if you win one CCT Online Cup, it's obviously good for the ranking, but it's not going to mean that much to you other than money.

"Winning CCT, one RES championship, and qualifying for Malta almost makes you the king of tier-two, and I think it brings another level of confidence that you can use when you come to these kinds of tournaments," LNZ said.

Sangal's opening match in Malta came against FaZe, and the result was nothing short of breathtaking, as the European underdogs took their map pick 13-2 and held on to secure a three-map victory in their opener. Eventual finalists Eternal Fire then proved too much of a test, but Sangal bounced back to reverse-sweep HEROIC and put themselves one win away from the playoffs.

They went on to lose their rematches against HEROIC and FaZe on either side of a win against FlyQuest, but the squad did enough to prove they could compete with the best.

A possible drawback to their success in Malta is that it may draw attention to their strategies, which will require LNZ's squad to refresh their playbook to make the most of their recent rise. It won't take away from their early signs, which were encouraging and came against a higher caliber team they are likely set to meet for the final Major spots.

Date	Matches
ESL Pro League Season 20
03/09/2024	FaZe Finished 1:2 Sangal	Match
04/09/2024	Eternal Fire Finished 2:0 Sangal	Match
05/09/2024	Sangal Finished 2:1 HEROIC	Match
06/09/2024	Sangal Finished 0:2 FaZe	Match
07/09/2024	Sangal Finished 2:0 FlyQuest	Match
08/09/2024	Sangal Finished 0:2 HEROIC	Match

Sangal didn't need to wait long for their return to LAN after Pro League as they made the flight to Belgrade for RES Regional Champions. They were the highest-ranked team at the $250,000 tournament and were thus expected to lift the title — their group-stage campaign certainly backed up that sentiment.

Sangal dispatched Nemiga and Fluxo on the road to the top of the group to set up a semi-final bout with UNPAID. It was there where the team failed to reach the expectations and petered out in a three-map loss despite jottAAA posting a 1.48 rating in the series.

The Turkish rifler also finished the tournament with the highest average rating overall (1.36 across eight maps) and backed up LNZ's praise about his firepower and unexpected playstyle. While his standout performance wasn't enough to turn the tide in Belgrade, it show his impressive form of late.

"Just a bit over six months ago we were barely a top 80 team, and now we can consider ourselves a pretty consistent top 20 team," LNZ said about Sangal's recent rise. "It's a great feeling."

All of Sangal's success up to this point can prove to be just an appetizer if they can hit their stride in Shanghai. "We will do a lot of practice," LNZ said about their upcoming preparation.

"After every big event we've played, we've evaluated a lot with meetings and tried to see how we can elevate the team. We'll be doing the same [after RES], we’ll try to do everything we can to make some unexpected aspects in the tactical part and improve all aspects of our team play."

Sangal won ESL Challenger League Season 48 Europe and qualified for another season of Pro League after their semi-final finish in Belgrade, but haven't played an official match since that final against Nemiga. With all sights set on the RMR in China, LNZ aims to elevate his rise back to the world stage.

The elation of his Ninjas in Pyjamas promotion, the misery of his ensuing step down back to the academy team, and the recovery of his stock in Sangal have all paved the way to Shanghai, where his team will start their Major dream against Rebels in the first round.

Date	Matches
Perfect World Shanghai Major 2024 Europe RMR A
17/11/2024	Sangal 08:15 Rebels	Match