What we have learned so far about this season's rejigged rosters
As the dust settles on rostermania, we've dived into the stats and positions from each team's debut for the key takeaways.
Rostermania is fun, but what's even more fun is reading into tiny sample sizes one month after rostermania.
We joke, but there's plenty of information available already on the teams that swapped players. We can see the role changes, the changes in philosophy, and which players are having to change their style to accommodate what happened in this summer's off-season.
So let's get into it.
Spirit
Let's start with the team that topped Group B in Cologne, Spirit. New signing Ivan "zweih" Gogin was added in order to upgrade the firepower Boris "magixx" Vorobiev sometimes couldn't provide, but the 17-year-old has largely fulfilled the same role as the man he replaced, in positions and what he has been tasked with in the game itself.
Both entry a lot (0.16 traded deaths per round, magixx 0.17) and neither frag much (0.56 KPR for zweih, 0.55 for magixx). He's also on worse weapons: His Galil usage has gone from 5% to 12%, and AK-47 down from 44% to 33% according to Skybox EDGE.
There have been moments where zweih has been able to show his technical ability but he has been found lacking as an anchor, so much so that Yasin "xfl0ud" Koç shouted at him to "wake up" after one Aurora Upper execute on Nuke.
It's a bit harsh from the Turk, given that zweih had only played Nuke in four officials before that match, but it is fair to say a steep learning curve is ahead of zweih in a miserable, thankless, role.
Falcons
Maxim "kyousuke" Lukin can frag whatever you put in front of him — but Falcons have other issues to solve.
Nikola "NiKo" Kovač and René "TeSeS" Madsen need time to adjust to fairly sizeable role changes on T and CT side, respectively, and Falcons are still making the basic errors that cost them in Austin while kyousuke's English is not at 100% quite yet.
The frequency with which Ilya "m0NESY" Osipov was missing simple AWP shots was another danger sign for anyone presuming this roster could challenge Vitality immediately.
Having firepower is one thing, wielding it effectively is another.
Natus Vincere
Playmaker Drin "makazze" Shaqiri coming in for lurker Justinas "jL" Lekavicius has meant plenty of changes over at NAVI, with Mihai "iM" Ivan moved to the extremities on Nuke (Lobby) and Ancient (A). Valeriy "b1t" Vakhovskiy has also swapped a few spots, like on Ancient where he now plays B on both sides of the map.
"Cologne is kind of a big tournament, and it would be tough for makazze if he was playing all new roles," Andrey "B1ad3" Gorodenskiy explained. "It's something that Falcons did [with kyousuke], we did the same. We just gave him most of his roles."
He continued: "We need to give makazze more time to see how he will evolve in his role and how Mihai will evolve also in his role, sometimes passive lurker, sometimes active lurker."
So far, though, it's worked a treat: iM is having his best event in Natus Vincere so far with a 1.32 rating in Cologne.
G2
There are plenty of positive takeaways from IEM Cologne for G2, with Nemanja "huNter-" Kovač's in-game leadership going well so far.
On the four maps we've seen G2 play, Matúš "MATYS" Šimko is still free to be a playmaker in spots like A Main on Train, Cave on Ancient, and Mid on Dust2. Mario "malbsMd" Samayoa has taken Ivy on Train and Long on Dust2 to make this possible, in a clear sign that this iteration is intentionally spreading the fragging load more evenly.
Top 8 is a good start for a team going through so much upheavel, but it is hard to have a true sense of the team's ceiling before we see them with Álvaro "SunPayus" García in the server.
The Spaniard made his name at Cologne in 2022 with Movistar Riders but had a disaster this year, ending on a 0.79 rating and averaging less than one kill in two rounds (0.49 KPR).
If (when) SunPayus gets it together, G2 clearly have some good pieces to work with.
HEROIC
HEROIC's surprise benching of xfl0ud in favor of Linus "nilo" Bergman has given new coach Tobias "TOBIZ" Theo a bit of a conundrum.
His solution was to move Andrey "tN1R" Tatarinovich, the team's best player, into 'star roles' but the Belarussian is not having the same impact as a spacetaker compared to his lurking prowess from the first season.
tN1R has dropped from a 1.19 T rating in the first season of 2025 to 0.93 since the role swap (0.78 at FPG, 1.01 in Cologne). He has gone from an opening attempt rate of 16.5% to 23.3%, but is actually getting fewer picks (0.07 opening kills per round compared to 0.09).
"It's very hard for me because I don't have experience in these roles," tN1R told HLTV in Cologne. "Right now I'm learning, but we don't have solo practice because we have tournaments. "It's very hard to play official maps on some maps.
"These roles are very important. TOBIZ thought it was the best option for us because I'm trying to talk a lot and trying to help the captain with this."
GamerLegion
GamerLegion's AWPer swap hasn't seemed to change the hard facts about a team with a solid ceiling but a scarily weak floor.
They've now finished 15-16th at two of their last three Big Events, while making the quarter-finals of four events in the last three months.
Their exit in Cologne was particularly painful, fumbling a 4v2 at the end of a marathon Dust2 against 3DMAX.
Fredrik "REZ" Sterner said the team have put "more focus on the mental aspect than the gaming" recently and that process is required to continue regardless of how Jeremy "Kursy" Gast can improve on his current 1.01 rating.
Virtus.pro
Even Overpass' return cannot save Virtus.pro. Ilya "Perfecto" Zalutskiy's addition is a sensible one given how uncomfortable Timur "FL4MUS" Marev looked in those roles, but they are painting over the mold rather than addressing their damp house.
A 45.4% CT side win-rate shows it is more than just Denis "electroNic" Sharipov's much-criticized calling too, with only Evgenii "FL1T" Lebedev above a 1.00 rating after 10 maps of the new lineup.
Ninjas in Pyjamas
NIP toiled through qualifier after qualifier in the first half of the year, but are proving that they can hang in tier one by making playoffs in Astana and the top 12 at IEM Cologne.
Rafael "arrozdoce" Wing and Michel "ewjerkz" Pinto could not be the star players Marco "Snappi" Pfeiffer wanted, but NIP were able to build a foundation last season that Kacper "xKacpersky" Gabara can now complete.
The Polish 18-year-old finished Cologne with a 1.17 rating, 26.1% opening attempts, and 112.7 damage per round win; just what Snappi needed.
MIBR
Felipe "insani" Yuji is more alone than ever in MIBR, ending Cologne with a 1.34 rating whilst his four teammates were between 0.60-0.75.
Ex-Fortnite star Nicollas "nicks" Polonio "will grow with time" according to Raphael "exit" Lacerda, but how much rope is left before insani jumps ship?
SAW
SAW, after a brief flirtation with an international roster, have returned to Portugal by signing António "aragornN" Barbosa and Adones "krazy" Nobre.
Like previous signing José "Shr" Gil, krazy has been a primary AWPer for plenty of his career, but has stepped up to the region's hegemonic team as a rifler.
Meanwhile aragornN — who João "story" Vieira said was playing "some positions on Rhyno that I just couldn't understand the reasoning behind" — has become the team's spacetaker after previously doing plenty of lurking.
FlyQuest
FlyQuest, on paper, have some serious firepower with Justin "jks" Savage and Corey "nettik" Browne as a generation-spanning fragging duo capable of firing the team up the rankings.
jks has continued as an anchor like Jay "Liazz" Tregillgas was, but has a 1.33 rating compared to 0.96 from the man he is replacing.
He's having a tougher time on T side (0.90 rating after 9 maps), but his arrival is clearly a reason to be excited about ANZ Counter-Strike.
Andrey 'tN1R' Tatarinovich
Tobias 'TOBIZ' Theo
Robin 'ropz' Kool
Shahar 'flameZ' Shushan
William 'mezii' Merriman
Kaisar 'ICY' Faiznurov
Artem 'r1nkle' Moroz
Kacper 'xKacpersky' Gabara
Oldřich 'PR' Nový
Erdenetsogt 'erkaSt' Gantulga
Damjan 'kyxsan' Stoilkovski
Eetu 'sAw' Saha
YourFavoriteUsersFavoriteUser
Chopper_1_major_NiKo_FA
givejesuswheel
| 
MissingN0
| 
post_poster
PaRad0X_47
| 
| 
| 
| 
| 
friendgroupexplanation
| 
inferno_enjoyer
| 
| 
