Report: MSL and niko look to go rogue with a move to OpTic
Following an earlier report by sister site Dust2.dk pointing towards Cloud9 signing Kristian "k0nfig" Wienecke and Jakob "JUGi" Hansen, Jarek "DeKay" Lewis of Dexerto now reports that OpTic are in talks with a Danish duo of their own in the form of Rogue's Mathias "MSL" Lauridsen and Nikolaj "niko" Kristensen.
MSL has been a part of Rogue since October of 2018, when he joined the North American roster as a replacement for Kevin "kRYSTAL" Amend and, by proxy, Casper "cadiaN" Møller. Not long after MSL's addition, Ricardo "Rickeh" Mulholland parted ways with Rogue, leading to the team trialing Jesper "TENZKI" Plougmann during the StarSeries i-League Season 7 qualifier, eventually earning a spot at the LAN.
Despite their first place finish in the qualifier, Rogue did not settle upon a fifth until the start of Feburary, bringing over niko from OpTic just prior to the start of the second IEM Sydney open qualifier. Although they fell short to Bad News Bears in the semifinals, continued practice while the Major played out allowed for Rogue to return in good form, immediately defeating Liquid, Luminosity, and compLexity to qualify for the ECS Season 7 LAN finals last week.
The move would give OpTic the following roster:
Marco "Snappi" Pfeiffer- René "cajunb" Borg
- Ismail "refrezh" Ali
- Mathias "MSL" Lauridsen
- Nikolaj "niko" Kristensen
With two in-game leaders in the form of MSL and Snappi on OpTic, a possible trade with Rogue could be on the cards. Much like with cadiaN and MSL's North-Rogue swap, Snappi may be offered to Rogue in order to sweeten the deal, leaving OpTic to find an additional player.
Meanwhile, Rogue would be left with a trio of players:
Daniel "vice" Kim- Spencer "Hiko" Martin
- Hunter "SicK" Mims
The move would leave Rogue in a dire situation as they now have just four days until the ESL Pro League roster lock kicks in on March 22nd. The team are also slated to attend StarSeries i-League Season 7 in Shanghai, China from March 30th - April 7th.
