Just under a month after FunPlus Phoenix announced that it had agreed to a deal in principle with GODSENT’s Counter-Strike: Global Offensive roster, the organization officially signed Asger "Farlig" Jensen, Pavle "Maden" Bošković, Jesse "zehN" Linjala, Martin "STYKO" Styk, to be the new core of its CSGO squad.
On December 28, FunPlus Phoenix revealed that it had struck a deal with GODSENT management to acquire the four players pending individual negotiations. In addition to the four, FunPlus Phoenix has also brought on former GODSENT head coach Jonatan "Devilwalk" Lundberg to lead the team from the sidelines.
FunPlus Phoenix returns to CSGO after FLASHPOINT disaster
According to FunPlus Phoenix, the team is still in the process of finding an in-game leader for the squad, with recent rumors tying FunPlus Phoenix to the recently benched Chris “chrisj” de John in the days after the AWPer’s departure from mousesports. In a statement on the signing, FunPlus Phoenix general manager Petar “peca” Marjo revealed that the organization was in talks with several different CSGO organizations throughout the 2020 season before it came to an agreement with GODSENT in late December.
"After several months of deep talks and negotiations with multiple esports organizations and individual players, we are finally proud to present our new CSGO roster...we truly believe that we will accomplish our goals in 2021,” peca said.
Initial reports stated that while FunPlus Phoenix had agreed to terms with the GODSENT organization, it wanted to hammer out individual deals with its four players to avoid a repeat of the organization’s first step into competitive CSGO. FunPlus Phoenix ran into trouble during its initial foray when a similar deal with Heroic fell through just weeks into FLASHPOINT Season 1. This forced the organization to find a new team on the spot, which led to failed negotiations with North American regional team Swole Patrol and the eventual signing of Bad News Bears on a one-event deal.
FunPlus Phoenix is set to take the stage for the first time later this month at the upcoming DreamHack Open January. Despite the tournament having separate regional competitions for both North American and Europe, FunPlus Phoenix’s second entry into competitive CSGO will face teams from around the world that have relocated in order to compete in the 2021 CSGO season. Evil Geniuses, BIG Clan, Gambit Esports, Team Spirit, forZe, HellRaisers, and Sprout make up the remainder of DreamHack Open January’s European invitees as they compete for a $70,000 prize pool.
