G2 Esports have confirmed that Counter-Strike: Global Offensive veteran Richard ‘shox’ Papillon is benched and have announced that Fabien ‘kioShiMa’ Fiey is his temporary replacement.
The CSGO post-Major shuffle is well underway and players have been linked with moves all over. Some of the biggest potential moves come from the French scene, where the top two teams are shaking things up.
G2 have reportedly benched shox and Lucky, while Vitality are exploring replacements for NBK. Numerous reports have been flying back and forth on the matter, however, things seem to have finally settled.
On September 17, G2 announced that kioShiMa is standing in for shox for the IEM Beijing qualifier and ESL One New York, with rumors suggesting that the latter is on his way to Team Vitality.
This move was somewhat expected, as fans spotted Fabien practicing with the French team on September 16, with French Counter-Strike insider neL confirming that this was the case and even correctly predicting that he would only stay for two events.
— G2 Esports (@G2esports) September 17, 2019
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NeL also commented that Fabien is likely to be replaced if G2 are able to sign Nemanja ‘huNter’ Kovač and Nemanja ‘nexa’ Isaković – a transfer that has also been reported about shortly after the StarLadder Major.
KioShiMa is a CSGO veteran much like shox, having played for top teams like FaZe Clan and Envy. He has been looking for a way back to the competitive scene since his departure from Cloud9 in early 2019, and is finally returning thanks to the post-Major shuffle.
There’s the rumor about kio playing with G2 until they sign hunter and nexa turning around the french scene for a week kinda. Sounds like it’s happening as they play with him on pracc instead of shox. So he will probably play with them tomorrow and maybe at ESL NY.
— neL (@neLendirekt) September 16, 2019
The new G2 roster will be playing just a few hours after G2’s announcement in the IEM Beijing qualifier, giving fans a a chance to see kioShiMa in action. They have not confirmed any other roster moves, meaning fans will likely have to wait until ESL One New York to hear more, which runs from September 26-29.
