FORZE have added Aleksei “El1an” Gusev and Dmitry “sstiNiX” Khlebnikov to their roster
Aleksei “El1an” Gusev and Dmitry “sstiNiX” Khlebnikov are the newest additions to FORZE, who will be taking the places of Jerry and zorte on the active roster. The announcement comes after FORZE made public their willingness to entertain offers for three players: Andrey “Jerry” Mekhryakov, Aleksandr “zorte” Zagodyrenko, and Vladislav “Krad” Kravchenko.
The time for change has come
Aleksei “El1an” Gusev and Dmitry “sstiNiX” Khlebnikov join FORZE! The players are already practising with the team and tomorrow will debut in their first official game under our flag. pic.twitter.com/gSPNb0yTab
— FORZE Esports (@forzegg) July 20, 2023
Andrey Jerry Mehryakov and Aleksandr zorte Zagodyrenko are open to proposals from other organisations. It doesn’t mean that guys leave FORZE. They are still in our active roster and will continue to train and to play official matches after the vacation.
csgomanager@forze.gg pic.twitter.com/nOLD1bvDoM
— FORZE Esports (@forzegg) June 17, 2023
Jerry and Zorte’s FORZE Era Comes To An End?
FORZE’s recent announcement confirms that Jerry and zorte have been benched and are now up for potential transfers. Krad’s position in the team remains unaffected, on the other hand, at least for the time being.
Credit: @forzegg
After an extraordinary six-year spell with FORZE, Jerry drops to the bench. During his peak, he established himself as the face of the team across an astonishing 1773 maps played in CS:GO – a feat unrivaled by any other player in a single organization. As the in-game leader, Jerry skillfully navigated through several roster overhauls, yielding fruitful results and providing opportunities for lesser-known Russian talents to thrive in tier one competition.
Among Jerry’s standout achievements in LAN events is his success in taking a previously lesser-known FORZE squad to the final of BLAST Pro Series Moscow, while also emerging victorious at DreamHack Open Winter 2019 and Copenhagen Games 2019. More recently, he steered FORZE to an impressive top-eight placement at ESL Pro League Season 17 and narrowly missed out on reaching the Legends Stage at the BLAST.tv Paris Major, falling short by a single victory.
The year 2021 witnessed zorte’s arrival at FORZE, where he swiftly established himself as an exceptional AWPer, standing out as one of the best snipers among non-major organizations, boasting an impressive 1.13 rating during his tenure with the team. At the age of 25, the Russian talent became the subject of rumors surrounding Evil Geniuses’ intended off-season transition to a majority-European roster. The move, however, ultimately fell through.
Who are El1an and sstiNiX?
Among the two incoming players, El1an stands out with a significantly larger reputation. As a Russian sniper, he played a pivotal role in Entropiq’s rise to the top 10 during 2021 and 2022, earning the status of their star player for a substantial part of that period. His effectiveness, nevertheless, was more evident against tier two opponents rather than the world’s top teams. At tier one events such as ESL Pro League, his rating notably declined, and his performances waned towards the final months of his time with the team.
sstiNiX, an 18-year-old player, who brings with him a relatively modest experience of 87 recorded maps on HLTV. His most recent involvement was with the INVSN team, competing in smaller online events like CCT South Europe Series 2. Although the team’s performance led to an early exit, sstiNiX stood out by earning a commendable team-leading 1.07 rating.
FORZE Current Roster
- Vladislav “Krad” Kravchenko
- Aleksei “El1an” Gusev
- Aleksandr “shalfey” Marenov
- Evgeny “r3salt” Frolov
- Dmitry “sstiNiX” Khlebnikov
- Artem “Fierce” Ivanov
- Andrey “Jerry” Mekhryakov (benched)
- Aleksandr “zorte” Zagodyrenko (benched)
