According to a report by 1pv.cs, Ilya “m0NESY” Osipov has finally been signed to G2 Esports after months of speculation. The Russian rising star has played for the academy team of Counter-Strike giants Natus Vincere: Navi Junior for practically most of his young career. And although he hasn’t had the opportunity to seek out experience on the grand stage of a tier-1 competition, many consider Osipov to be one of the world’s top young talents. Over the years he has been the subject of various amounts of rumors regarding potential transfers to other academy teams within Counter-Strike.

G2 has been needing to fill the role of that of a dedicated AWPer for some time now, since the benching of Kenny “KennyS” Schrub back in March. Since then, the role has been tossed around to various members of the team, with François “⁠AmaNEk⁠” Delaunay mainly being dedicated to the role despite not being a dedicated AWPer. Despite this, G2 have been able to still place extremely well with a 2nd place finish behind Na’Vi at most major events recently. With the contributions made by Nikola “NiKo” Kovač and Nemanja “huNter-” Kovač, the team has been recently riding a wave of resurgence after struggling to make top 8 finishes before their recent run. With this, the team has been needing to fill the role of a dedicated AWPer, which they believe can finally propel them to a top place finish.

Despite not having any experience on a main stage of competition, “m0NESY” carries an aura of confidence regarding his prediction of performance, stating that “I’m sure I’m ready for tier 1.” His academy numbers back that statement of confidence as well, with his 1.31 ADR rating as well as his placing among the top 3 players of the three WePlay Academy League stages he’s competed in. G2 have been looking for high talent for some time as well, reportedly targeting the likes of Robin “ropz” Kool and Aleksi “Aleksib” Virolainen. Alongside this, to make room for these potential replacements, François “⁠AmaNEk⁠” Delaunay and Audric “JaCkz” Jug are reportedly on their way out of the organization. Unfortunately, this has been speculated for some time, but it will make space for potential replacements within G2 that could potentially propel them to the top of the world of Counter-Strike.