Huge changes in the off-season: Every move from rostermania
It's been an exciting off-season, with plenty of teams making changes as they look to topple the current kings of Counter-Strike, Vitality.
Some fans will be left disappointed, while others will be waiting in anticipation for the debut of their favourite team's new roster. The roster moves are set to seriously shake up the field going into the second half of 2025.
Let's take a look at all the moves.
Big shuffle in NA
North American teams largely disappointed in the BLAST.tv Austin Major, so there's been a lot of changes for NA teams as a result.
One team that hasn't changed, however, is Liquid, although they did bring in a new coach in NAVI's now former analyst, flashie. A team expected to make changes after a concerning interview from NAF following their elimination from the Major, they have instead decided to stick by their team.
"NAF - While we can all acknowledge that Keith didn’t have a great last six months, it’s important to understand why. He’s been such a consistent player for us over the years. We believe in Keith bouncing back and finding more comfort in his environment this season. He got in his own head a bit recently and really needed a proper break after the Major. He’s assured us he’s ready to work harder than ever and do everything in his power to win and be a strong veteran presence for this young team." - Jokastve, Team Liquid General Manager, via the Team Liquid Discord.
Photo: Stephanie LindgrenThe rest of the teams have made moves though, with some of them causing quite the uproar.
First, stanislaw and phzy were unexpectedly benched by Wildcard, and they were replaced by Wildcard Academy's AWP-IGL fr3nd and NA tier 2 star, Peeping.
Moves that will likely take some time in order for the players to gel and get used to the higher level of competition, there'll be plenty of eyes peeled to see if they can live up to the highs of the former roster.
And Wildcard weren't the only team to make two changes, NRG also benched HexT and oSee. Two of their more experienced players, they signed experienced players to replace them in nosraC and XotiC, but unlike the outgoing players, that experience is only in the domestic scene.
Their announcement was also really funny, so you should definitely check it out.
The benching sadly left oSee without a team, but HexT managed to find one pretty quickly. The former EG player will now be lining up for M80, where he has replaced reck.
Photo: Stephanie LindgrenMore imports for Brazilian teams
Brazilian teams have continued their recent trend of importing foreign stars, and FURIA fans will be overjoyed about it.
Having recorded their best Major finish since IEM Rio 2022 as they reached the quarter-finals, FURIA have made the signing of YEKINDAR a permanent deal, with the Latvian looking back to his best so far during his stand-in period with the team.
Over on Imperial, they also signed an EU important, bringing in former SAW player, Shr. That wasn't the only move they made, they brought chelo back into the fold as both decenty and chayJESUS were benched.
Photo: Michal KonkolPlenty of movement for the EU teams
As always, the biggest movers were the European teams.
Both NAVI and Spirit have looked towards the future with their changes, NAVI promoted NAVI Junior star makazze to the main team while Spirit picked up Austin Major star zweih from Nemiga.
jL made way on NAVI, with the Lithuanian set to take an extended break from competitive play, while magixx was benched after a six-year spell on the Spirit team.
In an even more expected move, FaZe have recalled broky to their starting roster after previously benching him in May.
Many had expected them to permanently sign s1mple after the GOAT impressed during his loan with the team, but it seems like the fee was just too high for a deal to be done.
Photo: Stephanie LindgrenG2 have made at least two changes, bringing in SunPayus and coach sAw from HEROIC. They're also expected to make another, with Croissant Strike and HLTV reporting that MATHYS will also arrive from FNATIC.
So what did HEROIC do to replace their outgoing men? Well, they benched another player - xfl0ud.
To make up for the gaps in their squad, nilo finally joined the team after originally being signed in January, while exciting Belarusian AWPer gr1ks has also entered the fold. Former MOUZ NXT coach TOBIZ will be taking sAw's spot on the team.
Astralis, GamerLegion, and Virtus.pro all made changes, with two of those teams opting to bring in experience and the third choosing to bring in a complete unknown. We bet you can guess which team did what.
After a successful runner-up finish at PGL Astana, Astralis made HooXi's stand-in period permanent, solving their IGL crisis after the benching of cadiaN.
Photo: Stephanie LindgrenVirtus.pro signed Perfecto, ending his extended period on the sidelines as he steps in to replace FL4MUS, who could never quite recapture his GamerLegion form after a big move at the beginning of the year.
As for GamerLegion, they benched sl3nd and replaced him with French AWPer, Kursy. A complete unknown, there are positive signs thanks to his 1.17 rating in the past three months.
Rounding out the European roster moves, NIP have made a change as they look to continue climbing up the VRS standings. The Swedish organisation have benched arrozdoce, who has struggled since joining from SAW, and replaced him with their former Young Ninjas player, xKacpersky, who has joined on loan from ENCE.
ENCE quickly found a replacement for their outgoing star, they've promoted myltsi from their academy roster.
Photo: Michal Konkoljks finally returns home
In a long-awaited move, jks has finally returned to the region he calls home.
Signing for FlyQuest after spending six-months on the Liquid bench, he returns to an Australian lineup for the first time since departing for Complexity in 2020.
jks will replace Liazz on FlyQuest, who has struggled in 2025 and recorded a 0.90 LAN rating in 2025 before his benching.
Photo: Michal KonkolThe greatest headline of all time
And finally, because we couldn't not mention it, Rare Atom have replaced somebody with Trash.
The jokes just write themselves.
