Team Nemesis have announced their CS2 roster, featuring Thomas ‘Thomas’ Utting, James ‘bevve’ Slinn, and former Endpoint AWPer Joey “CRUC1AL” Steusel. The roster marks the first entrance of Team Nemesis into CS2.
Following the infamous collapse of the Into The Breach organisation, Team Nemesis sought to “rise from the ashes” and rebuild the legacy of the people behind the org.
As Into The Breach ceased when the organisation had invested in a hugely ambitious CS2 roster, which included Owen ‘Smooya’ Butterfield and Dionis ‘sinnopsyy’ Budeci, many expected Team Nemesis to return to the game upon Team Nemesis’ foundation.
Instead, the org has invested in several other games, including Halo and Apex Legends, qualifying for some of esports’ most prestigious tournaments, including DotA 2’s TI. Now, having firmly established themselves as an esports organisation, they look to establish a presence in CS2.
Team Nemesis’ new roster’s UK CS heritage
Thomas hardly needs an introduction. The British IGL most famously led his Into The Breach roster to the Paris Major, reaching the quarter-finals following a heroic victory over Fnatic in the Legends Stage.
The Brit played for Into The Breach after a successful period at the domestically dominant Endpoint. The Brit, however, has struggled to get a reliable project after ITB, signing for a 5W who Thomas described as having “scammed” the roster.
bevve is a veteran of the UK scene, with multiple UKIC and EPIC.LAN titles under his belt. In recent years, bevve has taken a step back from playing to take up organisational roles.
Slinn has acted as Player Manager at ITB, then Business Development Specialist at Team Nemesis, but returns to the server with Thomas, with whom he won UKIC Season 1 with The Neighbours.
While CRUC1AL is from the Netherlands, CRUC1AL is effectively a naturalised player in the British scene. The Dutchman has played in British majority rosters for the bulk of his career, most notably with Endpoint and Into the Breach, where he played alongside long-term teammates Thomas in the Paris Major quarter-finals.
The AWPer will therefore have no problem adjusting to the roster despite the sniper being without an org since Endpoint paused CS2 operations.
Even Swedish coach, Robin ‘robiin’ Sjögren, has his career rooted in British Counter-Strike, as another former Endpoint player who also played for Coalesce and Team Infused before moving to coaching.
Dawid ‘tein’ Sladkowski and Roberts “Frip” Poļakovs represent the injection of mainland European youth and talent to the roster, with the Polish and Latvian players being 19 and 22, respectively. The pair will be tasked to deliver the bulk of the roster’s fragging power.
Frip is one of the highest-rated players on FACEIT currently, at number 6 in Europe, with 4,240 Elo. tein is lower at 3,728 Elo, but Team Nemesis will be looking to polish the young Polish talent.
Team Nemesis will compete in Counter-Strike 2 as a new roster, meaning they will have no VRS rank until they get 5 HLTV matches to become ranked. Whether the roster will compete in local LANs, as so many international teams did at EPIC45, is not known, but they will likely be one of the favoured teams in Esports Betting Sites if they compete at EPIC46.
Once the team has secured a rank, the roster will hope to start climbing in the rankings.
CEO statement implies how team was built
Team Nemesis CEO, Chris ‘Momo’ Evans provided the following statement on the roster, explaining the process for building the roster as well as its ambitions. By the statement, it seems like Team Nemesis entrusted Thomas to repeat his history of fostering and building talent:
“The journey began with rekindling our working relationship with Thomas. Anyone familiar with the UK scene knows his ability to build cost-effective but genuinely competitive rosters. Beyond his talent-spotting and leadership, Thomas has always been a pleasure to work with — our dialogue throughout the process was honest, productive, and ultimately made the decision easy. He was a natural foundation to build around.
“Adding Cruc1al is a statement. His experience at the highest levels of play brings both legitimacy and structure to the team. He’s someone who has been there, done that — and we’re confident he’ll be a key pillar in helping this roster reach its ceiling.
“bevve brings much-needed stability and an unshakeable positive presence. Every team needs someone who steadies the ship, and bevve’s ability to anchor rounds — and energy — is something we value immensely.
“Finally, tein and Frip represent the next wave. Young and hungry, we see immense upside in both. We’re excited to give them the platform to grow.”
Team Nemesis’s CS2 roster is:
Thomas ‘Thomas’ Utting
Joey “CRUC1AL” Steusel
Roberts ‘Frip’ Poļakovs
Dawid ‘tein’ Sladkowski
James ‘bevve’ Slinn
Robin ‘robiin’ Sjögren (coach)
Darragh Harbinson is an esports writer specialising in Counter-Strike. He has written for Esports News UK, Esports Insider, UKCSGO, Dexerto, and Rush B Media.
