NIP official: arrozdoce was relegated to the bench and xKacpersky entered the starting lineup

CS2 professional team NIP officially announced on Thursday that Portuguese rifler Rafael Wenger (ID: arrozdoce) will be demoted to the bench.

The 23-year-old arrozdoce has played for CS teams such as FTW and SAW, and made great contributions to SAW's entry into the semi-finals of IEM Cologne in 2024. In January this year, he officially joined NIP with everyone's expectations, but his overall performance did not meet expectations.

According to statistics, arrozdoce played in a total of 121 maps and participated in 2,587 rounds in NIP, harvested 1,629 kills, had a headshot rate of 59.5%, and his personal average score of 1.03 ranked second from the bottom in the team.

Regarding the decision to demote arrozdoce, NIP said through social media: "This is an extremely difficult decision. We sincerely thank Rafael for his contribution to the team. We wish him all the best in the future, no matter where he goes. We will continue to pay attention and cheer for him!"

As for the replacement for arrozdoce, NIP has made a clear arrangement. They demoted arrozdoce and rented Kacper Gabala (ID: xKacpersky) from ENCE to prepare for the upcoming IEM Cologne.

The 18-year-old xKacpersky is from Poland and played for the NIP reserve team for about half a year in 2024. After leaving the NIP reserve team, he switched to ENCE. So far, he has played in 187 maps, participated in 4115 rounds, harvested 3112 kills, had a headshot rate of 56.2%, and a personal average rating of 1.15.

With the addition of xKacpersky, NIP's current lineup is as follows:

Commander/Rifleman: Marco Peifer (ID: ⁠Snappi)

Rifleman: Rasmus Beck (ID: ⁠sjuush⁠)

Sniper: Artyom Moroz (ID: ⁠r1nkle⁠)

Rifleman: Michel Pinto (ID: ⁠ewjerkz)

Rifleman: Kacper Gabala (ID: xKacpersky)

Coach: Richard Landstrom (ID: ⁠Xizt⁠)

Substitute: Rafael Wenger (ID: arrozdoce)