One of the Counter-all-time Strike’s great players Jesper Wecksell AKA JW was recently pulled from Fnatic‘s starting lineup today in a move that appears to have signaled the end of his career with the club, and this time it is for good. He departs the squad as a three-time major champion, but his career in CSGO is in jeopardy as Fnatic was forced to make this cut due to a string of bad performances.
Milan Vejda AKA Striker of HLTV broke the news, after speaking with the organization and obtaining a comment from JW himself, in which JW hinted at a probable shift to another battle royale Valorant. According to the HLTV story, JW will take his time to think about what he could have done differently and carry it with him to whatever is next in life, whether it’s Counter-Strike, VALORANT, or esports in general.
The possibility of a transfer to Riot’s tactical shooter might spell the end of one of CSGO’s most illustrious careers, with JW regarded as one of the game’s first real superstars. In the early days of Valve’s masterwork, his aggressive AWP performance as part of a powerful Fnatic squad gave him a notable name, and led to one of the most durable relationships in all of esports.
JW was a member of twenty title wins throughout his tenure with Fnatic, including three of the first six CSGO Majors, a record that appeared hard to surpass prior to the advent of the AStralis core, which also won three majors. After IGL Maikil ‘Golden’ Selim was moved to the inactive roster amid reports that Fnatic may abandon their Swedish identity and seek to build an international roster around their remaining stars, Freddy ‘KRIMZ’ Johansson and Ludwig ‘Brollan’ Brolin, his benching leaves Fnatic with just three active players.
His friendship with “KRIMZ” Johansson lasted seven years, with the two first collaborating on Fnatic in 2014 and continuing to play together until this transfer. JW appears to remain under contract with his organization until the start of 2022, despite the fact that offers for an older player who is out of form may be hard to come by in a CSGO environment swimming in unsigned talent.
While other gaming luminaries have crossed over to the North American side, none of Hiko, DaZeD, Steel, or the others have a CV that compares to JW’s, making him the most prominent name to cross. There is no indication that he has any intentions to do so at the time of writing, so it’s conceivable we’ll see him shift into a coaching or operatic position.
