American esports organization 100 Thieves is poised to make a return to the professional Counter-Strike world. In a recent YouTube video, 100 Thieves CEO Matthew "nadeshot" Haag states that the organization is coming back to Counter-Strike: Global Offensive "in full force." This comes about a year and a half after their first venture into the esport, which ended abruptly in early 2018.
100 Thieves' original Counter-Strike team was a Brazilian lineup which, while highly skilled, was surrounded by controversy. The team consisted of the former Immortals lineup, which had just reached the grand final of the PGL Major in Krakow, Poland, in mid-2017. That team was dropped by Immortals after multiple controversies involving the players had surfaced, with most of the heat being placed on Vito "kNgV-" Giuseppe for a violent comment he had directed toward then-CLG player Pujan "FNS" Mehta.
Despite this, 100 Thieves picked up the roster. Their debut under the 100 Thieves banner was meant to take place at the Eleague Boston Major in January, 2018, but visa issues prevented the team from attending the event. This, combined with the previous scandals involving the players, caused 100 Thieves to release the roster without ever having played a match.
100 Thieves has expressed interest in a return to CS:GO since the release of their previous roster, but no concrete moves have been made. This is potentially changing now, as nadeshot confirms that they will be coming back. There are plenty of talented players sitting on the bench right now, but rumors point towards the organization picking up the Danish roster currently playing under OpTic Gaming. The Danish players are left with uncertainty in their own organization since OpTic's parent company Infinite Esports was purchased by Immortals Gaming Club a few weeks ago. IGC already owns Brazilian Counter-Strike team Made in Brazil, which makes for a conflict of interest should they hold stake in both teams. Players and staff involved with OpTic's CS:GO team have stated that they are in search of new home for the roster. OpTic is currently ranked as the 17th best team in the world on HLTV.org's world rankings.
Signing the OpTic Gaming roster could prove to be a worthy investment for 100 Thieves. Although this roster has not had much international success, there is no shortage of Danish talent. Danish CS:GO has been a hot topic since Astralis's rise to dominance in 2018. The OpTic team is currently headlined by star-player Kristian "k0nfig" Wienecke and experienced in-game leader Mathias "MSL" Lauridsen. Their veteran experience is complemented by the newer talents like Ismail "refrezh" Ali, who gained recognition after playing for Fragsters and his memorable stand-in gig with Cloud9.
Should this move go through, we could expect to see the team make their debut under the 100 Thieves name at Dreamhack Masters Malmö in early October.