G2 Esports has confirmed the signing of FaZe Clan superstar Nikola “NiKo” Kovač to its CS:GO team. The Bosnian prodigy will join his cousin, Nemanja “huNter-” Kovač, on the multinational squad. NiKo will make his debut under the G2 banner next week in the BLAST Premier Fall Series.
After making a name as the main carry on mousesports, NiKo signed with FaZe Clan in early 2017. His first showing under the FaZe Clan name came at IEM Katowice 2017, where the team finished second behind Astralis. After a poor PGL Krakow Major performance, FaZe made a couple more roster changes, adding Olof “olofmeister” Kajbjer and Ladislav “GuardiaN” Kovács to the lineup.
In the latter half of 2017, FaZe Clan skyrocketed to the number one spot in the World Rankings. The team won ESL One New York in dominant fashion, with NiKo taking home the MVP title. The team repeated their success later that same year, at the Eleague CS:GO Premier and the ECS Season 4 Finals.
Though FaZe missed out on a Major victory in 2018, the team did lift trophies at IEM Sydney, ESL One Belo Horizonte, and EPICENTER 2018. NiKo was named MVP of the latter two tournaments, and took home two more MVP awards in 2019. After multiple roster changes in 2019 and into 2020, FaZe struggled to find those same good results.
NiKo now looks to start a new chapter with G2 Esports, joining cousin huNter- on the French-Balkan squad. G2 has steadily climbed up the CS:GO rankings since this roster’s formation one year ago, now standing as the 13th best team in the world. NiKo’s signing looks to take them a step further in global competition.
While G2 has not made any cuts from its active roster just yet, reports suggested NiKo would take the place of François "AmaNEk" Delaunay, who joined the team in March of last year. It’s also possible that G2 will take on a six-man roster, which many other top-tier CS:GO teams, namely Astralis, have done in recent months.
G2 will make their debut with NiKo on Monday, November 2nd, in the BLAST Premier Fall Series group stage. The team will take on Brazilian side FURIA in their opening match.
Source: G2 Esports