Swedish Counter Strike Legend Adam "Friberg" Friberg and Heroic have decided to part ways after a little over a year.
Adam Friberg began his professional Counter Strike career in early 2009 playing for Games4u.se in Counter Strike Source, a team that would produce mixed results, but ultimately help Friberg to gain the attention of bigger names in the scene. Friberg would then bounce around to various teams from 2010-2012, finally landing a contract with one of the most historic names in all of Counter Strike, Ninjas in Pyjamas. During his time in NIP, Friberg would help the organization go on an 87 map win streak on LAN, something that has yet to be eclipsed to this day.
After leaving NIP, Friberg would take a short break from professional CS until he received a contract offer from OpTic gaming. With Optic, Friberg had a bit of a resurgence as a player, once again leading to added interested from other teams. After analyzing each team's offer, he would ultimately decide to sign with Heroic, a team that many noted was on the rise. With Friberg, Heroic would experience a lot of ups and downs, their best results occurring with victories at Toyota Master CS: Go Bangkok 2018 and Games Clash Masters 2018. Despite being fairly consistent and leading Heroic in many matches, it appears that Friberg and Heroic have agreed to part ways upon the expiration of his contract.
Information related to the contract agreement between Friberg and Heroic being terminated is reported on by Dot Esports who goes on to highlight the fact that, while the team had success at lesser tournaments, it failed to meet expectations at higher-end tournaments and majors. Friberg responded to the announcement by saying that he decided not to renew his contract with the organization, saying: "We started to do better in the last few big tournaments but unfortunately didn't make it to the play-offs in any tier 1 tournament. Now I want a new challenge." He continued by saying, "I will keep on playing and I am now looking for a new team, either Swedish or international. I can do almost any role in the team and I am also available to play & move to NA or Asia."
Given his recent performance, it's understandable why Friberg would want to go elsewhere in the hopes of better success. The window of time for professionals in esports is small, so finding a team that has the best chance of succeeding in the short term is the best option given his age.
With the recent changes to Heroic's roster, it seemed as if such a move was soon to pass. Friberg is a veteran in the game and understands well that constant change isn't good for team cohesion or chemistry. Hopefully, he will be able to finish his career in a team with greater stability.