American esports organization Dignitas is looking to return to male CS:GO, as per a report from DBLTAP. The rumored roster is full of Swedish Counter-Strike veterans, most of whom made their names under the Ninjas in Pyjamas banner in the early days of CS:GO.
A year after releasing their previous roster, Dignitas looks to be reentering the male CS:GO scene with a team headlined by veterans Patrik “f0rest” Lindberg, Adam “friberg” Friberg, and Richard “Xizt” Landström. The initial report named 19-year-old Norwegian player Håkon "hallzerk" Fjærli as the team’s AWPer. Christopher “GeT_RiGhT” Alesund has been rumored as the organization’s target to complete the lineup.
Dignitas has reportedly already bought hallzerk out of his contract with Norwegian organization Nordavind. Friberg does not require a buy-out, as he has been in free agency since his decision to leave Heroic in August of this year. GeT_RiGhT has also been a free agent since his release from Ninjas in Pyjamas in September. Xizt and f0rest are still under contract with Fnatic and Ninjas in Pyjamas, respectively, though f0rest is the only one currently playing on an active roster.
Dignitas has sponsored a number of professional CS:GO teams, their past lineups typically being made up of Danish talents. The organization first ventured into Counter-Strike in 2014 with Danish squad über G33KZ, which held the legendary core of Nicolai “device” Reedtz, Peter “dupreeh” Rasmussen, and Andreas “Xyp9x” Højsleth. That roster left Dignitas in 2015, and were replaced by another Danish lineup that included returning in-game leader Henrik "FeTiSh" Christensen and eventual Astralis rifler Markus “Kjaerbye” Kjærbye.
By 2017, Dignitas moved away from fully-Danish lineups. The organization picked up international European and North American rosters in the following years, the latter of which were relegated to ESEA MDL in mid-2018 after finishing last in ESL Pro League Season 7. The North American squad was released after MDL Season 28, where they were eliminated from the play-offs in the quarter-finals.
Dignitas has been absent from the male CS:GO scene since the release of their North American roster, though they have continued to field a female team. Their female squad made a semi-final finish at DreamHack Showdown Valencia, and took the victory at Intel Challenge Katowice 2019.
Should this new lineup come together, it will reunite four members of the 2014 ESL One Cologne Major-winning Ninjas in Pyjamas lineup. It is currently unclear when this roster will be unveiled by the organization.