With the new OG lineup being revealed, now seems like a good time to find out the who, what, when, where, and why of the players.
Kicking things off with Nathan “NBK-” Schmitt, a name many Counter-Strike fans should be familiar with.
The start…
NBK- began his professional career in Counter-Strike: Source, a little later than many of the professional players we see today who hail from the era of 1.6.
Kicking things off in 2009, NBK made his professional debut as a member of the Dreamrar lineup. Less than a year later he joined up with ROCCAT very briefly before finding himself on VeryGames, the organization on which he began his journey to becoming a legend.
Transition to CS:GO
In 2012, the latest version of Counter-Strike had been released and while many were reluctant to make the switch given how different and unpolished it was, VeryGames made the swap on August 30th and became one of the best teams in the scene.
In the biggest event of the year, VeryGames finished second place at DreamHack Winter 2012 as runner ups to the kings of CS:GO at the time known as Ninjas in Pyjamas.
2013 would be the year where NBK- and VeryGames took hold of the reigns. The French squad won EMS One Summer 2013, the Mad Catz Invitational in Cologne, the StarLadder Starseries VII LAN, the EMS One Fall Season 2013, and MSI BeatIt 2013 before finishing 3rd-4th at DreamHack Winter 2013, once again falling to Ninjas in Pyjamas.
After VeryGames revealed they would be closing up shop, the roster made their move to Titan in January of 2014. The squad had a string of positive results with a second-place finish at the ESEA Season 15 Global Finals and winning DreamHack Invitational I.
Things got a bit bleak after this, however, and eventually, a French shuffle took place. NBK- would end up on several teams between 2014 and 2017 including a strong EnvyUs lineup before he ended up on G2 Esports.
The near modern day NBK-
NBK- joined up with G2 Esports in February of 2017 with the roster consisting of Richard “shox” Papillon, Alexandre “bodyy” Pianaro, Dan “apEX” Madesclaire, and Kenny “kennyS” Schrub.
The team would receive mixed results and never quite live up to the hype or expectations of the French scene. Winning ESL Pro League Season 5 and DreamHack Masters Malmö 2017 but still struggling to find consistent form.
In 2018 the French scene once again got a shake and that resulted in NBK- being benched alongside apEX from the active lineup while shox and Edouard “SmithZz” Dubourdeaux made their return.
NBK-‘s Vitality
In October of 2018, popular French organization Vitality made their move into the Counter-Strike scene with a project helmed by NBK-.
Results were iffy at best in the beginning and this eventually led to Vincent “Happy” Cervoni Schopenhauer being benched so that Alex “ALEX” McMeekin could join.
ALEX and NBK- took a dual leadership role in the team with each putting more focus on one part of the game than the other.
It was quickly evident that this team was largely dependent on the star power of Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut, but the rest of the team seemed to be playing their parts well enough to make the team truly competitive.
The team pulled off a win at DreamHack Open Atlanta which seemed to push them forward as they managed to grab first place finishes at WePlay! Lock and Load, Charleroi Esports 2019, cs_summit 4 (2:0 > Liquid), and ECS Season 7.
During the end of this run, however, Liquid came to form and began to take trophy after trophy. This saw Vitality finish second at ESL One: Cologne 2019 and 3rd-4th at IEM Chicago to the North American team.
Unhappy with the results and the overall atmosphere of the team, NBK- was benched immediately following Vitality’s 5th-8th exit at the StarLadder Berlin Major.
Since that decision in September, NBK- had been floating in the inactive spot of Vitality’s roster while he searched for an opportunity to return.
The OG joins OG
It was rumored for months that OG would be joining the Counter-Strike scene and NBK- would be heading this project alongside Aleksi “Aleksib” Virolainen, another leader who found himself without a team after being benched by ENCE at the conclusion of the Major in Berlin.
Buyouts initially proved to be a struggle, but all has now been settled and the two are joined by the Dane Valdemar “valde” Bjørn Vangså, the Jordanian Issa “ISSAA” Murad, and the Pole Mateusz “mantuu” Wilczewski.
This will be the first time that NBK- has fully stepped out of the French scene and into a fully international lineup.
NBK- has been a part of many top-level teams over his career, being a pillar of the French and professional scene as a whole since 2010.
The veteran player has played many roles, worn many hats, and brought some of the world’s biggest organizations into the scene and won them trophies. The 25-year-old is looking to do it once more for OG.
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