OpTic Gaming have announced a change to their Counter-Strike: Global Offensive lineup ahead of the EU Minor in Katowice, Poland.

After first being reported by RealSport on Sunday, December 30, OpTic has now confirmed the replacement of Nikolaj ‘niko’ Kristensen ahead of the upcoming IEM Katowice Major roster lock. 

Ismail ‘refrezh’ Ali was announced as niko’s replacement as the organization attempt to secure qualification to the IEM Katowice Major, which kicks off Wednesday, February 13th.

While niko began playing with OpTic back in September, he was never officially announced as a member of their CS:GO lineup, with rumors suggesting that that the Dane had failed to agree personal terms with the organization.

Ali, meanwhile, represented Danish organization Fragsters throughout most of 2018, winning the European Minor Championship Open Qualifier with the organization back in October.

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After Fragster’s 7-8th finish at the DreamHack Open Atlanta event, refrezh went on to fill in for Cloud9 at the BLAST Pro Series event in Lisbon, replacing Maikil ‘Golden’ Selim who missed the event due to health issues.

OpTic Gaming are making the change following a strong end to 2018, securing qualification to the ESL Pro League and the European Minor which kicks off on January 16.

The move comes just days before the official roster lock for the tournament, which comes into effect on Tuesday, January 1.

OpTic Gaming CS:GO lineup

• Ismail ‘refrezh’ Ali
• Kristian ‘K0nfig’ Wienecke
• Marco ‘Snappi’ Pfeiffer
• Rene ‘cajunb’ Borg
• Jakob ‘JUGi’ Hansen