
Former AMKAL ESPORTS captain Alexey “NickelBack” Trofimov spoke in an interview on the OFFSTAGE YouTube channel about roster changes at BC.Game Esports and switching regions to qualify for a Major, and also shared his thoughts on media teams.
Well, to be honest, I don’t like this at all. If, say, they’d cut electroNic—let’s say he’s not quite up to par—and brought in someone stronger, that would be fine. But it’s like they’re trying everything they can to get into the Major—changing regions and all. I don’t know, with a roster like that and budgets like that, it’s… They should have much higher goals, in my opinion.
I think it’s both a sign of weakness and normal at the same time, because that’s always been the case. Even back when we played… Well, it’s just a loophole in the system that you can exploit, I don’t know. But if you have the highest goals, I don’t think you should do that. But, let’s say, if you look at it from WW Team’s perspective, it’s hyped—meaning doing it that way—and if they make it to the Major, that’s cool either way. But when some strong teams do that… Well, I don’t know, I have a more negative view of it.
I’m actually fine with them, really. Relatively speaking, when someone like deko shows up at a Moscow LAN—no matter how much I’ve played or watched there—it still feels like he’s the strongest player at the LAN, you know? I mean, he really makes a difference. It’s not like he’s just some streamer or anything. Well, StRoGo’s there, obviously, and yeah, he plays pretty well too.
Earlier, BC.Game Esports moved Denis “electroNic” Sharipov to the bench of its Counter-Strike 2 roster, replacing him with Tyson “asap” Patterson. The Russian rifler had been with the team since 2025. Throughout his career, the esports player has also competed for Natus Vincere, Cloud9, Virtus.pro, and other teams.
Photo by Adam Lakomy, ESL.