Rasmus "GuX" Stahl has replaced Frej "kHRYSTAL" Sjostrom in the SK Gaming 1.6 team.
Speculation was mounting that a change in the roster was on the cards after rakaka reported that kHRYSTAL has been removed. These reports were unconfirmed until this evening when SK announced that he had left the team and was to be replaced by Rasmus "GuX" Stahl.
The move is yet another change for SK Gaming, who were plagued by roster changes and speculation surrounding the team in 2009, but since Face and kHRYSTAL joined from H2k-Gaming in a move which certainly attracted a lot of attention the team had seemed more settled.
However it seems all was not well within the team and after a loss to Mousesports in the IEM European Finals followed by a defeat to Ravens left the team in fourth place it seems that they felt changes had to be made especially when it became clear that Gux was available.
The 1.6 team's coach, Anton Budak, told SK-Gaming.com:
"The team has collectively made the decision to replace kHRYSTAL with Gux. This act is in no way personal; kHRYSTAL is a fine person and an excellent Counter-Strike player in every way and absolutely a part of the elite. However, it is our impression that Gux is one of the best players in the world at this time; he is a skilled entry fragger and almost always performs impressively well in all situations."
There is a short interview with Gux on SK-gaming.com which you can find here. The situation surrounding Gux's departure from Fnatic was always questioned but it is no surprise that having made the decision to return to 1.6 that he finds himself in a top team after achieving incredible success with Fnatic in 2009. He joins from H2k but having only played for the team at one event, he was not under contract so was free to sign for SK Gaming.
SK Gaming is now:
Dennis "walle" Wallenberg
Johan "face" Klasson
Jimmy "allen" Allén
Robert "RobbaN" Dahlström
Rasmus "Gux" Ståhl
There is no news yet on the future of Frej "kHRYSTAL" Sjostrom but as a player of his quality is hard to find it is unlikely he will remain without a team for long.
