Heretics round up their CS:GO roster with Nivera
Heretics announced the signing of an 18-year-old ex-Legends member Nabil "Nivera" Benrlitom, who will round up their CS:GO roster following the departure of Jérémy "jeyN" Nguyen.
As revealed by the organisation, the 18-year-old Belgian CS:GO pro will immediately replace jeyN who had his contract with the French squad terminated earlier on Friday, March 13, due to character traits that did not align with the rest of the team.
Nivera is a relatively new face in the CS:GO scene, having made his first appearance in the competitive environment in April 2019, when he joined a stack named Legends. There he played alongside Kevin “misutaaa” Rabier, who was just recently picked up by Vitality. With Legends, Nivera made an appearance at IEM Katowice Open Qualifiers, where the team made it to top-16, but fell flat against North and finished the qualifiers at a ninth-16th place.
In December Nivera enjoyed a short stint at PRINCEADIL, where he played alongside veteran Boris "flex0r" Latry. The team participated at WESG 2019 West Europe, but crashed out of the event in round one, following two defeats against Defusekids and Fierce Esports, thus finished the tournament at a seventh-eighth place. The young pro also participated at ESEA Season 32: Intermediate Division – Europe and helped 9Ine reach fourth place.
Due to playing in some lesser teams, Nivera has yet to establish himself in the professional CS:GO scene. That said, he is already under the spotlight, namely because he is a younger brother of a veteran CS:GO pro Adil "ScreaM" Benrlitom, who has been active in the Counter-Strike scene since February 2010. ScreaM is currently still under contract with GamerLegion, however, only as an inactive member since September 2019.
The 18-year-old is mostly known for his role as AWPer, having recorded 41% of his kills across ten maps with a sniper rifle. That said, it's expected Bryan “Maka” Canda will stay as Heretics' main AWPer, meaning Nivera will have to transition to using an assault rifle.
Nivera's debut with his new team will come on Tuesday, March 17, when Heretics will play Wygers at LVP Unity League 2020: Regular Season.
As of today, no announcement regarding the cancellation of ESL One Rio Major have been made yet, meaning Nivera is set to make his debut at the highest level of CS:GO competitive scene later in April at Europe Minor Championship – Rio 2020. Although Heretics just recently signed Nivera to their roster, it was reported their newest arrival will be able to help his new team at Europe Minor, despite the fact Heretics made it to the Rio tournament via closed qualifier with jeyN on the roster.
Europe Minor Championship is slated to begin on April 26, with eight teams in attendance. The tournament will feature Fnatic, Complexity Gaming, Ninjas in Pyjamas, Movistar Riders, Copenhagen Flames, GODSENT and Heretics, who will compete in double-elimination GSL groups for a ticket leading to Rio Major. Top two teams will earn a New Challengers Status, while the third-placed team will secure a spot at Minors 3rd place play-in stage.
Heretics CS:GO roster:
-Fabien “kioShiMa” Fiey
-Alexandre “xms” Forté
-Bryan “Maka” Canda
-Lucas “Lucky” Chastang
-Nabil “Nivera” Benrlitom
-Morgan “B1GGY” Madour – coach
