When discussing the current mousesports roster, the conversation inevitably leads to their inadequate results as of late. Following their stellar end to 2019, mousesports have performed very poorly, barring a victory at the ICE Challenge London all the way back in January, and a runner-up finish to Fnatic at ESL's Pro League Season 11 European Division at the beginning of April. The rest of their performances, most noticeably at the two Rio Major Ranking (RMR) events, where they came last place in both events, have ranged from the disappointing to the downright abysmal. This has prompted much of the community to speculate concerning changes to the lineup, and there may be a change which has largely been overlooked.
If we consider the statistics for the mousesports squad in 2020, a clear dichotomy is instantly visible. The star trio of ropz, frozen, and woxic are far and away leading the team in HLTV rating 2.0's, while chrisJ and karrigan are performing much more poorly. Karrigan's personal under-performance is often explained away by him not being a fragging in-game-leader, but rather a masterful caller, being able to read the game in the heat of the moment on the CT side, and conditioning his opponents on T sides, only to use his stars to vivisect the enemy team's defenses and lead his team to victory.
ChrisJ's performance however, is less excusable. He is described as playing a role typically dubbed the 'support' player, to whom falls the unenviable task of setting up utility for his more high-profile teammates, creating space for them, and as has been the trend in the more recents months, being their bank, only purchasing a Desert Eagle on rounds where the team's economy is low, and the stars need to be handed the tools to attempt to get the team out of a financial hole. The most egregious example of this would be his purchase of a Desert Eagle as his sole weapon in an overtime round (where cash is aplenty) against the Spanish squad Movistar Riders, a team that was far inferior, by all accounts, in their match in the first RMR event. They went on to lose their math against the Movistar squad 2-0.
While this may explain a certain amount of his poor performance recently, he is also the player with the lowest flash rating for his team, and while boasting the second highest opening kill attempt percentage on the team, he also rates the lowest among his team in the opening duel ratings, as recorded by HLTV. This invalidates the theory that his poor overall rating is impacted by his role. The conclusion has come to many, that it may be time for ChrisJ to step down. And if he were to step down, there would need to be someone who could fill not only his role within the team, but also someone who could reinvigorate the mousesports squad that has seemed so very lifeless in the past months.
That man, is none other than the most decorated Counter-Strike player to ever come out of the Netherlands, Chris de Jong. As a player with over 8 years of experience in semi-pro and professional Counter-Strike, much of which has been spent with teams at Tier 1 events, such as his appearances at ESL One New York 2018, Dreamhack Open Tours, and ESL Pro League Season 10, he would bring a calming and veteran voice to this team consisting primarily of young stars. In videos and audio logs released of the current mouz lineup's comms, there is a sense of directed chaos, where a cacaphony of voices ring out constantly, all trying to achieve the same goal. This may not be a weakness, as can be seen in the G2 squad who have found success in 2020, but in order to properly develop the talents of such young players such as ropz, frozen, and woxic, a more experienced and calm presence such as that of Chris de Jong may be a welcome change.
Chris de Jong also has a propensity to make stellar plays that keep his team in games, such as his now-famous AWP ace against Team Liquid at the aforementioned ESL One New York 2018, where his heroics enabled his team to claw their way away from the impending economic cliff and towards completing a 3 map comeback for the ages. In addition to his unpredictable and wild moments of incredible overperformance, he is also an adept support player who would fill the niche that the departure of ChrisJ would vacate. In 2019, he led his team not only in flashes, but in opening kill rating as well, while coming a near second in opening duel attempt rating. His easy-going attitude would mesh well with the diverse mixture of cultures and personalities within the team, enabling a good flow of communication and emotion within the team, while his experience could help karrigan keep a handle on his players when the need arises.
As if there weren't enough reasons for mousesports to sign this player already, Chris de Jong also has experience as an in-game leader, captaining his team after the departure of the Bosnian superstar Nik0 from his team in 2017, all the way through to his own benching from the squad in 2019. Chris' experience in this department would provide karrigan with an invaluable amount of help in the reading of the game with which he so deftly orchestrates his team around the opposing teams' ever-shifting weaknesses. Karrigan already is a IGL that leads from the front, often being the first to gather critical information about the enemy, and using it to his advantage, now imagine him having the input from a seasoned former in-game leader on the other side of the map, providing crucial information from which karrigan, and by extension, the entire squad, could benefit. While Chris de Jong may have been a cause for concern at certain points in his career, a trade or benching often brings him back more motivated, smarter, and a better player.
While the future of this current mousesport lineup seems to be relatively stable, based on the players' social media accounts, when it does come time to make hard decision, their best move may well be -ChrisJ, +Chris de Jong.
