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GamingThe New BC.Game Roster Will Fail and Set Portuguese Counter-Strike Back Years
Unlike 100 Thieves, who have opted to sign a roster without any existing VRS points, BC.Game have decided to skip the VRS headache and sign a core of players from Portuguese organization SAW, catapulting them to #22 in the VRS ranking.
It’s a decision that’s been met with a mixed reception, with many fans laughing that legends of the game like Oleksandr “s1mple” Kostyliev and Denis “electroNic” Sharipov will now be playing with lesser-known players like Christopher “MUTiRiS” Fernandes, whilst others have tentative excitement for what the veteran IGL will be able to do with his two new stars.
The move should see them make their debut at IEM Krakow, and whilst anticipation will be high for that debut, we think that it will likely be the start of something terrible, not just for the BC.Game, but the whole of the Portuguese scene, too.
Difficult Stars
Although s1mple and electroNic may be legends of the game, their best days are far, far behind them.
s1mple still has something to offer, his early showings on BC.Game proved that, but the arrival of electroNic has been a disaster. Not only has electroNic himself maintained the poor form he displayed on both Cloud9 and VP, but s1mple’s ratings have also tanked, dropping from a 1.20 in the last six months to a 1.07 in the last three.
There is something to be said about that being due to roster instability, though. BC.Game’s decision to sign a core in order to skip the VRS grind won’t have been one made hastily, and it’s hard to imagine that the impending doom of the roster wouldn’t have had an impact on the level its players performed at.
However, that also relies on the idea that s1mple and electroNic are actually bothered to play at their peak levels – if they even still exist – and aren’t just collecting their sizeable and easy paychecks.
Then there’s the fact that s1mple and electroNic are, allegedly, notoriously difficult to work with. This comes as a part of the elite mentalities that allowed them to become legends – they simply don’t accept failure from their teammates.
Back when the duo were on NAVI and even when they were winning, it wasn’t rare to see the two screaming at the rest of their team or even each other. Mistakes weren’t something they tolerated, and given that this will be the first international roster for two of their three incoming Portuguese players, mistakes are bound to happen.
Predicting a Dark Future
The incoming Portuguese stars also aren’t really of the calibre BC.Game will require if they hope to become a legitimate force within the Counter-Strike world.
Although both Andones “krazy” Nobre and Antonio “aragornN” Barbosa showed flashes on SAW, neither of them could help lift the team to the heights they experienced whilst Michel “ewjerkz” Pinto and Rafel “arrozdoce” Wing were still part of the team. As for MUTiRiS, he has plenty of experience, but none of that experience encompasses dealing with egos like the ones he will now have in s1mple and electroNic.
SAW also failed to make many deep runs in 2025, with their best placings being the quarter-finals at PGL Cluj-Napoca 2025 and semi-finals FISSURE Playground 1 – two events with weaker fields. In real tier one events, they were eliminated in last place from both IEM Melbourne and the IEM Katowice Play-In, and also finished in the middle of the pack at ESL Pro League Season 1.
This isn’t a team known for solid tier one showings – and that doesn’t bode well for their future.
What it likely means is that the organization sees these players as little more than the next step on a long ladder. Outside of MUTiRiS, who could prove to be a solid enough IGL in a scene that is currently facing an IGL deficit, they likely won’t be expecting to keep hold of their Portuguese core for long, instead using them to gain a more favourable rank in order to get hold of more favourable players as soon as they can.
It’s the same method used by Falcons in 2025. They signed a core from HEROIC so that they could earn invites in the VRS system, and as soon as they could make a change, Abdul “degster” Gasanov was removed in favour of Ilya “m0NESY” Osipov. Months later, Emil “Magisk” Reif was also out of the door for Maxim “kyousuke” Lukin, although we’re sure it would have been Rene “TeSeS” Madsen who had departed the team had Magisk’s performances been up to scratch.
The futures of those benched players also serves as an indication for what might happen to the Portuguese players when they are inevitably benched. degster is still without a team, whilst Magisk is once again teamless after a brief stint on Astralis. If no one is keen on signing them, two established tier one players with solid international team experience, what hope will the new BC.Game players have with far more limited experience?
Of course, SAW could bring them back if it does come to pass, but by that point, SAW will have already slipped far down the VRS rankings. The organization has already taken an 80-place VRS ranking hit by signing four players from EXSAD – would the players even want to rejoin the organization if they’re still in such a poor position?
And what about MUTiRiS? At 33, he is already nearing the end of his career. After grinding hard with SAW for years to get them to a respectable position, how likely is he to want to start that grind all over again after collecting what is likely a solid paycheck whilst on BC.Game?
It would be an understandable decision if he were to retire following an unsuccessful stint on BC.Game, but it would also be devastating to the Portuguese scene. His leadership has seen the nation ascend to heights never before seen in the last couple of years, and without it, it’s hard to envision a world in which they don’t fade back into obscurity.
Just like with 100 Thieves, there are many question marks around this new roster. However, unlike 100 Thieves, where the North American organization seems to have made smart gambles in order to build a lineup that will be competitive in the future, BC.Game have instead taken a cynical gamble.
This just gets them invites now in the hope that they will be in the invite range for the IEM Cologne Major when it cuts off in April.
If that ranking slips, and probably even if it improves, changes will be made, and the impact of those changes will be felt within the Portuguese scene for a long time.
