DeKay Mailbag Part 2: Roster Predictions, Envy's Plan, and EPL/B Site Expectations

Welcome to Part 2 of the DeKay Mailbag, a monthly feature in which Counter-Strike reporter and insider Jarek "DeKay" Lewis answers questions from readers on Twitter. Do you have a question you'd like to see in a future mailbag? Tweet @dekay.

With the top teams in CS:GO preparing to jump back into match servers later this week, a ton of questions remain about the future of many players and teams still at home. Will some teams still make roster moves? How will the leagues play out? Both of these and more are answered in Part 2 of this month's DeKay Mailbag.

Predicting what Valve might do is just about impossible. If those companies market their brand properly, they'll be able to pivot easily if one day Valve does decide to improve servers and anti-cheat. If they go out of business with the amount of time they've had to leverage their users, it's their own fault.

Calling it a chopping block assumes none of the four veteran guys want to step down or transfer anywhere else. In that case, broky would be the one to go without question. I do however see a world in which Olofmeister returns to a Swedish lineup later this year, based on what I've heard recently.

I have not heard Envy mentioned as a B Site team but they are a prime candidate for it if you look at their behavior with other Esport titles. Calyx and michu likely took the offer because it is a nice pay bump and allows them to experience playing in a completely new environment with a good amount of resources. Eventually at a certain point, players don't care what has happened with previous lineups because the offer in front of them is so good to what they have had recently.

I am someone who has always been okay with events not always having the best teams, so long as we have a few that do outside of Majors. People worrying about leagues splitting teams up need to keep in mind that these leagues will only keep teams separate for a few months out of the entire calendar.

Team - Astralis
Player - s1mple
Event - Cologne
Roster Change - EG
Most Improved Player - Kjaerbye
Most Improved Team - North

I will attend tournaments like I occasionally do but I don't have any interest in working as talent.

It is much easier to remember players because they have such a long length of time that they played the game for. Especially if we are talking about 1.6, because most of the best players had extremely long careers in that game. Whereas teams are often short lived in comparison to those players. So it makes sense to me. The lack of recorded matches that are easy to watch adds to it as well.

I only ever heard three real names of consideration: FL1T, forester, and perfecto.

I heard his name mentioned as someone possibly on their short list but it wasn't a guy they really explored getting, according those I spoke to.

Time and maps played on LAN. I don't want them making a roster move anytime soon.

Not that I have heard. I expect most top rosters to stay as they are until after the Major.

If "B Site" executes and delivers on what they are promising, I expect one of two things. Either handful of teams to find a way out of ESL Pro League and join "B Site" next year or players themselves just join new organizations that will join the league. The prospective financials are too good for everyone to ignore and avoid if it works out the way the organizers intend.

Group A: Liquid & MIBR
Group B: Astralis & Vitality
Group C: EG & OG

No one tells Valve what to do, especially with sensitive cases like this. There isn't a "right" group of people that can lobby for this and have any chance of being successful. Everyone in the community just has to make their opinion heard and hope for the best.

They are absolutely capable of both, but I'm not sure I expect top 5. Realistically, I think breaking up the core of Fallen, TACO, and fer will be necessary to get that high in the rankings. I wouldn't mind a second piece of young talent on that roster.

I have no idea what his intentions are but I don't really see what he has done in the server in the last year that would make him worth picking up. Eventually, you have to prove yourself again and I don't think he has done that. I don't even see former teammates of his pleading his case, so that's very telling.

That's not always the case at all. Some buyouts are at the discretion of the organization and don't have any real number listed, even to this day. In the lower tier teams, you'll often find lower tier contract quality. On top of that, many lower tier teams have a pretty high salary. Mainly in North America.

If you read my original report, you'll see I mentioned the qualifiers there. The qualifiers have always been a plan because "B Site" don't want to prevent teams from playing in the event that don't have the resources to buy in. I heard qualifiers mentioned from the very beginning of the discussion, which is why I'm confident this is the case.

Rumors involving Valve almost never exist. I am going to assume that Valve won't change anything in the game for the Major. If players want to agree not to use them, then I don't expect an issue there. I've been told that players are fine with most of the models right now though, so maybe they'll be okay by the time the event comes.

I expect multiple tournament organizers to remain in the fold indefinitely. One off large offline events will never go away, nor do I want them to. It is possible however, that a franchise model is the way moving forward for league play. In that case, adaptations will be necessary but I do not think everything will end up under one umbrella like in other games.

I was told a couple weeks ago that they would be looking to EU for at least two members of their lineup. This was the plan all along from what I can tell.