'ANGE1,' 'crush' leave as HellRaisers bench CS:GO team

HellRaisers announced they have benched their Counter-Strike: Global Offensive team and parted ways with a pair of veterans amid a disappointing start. Igor "crush" Shevchenko and Kirill "ANGE1" Karasiow are now free agents. While the 24-year-old crush only joined the team in 2019, ANGE1, 30, had been with the HellRaisers since 2014.

Now, HellRaisers must put together a new roster before they can compete again. The team is ranked outside the top 30 in the world. "Our current CS:GO roster was formed half a year ago, and there's been a lot since then," CEO Alex "Magician" Slabukhin said Thursday in a news release. "Unfortunately, we weren't always able to give you the best result, even though we did try our best to achieve that. As I said before, we aren't going to leave CS:GO and will soon make a video explaining the current roster situation and our plans."

ANGE1 took to social media to announce his departure. "Every story has an end. Today I am breaking up with the tag to which I have devoted almost 10 years of life and which certainly means a lot to me," he wrote. "I am sad to part with HellRaisers, but on the other hand I clearly understand that going out of my comfort zone will only benefit me as a player and captain."

Now, the Ukraine-based HellRaisers have just three inactive players on the roster: Zygimantas "nukkye" Chmieliauskas, Vadim "Flarich" Karetin and Ivan "AiyvaN" Semenets.