ESL released videos with player comms from the event, and the chaotic voice recordings confirmed the suspicions of many fans: Cloud9’s was unable to communicate effectively, especially under pressure. The team wasn’t as strong, and the effects of Hiko’s absence were clear when they failed to make it out of the group stage at ESL One Katowice 2015, the first Major of the year. Hiko, arguably the best North American player at the time, left the team at the end of 2014, and had been replaced with Shahzeb “ ShahZaM” Khan. SEMPHIS has never been one to shy away from speaking his mind.īack in early 2015, SEMPHIS was still playing for Cloud9. He’s said and done numerous things during his career that have turned heads and caused quite a bit of controversy. Over time, SEMPHIS has attracted more attention with his words and actions than his play in the server. In the years that followed, however, SEMPHIS has been unable to replicate that success, bouncing from team to team in pursuit of victory.

At one point, SEMPHIS ranked highly among the region’s elite–while on compLexity Gaming, he reached the semi-finals at DreamHack Winter 2014, and, to this day, it’s an accomplishment that he shares only a small group of his peers. He’s been a staple of the NA Counter-Strike scene since his days on Area 51 Gaming, where he played alongside Sam “ DaZeD” Marine, Spencer “ Hiko” Martin, and Sean “ sgares” Gares. Kory “ SEMPHIS” Friesen is a well-known, albeit occasionally polarizing, North American CS:GO player. Although winning a large international tournament continues to elude him, there’s no denying that SEMPHIS has an impressive competitive resume.

Csgo pro player profiles