Counter-Strike’s Janusz ‘Snax’ Pogorzelski has shared on social media that he asked “about a month and a half ago” for GamerLegion to find a replacement for him.
The social media post closely followed the announcement of Aleksandr ‘shalfey’ Marenov as GamerLegion’s new IGL after the benching of the former Virtus Pro legend.
Snax clarifies GamerLegion benching in disrupted season
Snax shared on social media that he had asked to be benched by the org after realizing that he could not contribute fully to the GamerLegion project.
The Polish legend shared (translated), “My contract ends in just two months, and I feel like this season really kicked me in the teeth. It was hard for me to keep focusing on pro play and helping the boys, so about a month and a half ago, I asked Adrian [GamerLegion’s Head Coach, imd] to start looking for someone to replace me.”
“Obviously, if it didn’t work out, I’d have helped see the season through to the end with whatever strength I had left (and tbh, the tank wasn’t exactly full). I’d like to thank every player and staff member—it was solid. Obviously, this season was tough, a wave of stand-ins and just too much of everything, but it is what it is.”
In recent weeks, GamerLegion’s roster has suffered from the absence of Fredrik ‘REZ’ Sterner, Sebastian ‘Tauson’ Tauson Lindelof, and Snax himself, with Szymon ‘kRaSnaL’ Mrozek, Denis ‘Grashog’ Hristov, and Pavle ‘maden’ Bošković filling gaps in the roster.
It seems that the constant churn in the roster has taken its toll on both the roster’s results and its in-game leader’s resilience. The roster is extremely unlikely to make the PGL Singapore Major after a languishing season that has seen them drop to 44th in the global VRS rankings.
Snax added, “Biggest thanks to Adrian for the time he put in, the work, and the dedication to what he does. I have mad respect for him and I know he’s a damn good coach, so don’t dump the blame for this whole situation on him. Thanks to everyone for following and cheering.”
The Pole then shared that he would step away from competition for the time being, but did not rule out returning in the future, sharing, “What’s next for us, lads? Hell if I know. For now, I need a little break, and we’ll see what happens after. Maybe I’ll hang up my mouse on a hook for the new year, or maybe I’ll come back as Major MVP—who knows.”
With the roster all but eliminated from PGL Singapore Major contention, they must now start building up their VRS points with next year in mind. They will attempt to do so with former 9 Pandas IGL, Shalfey, who returns to an org after playing orgless since August. Shalfey makes his debut against ENVY in the BLG Tesla Cup 2026, where GamerLegion are also grouped with Luminosity and HOTU.
That makes GamerLegion the lowest-ranked team in their group at the event, despite qualifying for the IEM Cologne 2026 Major, where they were eliminated in Stage 2.
Can GamerLegion recover in the rankings? Share your thoughts with us on the Insider Gaming Discord.
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Darragh is an Esports Journalist for Insider Gaming specialising in Counter-Strike. He loves to explore how esports teams work, or why they very often do not.
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