In football, they tell you to never fall in love with a loan player, but we guess that’s not the case if you’re a 9INE fan.

Well, as long as you get over the awful parent club recalling them for a few months before they sign permanently.

Oh, and if any 9INE fans exist at all, that is…

Anyway, phzy has signed for 9INE, and we’re quite happy for him. He was very outspoken in his displeasure at having to play for Wildcard again, and who could blame him for that? They’re one of the most horrendously mismanaged orgs in CS, and we wouldn’t wish playing for them on our worst enemy.

Now say “thank you”, 2025 broky.

We do have one question, though - was that really the best phzy could do?

We’re not saying it’s his fault, he did seem to enjoy playing for them the first time, but was there really no tier one team interested in him? Are none of them aware of how bad their AWPers are?

This isn’t us saying that phzy is an exceptional AWPer, btw. He’s really not. But he is absolutely a dependable one - a solid floor raiser akin to hallzerk, who just might pop off and win you a game when you need it most.

GamerLegion, HEROIC, Liquid, even Astralis could all do with a player like him… so why haven’t any of them gone for him? Why haven’t 100 Thieves gone for him?

It just feels like he’s already paid his dues in tier two and was deserving of a move up the chain, but at least he’s out of Wildcard hell. That’s all that really matters.

Poll

We’re feeling like being haters today, so tell us:

In the last edition, we asked you: Will gla1ve be a success as 100 Thieves coach?

Here’s what you said:

🟨🟨🟨🟨⬜️⬜️ As certain as the sun rising, or NIP losing from a winning position. (22%)
🟨🟨🟨🟨⬜️⬜️ How the hell should I know? What do I look like, Paul the Octopus? (22%)
🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ Has there even been a great IGL → coach transition in the modern era? (11%)
🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ I don’t even believe he’s going to join. I think HLTV are part of the illuminati. (11%)
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 He’s definitely going to be IGLing by March. (34%)