CS2 This Week: Valve Fixes Silent Reload, Envy Eyes a Return, and jL Could Play for Vitality

After the major Rush Hour update, the week in Counter-Strike 2 was packed not only with changes to the game itself but also with news from the professional scene. Valve has already started fixing issues with the new silent reload, Envy is exploring a return to Counter-Strike, and former NAVI player Justinas “jL” Lekavicius could help Vitality at ESL Pro League Season 24.

Meanwhile, OG is preparing another rebuild, FaZe has signed up for a tournament in Portugal that is unusual for the team, and a public simulator has appeared for Valve’s ranking system.

Valve fixes the first silent reload bugs

One of Rush Hour’s main additions was the ability to reload a weapon without the distinctive sound by holding the Reload button. This reload takes longer than a normal one but does not give away the player’s position to the opponent.

Almost immediately after the mechanic went live, ways to use it for unintended purposes emerged. In a fresh CS2 update, Valve fixed a bug that allowed players to speed up the silent reload by pressing Reload repeatedly.

Valve also closed an exploit that let players use the new mechanic to increase shotgun fire rate.

These are the first adjustments to the system just days after it appeared, so Valve will likely keep monitoring how the silent reload affects competitive play.

Envy could return after six years

North American organization Envy is interested in the 3DMAX roster, HLTV reports.

The French team recently won Logitech G Play Connect, beating Luminosity in the final. Against the backdrop of that result, reports emerged of a potential move of the roster under the Envy tag.

The organization has been absent from Counter-Strike since 2020. Its last roster featured MICHU, Nifty and Calyx, among others.

For now, it is just interest: Envy has not officially announced either a return or the signing of 3DMAX.

jL will travel to ESL Pro League with Vitality

Justinas “jL” Lekavicius is set to travel with Vitality to ESL Pro League Season 24 as a substitute player.

According to host and journalist James “BanKs” Banks, the team decided to hedge in case captain Dan “apEX” Madesclaire needs to leave the tournament early due to the birth of his child.

Vitality, however, expects to start the competition with its usual main roster. So jL’s presence does not mean a planned replacement for apEX — the Lithuanian is needed as a backup option in case of necessity.

For jL, this could be a temporary return to the biggest professional stage after leaving NAVI’s main roster.

OG is looking at Ex3rcice and Chucky

OG, meanwhile, could make major changes to its roster. According to French streamer Sébastien “KRL” Perez, the club is considering Pierre “Ex3rcice” Bulinge and Jordan “Chucky” Molnar.

Ex3rcice is on 3DMAX’s bench, while Chucky plays AWP for GenOne.

The new team is expected to be built around Alexandre “bodyy” Pianaro and coach Lambert “Lambert” Prigent. The moves have not been officially confirmed yet.

OG’s next notable tournament will be Roman Imperium Cup IX, which will take place in Portugal on October 7–10.

FaZe will play teams ranked far below it in VRS

FaZe is the headline participant at Roman Imperium Cup IX.

When the participant list was announced, the team ranked 14th in the Valve Regional Standings, while the next team in the ranking — WBT — sat only at 58th.

A total of 16 teams will compete at the LAN, including SAW, OG, Sangal, NAVI Junior, G2 Ares, Falcons Force and Lazer Cats.

For FaZe, such a tournament could matter not only as a chance to get in shape but also in terms of the VRS system, where results, the level of opponents and the value of competitions directly affect ranking points.

An open simulator has appeared for Valve’s ranking

Analyst Finn “Mischief” Farrer has launched a free service called OpenVRS that lets users model the Valve Regional Standings themselves.

The tool allows users to assess the value of various tournaments, plan a calendar, simulate match results and see how potential roster changes would affect a team’s position.

OpenVRS could prove especially useful ahead of invitation list formation and major tournament qualification, since Valve’s system remains quite difficult to calculate on your own.

MOUZ NXT signs deeN

MOUZ’s academy has officially added 18-year-old Denis “deeN” Adamovich to its roster.

He replaces Tiago “opdust” Simão, who has been moved to the bench. Before the full signing, deeN had already played for MOUZ NXT and helped the team finish second at ECL Season 52 Cup 6, ending the tournament with an average rating of 1.13.

Other events of the week include GamerLegion preparing to play an official match with its full main roster for the first time since August, CYBERSHOKE parting ways with H4SAN4TOR about a month after signing him, and BC.Game bringing in Oskar “oskarish” Stenborowski as an assistant coach and analyst.