STYKO takes up IGL mantle for Apeks

Martin “⁠STYKO⁠” Styk will transition into an in-game leader role for Apeks, the Norwegian organization has announced. The change follows just days after the addition of Justinas “⁠jL⁠” Lekavicius, who joined the team as one of the replacements for Hugo “⁠chawzyyy⁠” Günther and Asger “⁠AcilioN⁠” Larsen who were both benched at the start of the tournament break in July.

The role and positional change for STYKO marks the start of a new period for the Slovakian journeyman, who tells HLTV.org that taking up leadership duties is something that has been suggested to him by many of his teammates, managers, and peers over the years, and is something he feels ready for now with the support of Jakub “⁠kuben⁠” Gurczynski, Pål “⁠Polly⁠” Kammen, and the team’s incoming fifth player.

“Coming into the player break we were not sure yet who we will pick instead of AcilioN and chawzyyy, but we had a list of players,” STYKO said in response to a request for comment. “There were two scenarios, either we find direct role replacements of IGL & passive rifler or we would be able to find upgrades in other positions and move me into IGL spot.

“We went for the latter option as I believe the replacement for my T side lurk positions were an improvement, my anchor CT positions as well and we were unable to secure any IGL that we would be confident with reaching our main goal for this season — the Major.”

STYKO has been a part of Apeks since January, joining the team alongside Joakim “⁠jkaem⁠” Myrbostad as the roster looked to break into the upper echelon of tournament play. However, they had a dismal showing in the first half of the year as they failed to qualify for any Big Events and missed out on attending PGL Major Antwerp, with their only notable result being a first place finish at Tipsport Cup Btatislava over SINNERS.

STYKO will hope to improve those results as he now takes up calling duties for the team, with the change also helping to facilitate additional role changes and add more firepower to the lineup as they set their sights on making it to the IEM Rio Major in November. The team are also set to announce their fifth player in short order, with the start of the season now just under a week away.