Imperial have officially moved Guilherme “levi” Gustavo to the bench, ending his short four-month spell in the starting five. For the Brazilian club, this looks like a direct response to an unsuccessful season in which the team never managed to take a serious step forward and, in particular, failed to qualify for the IEM Cologne Major.
This move itself was not a complete surprise. Imperial had long needed a fresh impulse, while the AWP position never became a stable point of strength for the team. Now the club has effectively admitted that the current configuration did not work and has decided to look for another option for one of the most important roles in modern CS2.
levi’s spell in Imperial was too short and too flat
levi joined Imperial only in February, when the team was filling the gap after the departure of Santino “try” Rigal. At that moment, it looked like a bet on a younger AWPer who could fill an important position and gradually grow together with the team.
But in practice, that did not happen. During his time on the roster, levi was never able to give Imperial the kind of impact usually expected from a primary AWP player. His average rating of 1.00 reflects the overall picture well: it was not a failure in every match, but there was also no level of individual pressure that could carry the team through difficult series.
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The main problem is not one player, but Imperial’s entire season
It is important to understand that benching levi is not a story about one guilty player. Imperial generally had a season below expectations. The team had some local results, including first and second places in two ESL Challenger League seasons, but over a broader distance, that proved to be not enough.
The most painful blow was the failure in the fight for the IEM Cologne Major. These are exactly the kinds of tournaments that determine whether a team is truly moving forward or simply remains competitive only within the regional scene. And when a team does not qualify for the most important events of the season, a review of roles, decisions, and the overall direction of development almost always begins.
Why the AWP position was the first to be replaced
In top-level Counter-Strike, the AWP is almost always one of the most sensitive positions on the roster. It is the sniper who often sets the tempo of the round, holds key zones, gets opening kills, and creates the very difference without which it is difficult to win close matches.
It seems that Imperial reached the conclusion internally that this was where the team was lacking the most. levi did not look catastrophically weak, but he also did not turn into the kind of player around whom a stable competitive model could be built. In such cases, organizations usually do not wait too long, especially if the season has already provided enough negative signals.
Imperial are already looking for the next option
The most interesting part of this story is that Imperial apparently do not plan to drag out the transition period. According to Brazilian sources, the club is already negotiating a loan for Guilherme “saadzin” Pacheco, who recently played for the team in open qualifiers and at CCT 2026 South America Series 3.
In other words, Imperial did not simply move levi to the bench, but most likely already have a working replacement plan. This is an important nuance. If a team starts making changes without a clear next option, it often leads to even more instability. Here, however, a different logic is visible: the club first made sure that the current model was not working, and then quickly began moving toward a new solution.
For Imperial, this is an attempt to restart the season, not a cosmetic adjustment
Such changes are rarely purely technical. When a team changes its primary AWP player just four months after signing him, it means that internally they did not see the necessary dynamics either in individual progress or in team synergy.
That is why levi’s benching should not be seen as a minor adjustment, but as an attempt to restart the roster’s trajectory. Imperial clearly do not want to remain in the zone of an “almost competitive” team that can win something locally but does not reach truly important tournaments. Replacing the sniper here looks like one of the simplest and most direct responses to the problem.
What comes next for levi
For levi himself, this story is undoubtedly unpleasant, but not critical. He is only 21 years old, and even an unsuccessful short spell in a team like this does not close his career prospects. On the contrary, sometimes exactly these unsuccessful attempts in a stronger lineup show a player more clearly what they need to work on in order to return stronger later.
The main problem for him now is not the benching itself, but the fact that during this time he did not manage to leave behind a sufficiently bright stretch. If he wants to quickly return to a good project, his next step will already need to be more convincing and more stable.
Imperial after the changes
At the moment, Imperial’s roster looks as follows:
- Marcelo “chelo” Cespedes
- Vinicius “VINI” Figueiredo
- Lucas “decenty” Bacelar
- Kaiky “noway” Santos
The fifth slot, after levi’s move to the bench, effectively remains open, although the direction of the search is already quite clear.
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Direct consequences of the season
Moving levi to the bench became a direct consequence for Imperial of a season in which the team failed to complete its key tasks and did not show enough progress over a long distance. Four months proved to be enough for the club to understand: the bet on this AWP player did not produce the desired effect.
The main conclusion here is simple: Imperial have started a new wave of rebuilding and are trying to quickly find a stronger solution for the sniper position. For levi, meanwhile, this is not the end for now, but rather a harsh reminder that in modern CS2, ambitious teams almost never give players much time to slowly build up.
