View source for News/Wildcard to Bench Two Players

{{News
|seo_title=Wildcard to Bench Two Players
|seo_keywords=Wildcard
|image=Wcog.png
|tags=Wildcard
|date=2025-07-02T10:46:56.000Z
|sources={{NewsSource
|source=Hltv
|url=https://www.hltv.org/news/42090/wildcard-bench-phzy-and-stanislaw
|article=News/Wildcard to Bench Two Players
}}
|author=Andura
|category=Transfer Market
|game=Counter Strike
|content=Wildcard has made significant roster changes by benching Love "phzy" Smidebrant and team captain Peter "stanislaw" Jarguz, signaling a shift in strategy after a difficult start to the year. This move comes just under a year after the Swede, phzy, was brought on alongside Tim "susp" Ångström in July 2024.

In a statement shared on social media platform X, phzy expressed his surprise and respect for the decision.

"Came as a bit of a surprise getting benched, obviously not what I wanted but I respect the organization’s decision," he said.

A Tumultuous Start to 2025
[[Companies/Wildcard|Wildcard]] entered 2025 on a high note, having impressed with an unexpected run to the Perfect World Shanghai Major Opening Stage in December 2024. However, their momentum quickly fizzled out. The team was eliminated early from multiple international LANs and faced disappointing losses to Complexity and M80 in the qualifiers for both PGL Bucharest and PGL Astana.

Controversial Substitution and Team Issues
The decision to bench phzy was compounded by a controversial move during the PGL Astana qualifier, where Jake "Stewie2K" Yip replaced phzy in the lineup. This was done in order for Wildcard to be classified as an Americas team for the BLAST.tv Austin Major Americas MRQ. Once that qualifier concluded, phzy was reinstated for the MRQ proper, and Wildcard successfully qualified for the Major. However, the issues within the team were far from resolved.

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}}