twist

twist — Simon Eliasson

A documentary biography of the Swedish support rifler whose career spans Lemondogs to Alliance, built from HLTV profile data, HLTV news records and event results.

1. Western Sweden beginnings and the Lemondogs apprenticeship

Simon Eliasson is recorded on HLTV as Simon "twist" Eliasson, a 31-year-old Swedish player under contract to Alliance, with $309,343 in career prize money and no Major titles. The profile lists 20 team affiliations, beginning with Lemondogs from November 2012 to October 2013. That starting date places his first recorded organisation in CS:GO's opening year, when the Swedish scene was organised around DreamHack events, THOR Open and the early EMS cups rather than franchised leagues.

The achievements section documents what that apprenticeship produced. With Lemondogs, the record lists 3–4th at DreamHack Winter 2012, 3rd at THOR Open 2012 and 2nd at DreamHack Bucharest 2013. Those three lines, each linked to an event page and a player-stats page, establish that Eliasson was present on LAN podiums within his first twelve months of recorded competition. The DreamHack Bucharest final in particular belongs to the period when Lemondogs functioned as a genuine Swedish contender, and a second-place finish there represents the best result of his opening phase.

The news index for the later Lemondogs revival — "Lemondogs announce new roster with twist, MODDII and znajder" on 23 February 2021 — shows the durability of the association. Nearly eight years after the original tenure, the organisation recalled him for a rebuild alongside veteran names. The gap between those two Lemondogs spells, covering 2013 to 2021, contains the bulk of his tier-one career and is addressed in the following chapters.

The attribute profile recorded in 2026 helps explain the longevity. Utility 93, Trading 64 and Clutching 66, set against Firepower 31, Opening 15 and Sniping 2, describe a support rifler whose value lies in grenade usage, second-man trading and late-round stability rather than opening duels or AWPing. Entrying at 49 indicates willingness to take first contact when the system requires it, but the low Opening and Firepower scores confirm that the role was never built around star output. That profile — high utility, moderate trading, low opening burden — is the type that sustains decade-long careers because it complements rather than competes with star players.

2. LGB, SK and the Katowice 2014 breakthrough

The team breakdown lists LGB from February 2014 to May 2014 and SK from October 2013 to February 2014, with FlipSid3 from September 2014 to January 2015 and Property and related Swedish mixes through 2015. The achievements section attaches the key result to the LGB spell: 3–4th at EMS One Katowice 2014, with links to the team page, the event page and the player's event stats.

EMS One Katowice 2014 was the second Valve Major in CS:GO history, and a semi-final finish there places Eliasson in the Major playoff bracket within two years of his first recorded team. The result is listed twice in the record — once under Majors and once under LANs — which reflects HLTV's dual categorisation of Major playoff finishes. The DreamHack Winter 2013 group-stage appearance with SK and the DreamHack Winter 2014 group-stage appearance with FlipSid3, both listed in the Majors section, complete the early Major record: three Valve Majors in thirteen months, with one semi-final.

The Swedish shuffle structure of 2014–2015 explains the short tenures. LGB, SK, Property, 1337, CPH Wolves and DenDD appear in sequence between early 2014 and early 2016, each lasting between one and five months. This was the normal organisation of Swedish Counter-Strike before player contracts lengthened: lineups formed around qualifiers, attended one or two LANs, and reformed. The CPH Wolves spell from August to October 2015 produced the listed 3–4th at DreamHack Open London 2015, a result that follows the same pattern — a podium at a mid-tier DreamHack attached to a three-month affiliation.

The Ancient spell from January to April 2016 and the first GODSENT spell from April to August 2016 mark the transition out of the mix era. GODSENT in 2016 was a substantive Swedish project, and the achievements list two semi-finals from that year: 3–4th at DreamHack Masters Malmö 2016 and 3–4th at DreamHack ZOWIE Open Summer 2016. The Malmö result carries an EVP listing in the trophies detail section, one of two EVPs in the full career record. An EVP at a DreamHack Masters in Malmö, in front of a Swedish crowd, represents the first verifiable individual honour.

3. fnatic: August 2016 to June 2018 and the ELEAGUE semi-final

The profile lists fnatic from August 2016 to February 2017 and GODSENT from February 2017 to June 2018, followed by Red Reserve from June to October 2018 and a return to fnatic. The news record clarifies the fnatic sequence: "fnatic complete twist signing; draken benched" on 2 October 2018 marks the second arrival, while the August 2016 to February 2017 spell represents the first. The achievements section attaches the central result of the fnatic years: 3–4th at ELEAGUE Major 2017, listed under both Majors and LANs with links to the event and stats pages.

ELEAGUE Major 2017 in Atlanta was a full Valve Major, and a semi-final there is the joint-best Major result of Eliasson's career alongside Katowice 2014. The fnatic lineup of that period, built around established Swedish cores, required precisely the support profile documented in the attributes: high utility usage, disciplined trading, and low opening burden to accommodate star openers. The second EVP in the trophies detail — StarSeries i-League Season 7 — belongs to the later fnatic spell, where the team finished second to Natus Vincere in Shanghai in April 2019. The EVP listing confirms that Eliasson was among the event's best performers short of MVP in a final run.

The news items from the fnatic years document the surrounding context. JW's September 2018 comment "We considered twist after the early StarLadder exit; he wasn't really interested" indicates that fnatic had tracked him before the October signing. The Red Reserve interlude — "Red Reserve bench twist; open to offers" on 14 September 2018, followed by the fnatic completion on 2 October — shows a two-week gap between benching and signing. The Europe Minor preview items from July 2018, including NiP's derby wins over Red Reserve, locate the competitive level of that interlude in the Minor qualifier circuit.

The later fnatic results in the LANs list trace the 2018–2019 arc: 3–4th at IEM Chicago 2018, 3–4th at iBUYPOWER Masters 2019, 2nd at StarSeries i-League Season 7 and 2nd at IEM Sydney 2019. The Sydney final, where fnatic lost to Liquid in May 2019 after beating NRG 2–1 in the semi-final documented on 4 May 2019, and the Shanghai final against NAVI in April 2019, represent consecutive final appearances. The April 2019 interview "twist: After the Major and WESG, I felt useless in my position as T" gives a contemporary account of role discomfort during that run, a candid assessment of T-side function that aligns with the low Opening score.

4. Ninjas in Pyjamas: September 2019 to February 2021

The NiP tenure runs from September 2019 to February 2021 in the breakdown and is the longest single affiliation of the tier-one phase. The news record is dense. "NiP unveil twist" on 27 September 2019 follows the fnatic benching documented in August 2019 ("Xizt, twist benched as fnatic look to enter new phase" on 21 August, and the October interview "I knew instantly after we lost to CR4ZY [at the Minor]"). The NiP spell therefore begins as a direct transfer between Sweden's two historic organisations.

The LANs list attaches three NiP results: 2nd at BLAST Pro Series Copenhagen 2019, where FaZe beat NiP in the final on 3 November 2019, and 3rd at BLAST Pro Series Global Final 2019 in December, plus the 2019 headline index covering the autumn Pro League, the Copenhagen preview with Lekr0's comments on calling burden, and the Arlington and Malmö group results. The news items from 2020 trace the online era: the DreamHack Masters Spring Europe run in May–June 2020 (wins over Astralis, Vitality and ENCE, a semi-final loss to Vitality in ESL One Cologne Europe in August, and the BLAST Spring Finals sweep of OG), the Road to Rio upper-final loss to FaZe, and the late-2020 BLAST Fall Series opener against NAVI.

The end of the spell is documented in February 2021: "NIP bench twist" on 2 February, the Astralis upset on ztr's debut on 5 February, the BIG win to qualify for BLAST Spring Finals on 6 February, and "NIP release twist" on 9 February. The sequence shows the team continuing without him immediately after the benching. The Lemondogs revival announcement on 23 February, two weeks after the release, provided the next affiliation.

The NiP period contains no Major playoff result in the achievements list — the listed Majors for NiP are absent, and the Legends and quarter-final entries belong to other teams — which reflects the online-era absence of Majors in 2020–2021. The prize-money total of $309,343 was substantially accumulated during this and the fnatic spells, when salaries and event payouts were highest.

5. The international tier-two years: 2021 to 2023

The breakdown lists Lemondogs (February–June 2021), MANS NOT HOT (June–August 2021), Galaxy Racer (August–October 2021), Savage (October 2021–March 2022), Finest (March–October 2022) and ex-Finest (October 2022–September 2023). The news items confirm the texture: the MANS NOT HOT Swedish-Lithuanian roster announcement in June 2021, the Galaxy Racer roster's search for a new organisation in October 2021, the Savage lineup with Golden, TENZKI and Devilwalk in March 2022, and the Finest arrival with PlesseN on 7 March 2022.

The Finest period is the most documented. The June 2022 items cover the Pinnacle Cup Championship replacement of Copenhagen Flames, the Imperial and Astralis group games, and the pre-Pinnacle interview "We are coming here to win, we are not just here to participate" on 9 June 2022. The September 2022 item "Finest still owes CS team over $70k more than a year after shutting down" — published in September 2024 but covering the Finest shutdown — provides the financial context for the end of the spell. The ex-Finest designation from October 2022 to September 2023 indicates the roster continued without organisational backing after the shutdown, a common arrangement in that tier.

The 416OLSK item for September 2023, a single-month affiliation, bridges the ex-Finest period and the Alliance arrival. No trophies or EVPs attach to these years in the record, and the three-month rating of 0.98 in 2026 sits below the career midline, consistent with a support player in his thirties operating in qualifier-heavy competition. The FACEIT summary is not itemised for this player beyond the social links, and no FPL placements are listed, which matches a career built on team servers rather than ladder volume.

6. Alliance: September 2023 to present and the elder role

The Alliance tenure runs from September 2023 to present and is the longest continuous affiliation since NiP. The news record for Alliance in 2024–2026, shared across the Swedish core, shows a rebuild in which Eliasson is the veteran presence. The March 2024 item "Alliance qualify for ESL Challenger Jönköping," the July 2024 upE signing items, the October 2024 contract extensions, the December 2024 benching of b0denmaster, the January 2025 arrivals of eraa and MaiL09, the June 2025 benching of PlesseN and signing of poiii, and the June 2026 replacement of MaiL09 by bobeksde all occur during his tenure.

The 2026 results mirror those documented for eraa: FISSURE Playground 3 5–6th with the FaZe win and MIBR elimination, 1win Private Club 7–8th, XSE Pro League Guangzhou 3–4th with the Nemesis win and 9z loss, and the BLAST Bounty 2026 Season 2 17–32nd exit to Wildcard on 22 July 2026. The Alliance-specific 2026 headlines in his index — the DraculaN Season 6 items on 1–2 April 2026 ("Alliance keep Major dream alive by eliminating Aurora" and "twist masterclass sours Passion UA's Major hopes") and the July 2026 interview "I feel like Sweden is for sure coming back to the top" — give the veteran's perspective on the project.

The DraculaN items deserve specific attention because they carry performance attribution. The 2 April headline credits a "twist masterclass" in the match that ended Passion UA's Major hopes, and the 1 April item records the Aurora elimination that kept Alliance's own Major qualification alive. These are among the few headlines in the full 266-item index that single out his individual performance, and they occur at age 31 in a Major-qualifying context. The July interview title, a direct quotation about Sweden returning to the top, states his public position on the national scene during the rebuild.

7. The Major record in full and the statistical shape

The Majors list comprises five entries: group stage at DreamHack Winter 2013 with SK, 3–4th at EMS One Katowice 2014 with LGB, group stage at DreamHack Winter 2014 with FlipSid3, 3–4th at ELEAGUE Major 2017 with fnatic, and Challengers at IEM Katowice 2019 with fnatic. The LANs list adds the non-Major podiums across fourteen lines, from THOR Open 2012 through XSE Pro League Guangzhou 2026. No Major titles and no Major MVPs are recorded, and the two EVPs — Malmö 2016 and StarSeries Season 7 — are the only individual honours.

The attribute shape — Utility 93 as the standout, Trading 64 and Clutching 66 as secondary, Entrying 49 as moderate, and Firepower 31, Opening 15 and Sniping 2 as low — is among the most support-tilted in the Alliance sample. The 0.98 three-month rating in 2026 sits at the lower end of the starting-five range but is consistent with a player whose contributions concentrate in grenade usage, bombsite anchoring and mid-round communication rather than kill output. The prize-money figure of $309,343, the highest among the three Alliance players in this assignment, reflects the tier-one years rather than the current tier-two circuit.

The 266-item news count, by far the largest among the Alliance trio, measures career length as much as prominence: it spans from 2012 THOR Open items through 2026 FISSURE Playground coverage. The early items — the 2013 CSGO10 retrospective, the 2012–2013 DreamHack reports — document a career that began before the Major system stabilised. The late items document a player still starting at 31 in a team attempting Major qualification through DraculaN and open qualifiers.

8. Longevity, function and the Swedish horizon

The aggregate can be stated plainly. At 31, Eliasson has 20 team affiliations, $309,343 in earnings, two Major semi-finals twelve years apart, two EVPs, and a continuous Alliance tenure of three years. The three-month rating is 0.98. The deepest recent result is the Guangzhou semi-final. The most recent individual headline is the DraculaN masterclass against Passion UA.

The comparative context is generational. Few Swedish players with first recorded teams in 2012 remain in starting lineups in 2026. The role adaptation — from the early LGB and fnatic years through the NiP online era to the Finest international period and the current Alliance elder function — shows a progressive move toward support and communication as mechanical output declined. The July 2026 quotation about Sweden returning to the top states the ambition that sustains that adaptation.

The outstanding items are those of the team rather than the individual: a first Alliance trophy, a first Major appearance for the organisation in its current form, and stabilisation of a five that has changed around him. Whether those arrive is not answerable from the data. What the record establishes is a career of unusual length, documented across 266 headlines, whose current chapter is defined less by personal milestones than by the function of enabling younger teammates — eraa, upE and bobeksde — in a national rebuild.

The financial and structural backdrop clarifies why that enabling function matters. The September 2024 report that Finest still owed its former roster over $70,000 more than a year after shutting down documents the material risk of the international tier-two years: salaries contracted but not paid, lineups continuing as ex-organisations, and players absorbing the cost of organisational failure. Eliasson's passage through Finest into ex-Finest and then into the single-month 416OLSK affiliation in September 2023 shows that risk directly. Alliance, by contrast, has maintained continuous operation through his three-year tenure, extending deals in October 2024 and managing loans and transfers through official announcements rather than abrupt shutdowns. That stability is the precondition for any late-career playoff run.

The age profile reinforces the point. At 31, with a 0.98 three-month rating and a support-tilted attribute set, Eliasson occupies the roster position most exposed when teams seek mechanical upgrades, yet the June 2026 decision to replace MaiL09 with bobeksde retained him. The DraculaN performances in April 2026 — the Aurora elimination and the Passion UA masterclass — provide the competitive justification recorded in headlines: in Major-qualifying matches, the veteran produced the rounds that kept the campaign alive. The Guangzhou semi-final in July and the FISSURE Playground playoff qualification in September extend that justification across the summer. For a Swedish organisation attempting to rebuild national standing with a mix of youth and experience, retaining a player who has attended Majors in 2013, 2014, 2017 and 2019 offers institutional memory that does not appear in rating columns but is visible in qualification brackets.

Sources

• https://www.hltv.org/news/45115/twist-i-feel-like-sweden-is-for-sure-coming-back-to-the-top — interview on Swedish scene, July 2026.
• https://www.hltv.org/news/44246/twist-masterclass-sours-passion-uas-major-hopes-and-monte-secure-finals-berth-at-draculan-s6 — DraculaN Season 6 performance, April 2026.
• https://www.hltv.org/news/44245/alliance-keep-major-dream-alive-by-eliminating-aurora-from-draculan-s6 — DraculaN Season 6 Aurora elimination, April 2026.
• https://www.hltv.org/news/28053/twist-on-getting-benched-in-fnatic-i-knew-instantly-after-we-lost-to-cr4zy-at-the-minor — fnatic benching account, October 2019.
• https://www.hltv.org/news/27990/nip-unveil-twist — NiP signing, September 2019.
• https://www.hltv.org/news/31167/nip-release-twist — NiP release, February 2021.
• https://www.hltv.org/news/24976/fnatic-complete-twist-signing-draken-benched — fnatic signing, October 2018.
• https://www.hltv.org/events/2471/eleague-major-2017 — ELEAGUE Major 2017 event page; 3–4th with fnatic.
• https://www.hltv.org/events/3884/iem-katowice-2019-challengers-stage — IEM Katowice 2019 Challengers event page.
• https://www.hltv.org/events/4889/blast-pro-series-global-final-2019 — BLAST Pro Series Global Final 2019 event page; 3rd with NiP.
• https://www.hltv.org/events/8914/xse-pro-league-guangzhou-2026 — Guangzhou event page; 3–4th with Alliance.
• https://www.hltv.org/news/45498/g2-alliance-grab-final-fpg-3-playoff-berths — FISSURE Playground 3 playoffs, September 2026.
• HLTV player profile record (player ID 7443) — age, prize money, team tenure, attributes, achievements, news index and recent matches cited throughout.

Data source: HLTV player profile record. Generated: 2026-10-10.