Fisher College announce neaLaN as stand-in for PGL Astana 2026

Yesterday Fisher College's Þorsteinn "TH0R" Friðfinnsson announced that the team will be fielding former Evil Geniuses IGL Sanzhar "neaLaN" Iskhakov as their stand-in for PGL Astana 2026. Last week the team announced that Nils "ReFuZR" Groot would miss the Kazakh LAN due to a prior personal commitment.

Fisher College shocked the Counter-Strike world earlier this month by becoming the first collegiate squad to qualify to a top-tier LAN after pulling off a back-breaking Bo5 reverse sweep to best LAG and top the NA Open Qualifier.

For those who haven't been keeping up with neaLaN's exploits since he left Evil Geniuses in 2023, the Kazakh IGL had a brief two-month stint with GamerLegion in 2023 before joining CIS squad 1win for five months in 2024. In 2025, neaLaN returned to his local scene and joined Kazakh outfit NOVAQ, with the team staying largely under the radar as they have performed well in Central Asia but have thus far failed to break through into the international circuit. In 2026 neaLaN has posted a somewhat disappointing 0.89 rating over 64 maps.

Hopefully Fisher will be able to leverage neaLaN's experience ahead of PGL Astana, as the Major attendee knows the LAN ropes far more than the collegiate hopefuls.

Fisher College will attend PGL Astana 2026 with:

• Alexander "AlekS" Andersson

• Milan "CrePoW" Libbrecht

• Þorsteinn "TH0R" Friðfinnsson

• Tommy "corn" Eckhart

• Sanzhar "neaLaN" Iskhakov (Stand-in)

PGL Astana 2026 is set to start on May 7th.