There were whispers and rumors floating around earlier which Richard Sebastian reported on, but Mousesports just made it official on Twitter, which is where all official esport things apparently tend to happen in recent months: Özgür ‘woxic’ Eker has been officially replaced by Aurimas ‘Bymas’ Pipiras.
Effectively, it shows that mousesports seems to be laying the brunt of the recent failings from the European team at the feet of the 21-year-old ‘woxic’ after difficult defeats against MAD Lions and NaVi in ESL One Cologne 2020 Online.
As a direct reaction to our recent results and the ongoing online league play, amid the covid-19 pandemic, we've decided to promote @bymascs to the starting roster to replace @w0xic. pic.twitter.com/XnfYDjvkVk
— MOUZ (@mousesports) August 27, 2020
Rumors have circulated that ‘woxic’ was being difficult to handle and manage for the team; in the most recent matchup against MAD Lions he had a career-defining worst game where the Turkish player managed a K/D of -25 and overall rating of 0.46.
Bymas, on the other hand, was revealed as a developmental player for mousesports on the tenth of August. Aurimas Pipiras made mousesports roster six-deep; whether mousesports was planning the replacement of ‘woxic’ with the Lithuanian former FaZe clan member, or if it was simply the result of everyone being a bit burned out from consistent failings in tourneys.
Devastated. Disappointed. Sad.
Out of #ESLOne Cologne after a tough 0-2 loss to MAD Lions.
Either we need another break to find back to old glory, or ESL One Cologne is indeed cursed for us. #ReadyWillingAble pic.twitter.com/nietAEQ4tw
— MOUZ (@mousesports) August 21, 2020
One would presume that mousesports would be a bit more pleasant or professional about sending ‘woxic’ off from the team, but it was very abrupt; Özgür ‘woxic’ Eker is currently listed as not residing on any team within the professional Counter-Strike scene, although the Turkish star is young; he arguably has far more CS play in him once everything settles down a bit.
Chris ‘chrisJ’ de Jong will likely be reprising his role as the primary AWPer for the team in less than a week, as ESL Pro League Season 12 Europe is set to begin on September 1. Arguably, this is when this will all come to a head; if mousesports manages to come out strong and swinging, it will likely be argued that Özgür ‘woxic’ Eker was the primary issue and the odds of him finding a high-ranked T1 team in CS will likely suffer momentarily.
What’s far more likely, however, is that the failings of mousesports aren’t on a singular entity within the roster; there is likely a more fundamental ‘ground level’ issue at hand that should be solved in some form that no one is necessarily chomping at the bit to reveal to the masses just yet.
It’s a bold roster move for mouseports in the midst of a difficult time to suss out precisely how well people are actually playing once you account for the idea that everyone is playing on a server (which hosts its own issues), and that points a far more accusatory finger at Özgür ‘woxic’ Eker not meshing well with the team anymore.
