Özgür ‘woxic’ Eker is reportedly being moved to the bench on mousesports after the European team bombed out of ESL One Cologne in 13-16th. He will be replaced by Aurimas ‘Bymas’ Pipiras, who joined the team from FaZe Clan earlier in August.
Woxic was once the star AWPer for a mousesports roster that seemingly came from nowhere. After joining the organization in 2019, he and the rest of the squad quickly rose up to one of the best in the world, peaking at rank two.
However, since the move online, mous have struggled. They have failed to find their footing in almost every event, except for a second place in ESL Pro League Season 11. In the Regional Qualifiers for the Rio Major, mous have finished dead last in one, and second-last in another.
The squad is biting the bullet to make changes ahead of the final chance to make it to Rio 2020. Woxic is reportedly getting benched ahead of the final push to the November major, with new sixth man Bymas replacing him, according to a report by 1pv.fr.
The decision was made due to a combination of in-game performance and attitude, according to sources close to the team.
The breaking point was ESL One Cologne, where the European hopefuls were knocked out in 13-16th — once again dead last. Their straight-sets demise included a 2-0 loss to MAD Lions, where Woxic posted a 2-19 performance on Nuke.
Rumors of Woxic’s departure started circulating after he tweeted out a waving hand emoji after mous’ loss over the weekend. There were also statements that Woxic was removed because he was toxic, which the player denied.
“Whoever [I’ve] played [with] already knows I’m not toxic,” he said. “I will give more information soon, thank you for your support.”
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Thank you for your honest words bro. I have been reading same shit too. Who ever i played already know im not toxic. Who's following the scene just able to see me on twitch. So if i rage there and this is for mostly "show", they're thinking they have a right to say "he is toxic" https://t.co/A0YoONkTnT
— Özgür Eker (@w0xic) August 23, 2020
Bymas is reportedly taking Woxic’s position on the roster, but not his role. The 16-year-old rifler did show up in some performances for FaZe Clan, but won’t be able to fill the void left by Woxic as an AWPer.
Those duties will instead fall to ChrisJ, the flexible Dutchman for mous. He isn’t new to AWPing, having picked up the role back in 2017, although he hasn’t touched it as much recently with Woxic in the mous lineup.
Mousesports are yet to confirm Woxic’s benching, or who exactly his potential replacement is. We will update you once more information arises.