kennyS out; shoxie joins VeryGames

VeryGames have announced on their official website that they have replaced Kenny "kennyS" Schrub with Richard "shoxie" Papillon.

Papillon had been strongly linked with a move back to VeryGames since Ladislav "GuardiaN" Kovács revealed last month that the Frenchman was waiting to hear from the team before committing his future to TCM-Gaming.

The former Imaginary Gaming ace was quick to cool speculation about his future, and though he admitted to flirting with the idea of joining VeryGames, he insisted he did not know whether the team would even change their roster.

Last weekend, Papillon helped TCM to win the qualifier for TECHLABS Minsk over teams like Virtus.pro and Natus Vincere, but the Frenchman could not resist the lure of the ESWC runners-up.

He will now return to the side he represented twice during his CS:Source career: after playing for the team led by Sébastien "krL" Perez in 2009, Papillon returned to VeryGames in May 2011, helping them to a highly-successful era in which they did not lose a single match.

Papillon will be filling the shoes of Kenny "kennyS" Schrub, who has been given his marching orders almost one year after his arrival, despite having the team's second-highest rating at 1.18.

This is the second roster change that VeryGames have undergone since switching to CS:GO. In January, the team picked up Adil "ScreaM" Benrlitom after Cédric "RpK" Guipouy had announced his retirement from gaming.

After a somewhat slow start with their new lineup, VeryGames ran out victors at Mad Catz Birmingham last month to win their first international CS:GO event.

But after the event in England, VeryGames once again fell short against other top teams and placed 3rd-4th at the RaidCall EMS One Finals, in Cologne, before finishing in third place at the ESEA 13 Finals, in Dallas.

With almost five weeks left before the next international tournament, DreamHack Summer, VeryGames have decided to fine-tune their squad as they know Papillon will have time to settle in.

"It is the third try with shox for Team VeryGames," VeryGames president Johann Thiesson said.

"It’s a risky move: Richard always lacked of professionalism and team spirit to be a part of the high level competition. It has always blocked him in his career even with his oustanding qualities in the game.

"I personnally wouldn’t have made that choice, but I hope that Richard and the rest of the team are going to prove me wrong.

"Kenny is still young and the switch to Global Offensive didn’t help him with catching up with his experienced teammates. I’m pretty sure he’ll get that experience and fill the  gaps in his gameplay soon."

The biggest question right now, however, is whether the team will be able to get past the internal problems that led to Papillon being removed from the team in November 2011 and to Nathan "NBK" Schmitt publicly saying at one point that the former TCM-Gaming ace would "never play for VeryGames again."

Schrub's departure means that Edouard "SmithZz" Dubourdeaux has been promoted to VeryGames' primary AWPer, a role that he played in CS:Source on numerous occasions.

VeryGames now have the following lineup:

Kévin "Ex6TenZ" Droolans
Nathan "NBK" Schmitt
Edouard "SmithZz" Dubourdeaux
Adil "ScreaM" Benrlitom
Richard "shoxie" Papillon

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