Official: mousesports complete roster with new trio

MOUZ have completed an overhaul of their squad with the signing of Özgür "⁠woxic⁠" Eker, Finn "⁠karrigan⁠" Andersen and David "⁠frozen⁠" Čerňanský, it has been announced.

The announcement confirms an earlier report from HLTV.org that the trio were locked in talks with MOUZ, who were looking to build their new team around Robin "⁠ropz⁠" Kool and Chris "⁠chrisJ⁠" de Jong following a poor run of form that culminated with an early exit at the Europe Minor, at the start of the year.

Tomáš "⁠oskar⁠" Šťastný and Miikka "⁠suNny⁠" Kemppi were both in the initial plans for the new roster but were later cast aside by mousesports, who claim that the duo "did not share our vision for the new team."

The Czech AWPer's contract has been terminated by mutual agreement, leaving him free to sign for another organisation, while suNny joins Martin "⁠STYKO⁠" Styk on the bench until his future is decided. The Finnish player emerged last week as a strong candidate for Cloud9, who are in the market for a new player, but negotiations have hit a snag, HLTV.org understands.

Taking the reins of the squad is karrigan, who rejoins mousesports for a fourth spell after previously representing the organisation in both 1.6 and CS:GO between 2010 and 2014. The Danish tactician has been signed from FaZe, who had benched the player at the end of last year before shipping him out to Envy on a short-term loan.

"The lineup consists of a very good mix of young and experienced players, most important is the chemistry between players, which is really good," karrigan said in a statement.

"With good chemistry, hardworking players and right mentality you can go very far, which is our main goal during 2019.

"The first days with these guys have been awesome, I hope that it will show in the coming months how we improve as a team."

woxic will be replacing oskar in the sniper role, waving goodbye to HellRaisers, the organisation he had represented since August 2017. Under their banner, the Turkish talent picked up three title wins, at FCDB Cup, Bets.net Masters and at the CIS Minor leading to the FACEIT Major, where the team would go on to finish top eight.

frozen is regarded by many as the biggest gamble on the roster. The 16-year-old made waves in the scene in 2017 with eXtatus but his career stalled last year, forcing him to leave the Czech and Slovakian scenes and try his luck abroad.

"We want to go back to a team that is highly motivated and eager to play for this organization," said mousesports CEO Stefan Wendt. "A team with great chemistry and the will to work hard towards our common goal.

"Together we want to leave our mark in this very important period with two huge events in our home country and beyond. I couldn’t be happier with our new team and I am very confident in their abilities.

"I hope you will all continue to support us in 2019 and let's turn this into a memorable season together."

MOUZ have not yet provided an update on the replacement for coach Sergey "⁠lmbt⁠" Bezhanov, who was moved to an inactive position last month after a two-and-a-half-year stint with the team.

The new MOUZ roster will be debuting in week two of ECS Season 7 Europe, kicking off March 18. Next month, the team will be making their first offline appearance at ESL Pro League Season 9, which will begin April 12.

With these changes, MOUZ now have:

Robin "⁠ropz⁠" Kool
Chris "⁠chrisJ⁠" de Jong
Finn "⁠karrigan⁠" Andersen
Özgür "⁠woxic⁠" Eker
David "⁠frozen⁠" Čerňanský

Miikka "⁠suNny⁠" Kemppi (inactive)
Martin "⁠STYKO⁠" Styk (inactive)