ShahZam benched by Misfits ahead of the American Minor

Roughly one week ahead of the American Minors Championship, one of the favorites at the event is undergoing a roster change.

The team in question is the Sean “seangares” Gares-led Misfits roster, which will be competing without founding player Shahzeeb “ShahZaM” Khan at the Minor.

The removal of the 23-year-old AWPer means that the North American roster will be competing with two stand-ins, as in-game leader seangares was unable to attend the tournament on the specific dates. In seangares’ absence, Skyler “Relyks” Weaver has been chosen to fill in.

ShahZaM has played alongside the players on the Misfits roster for roughly a year’s time when the squad competed for Echo Fox. Following a period of poor performances, however, the Echo Fox squad disbanded.

The majority of the roster joining TSM on Dec. 14 last year. Roughly one month after joining TSM, however, internal issues between the players and the organization lead to the entire squad being transferred to Misfits.

The decision to remove ShahZaM from the roster was predicated on the fact that the player was unable to regularly show up at the team’s gaming house.

“We have decided it is in the best interest of the team to have someone present, which will yield the most productive bootcamp possible as we focus on this important event,” Misfits CEO Ben Spoont told SlingShot Esports.

ShahZaM’s place will be taken by Caio “zqk” Fonseca, with the Brazilian joining on a trial basis. With French pair David “devoduvek” Dobrosavljevic and François “AmaNEk” Delaunay having joined in April, Hunter “SicK” Mims is now the only member of the original roster who has yet to lose his spot on the team.