It’s only been a day since MAD Lions’ former captain, Nicolai “HUNDEN” Petersen, was benched, but rumors already started to circulate about his possible plans for the future. The 28-year-old veteran confirmed, however, that he isn’t going to be coaching the team moving forward.
After confirming that the team had benched him, HUNDEN also said that he was discussing a move to a managerial role within the team. Many people interpreted this as a switch to coaching, but the in-game leader denied this as well. He explained that he was “burned out by the end of [his] time with the team,” and that he wishes the team the best of luck.
Internal issues were cited as the cause for HUNDEN’s sudden removal, especially after MAD Lions were eliminated from the recent IEM Katowice tournament with two early losses to Evil Geniuses and mousesports.
A now-deleted tweet from Lucas “Bubzkji” Andersen also gave some insight into the benching. The 21-year old said that it was a team decision to bench HUNDEN and that things weren’t working with him off the server. As a result, it makes sense that he wouldn’t be taking the place of the current coach, Luis “peacemaker” Tadeu.
MAD Lions are also a founding member of FLASHPOINT, which is the newest CS:GO league to grace the competitive scene. The league will begin next week on Friday, March 13, which means that the team only has a small window to find a new fifth and practice with them before the tournament kicks off.
DBLTAP recently reported that Asger “AcilioN” Larsen will be joining the team as HUNDEN’s replacement, but MAD Lions has yet to confirm this news. The organization will probably provide a roster update in the coming days since they’ll be competing again in a week.