MAD Lions is stepping away from competing in CS:GO and will move all active players and staff to the transfer list effective immediately, the organization announced. MAD Lions is expected to officially reveal its VALORANT roster in the next two weeks.
MAD Lions posted an official “goodbye” to CS:GO on Twitter, featuring a montage of the team’s highlights over the past couple of years and thanking all the players and coaches who have played under the team’s banner.
The active lineup of TMB, jL, b0RUP, MICHU, and somedieyoung has now been moved to the inactive/transfer list, as has coach kuben and manager/assistant coach MusambaN1. Both MICHU and somedieyoung were just signed by MAD Lions this past January.
MAD Lions, a Spanish organization founded in 2017, joined CS:GO the same year with an all-Spanish roster. In 2019, the organization was acquired by OverActive Media Group, owners of the Splyce organization and the franchise spots for Toronto Defiant and Toronto Ultra in the Overwatch League and Call of Duty League, respectively. At the end of 2019, MAD Lions shifted toward a Danish lineup that attended the first season of Flashpoint as one of the founding member organizations and won, defeating MIBR in back-to-back series in the double-elimination playoffs.
The announcement of the closure of the MAD Lions’ CS:GO division comes the same day OverActive Media posted a loss of $15.4 million in its fourth-quarter financial results, which it said was due to “modifications of certain payments related to our franchise obligations.”
The move also coincides with OverActive’s entry into the growing VALORANT scene after it signed “a top European player roster.” Arran Spake for Dexerto has reported that it is the men’s Tenstar roster and it should be revealed officially by OverActive by the end of April.
