The MALIK eSports team were originally tipped to be the candidates for the second place spot in Group A of the ESL UK Premiership, but with the unexpected rise of exceL eSports, the side fell just short of the MCM Expo finals after not making it past their opponents exceL in the lower bracket.

Due to recent comments made on twitter by Shane “shaney” Smith, exclaiming “time for a new adventure”, questions were raised about his fate within the MALIK eSports lineup. After making contact with the team skipper Ian “Immi” Harding, it was made clear the shaney had infact been removed from the MALIK lineup and replaced with another player. It was however stressed that the swap has been in the works since i54, where the MALIK fell to Rasta Gaming, dropping out in the 7th/8th position. The prospect of replacing Shane had been discussed amongst the team openly over many weeks, and the eventual replacement was performed all above board, with everyone in mutual agreement.

The player stepping in to Shane’s former role will be Mike “Powell” Powell, a player known not only in CS:GO put also from the latter days of Counter Strike: Source. With a history of playing amongst some high tier UK teams, Powell should have a wealth of experience and knowledge that MALIK are perhaps in need of.

Ian “Immi” Harding of MALIK eSports had the following to say:

After i53, we debated a line-up change because we were lacking what we thought was an important role in our team. During the discussion we put forward several options that were all agreed upon (including Shaney), one of which was a line-up change involving Powell. We all agreed to these terms, and decided at the time to stick it through EPS and see if we qualify for MCM with the current roster. There’s no doubt about it that Shaney is a talented player, we had plenty of quality in the squad at the time but we were lacking someone who could support my calling and decision making. After our exit from the UK EPS, we had another discussion putting forward the options once again and it was clear a change needed to happen. We considered every player being replaced, but felt that Shaney was the one and we have mutually departed on agreed terms. We hope he continues to play the game as he was a player that we could depend on to frag well when needed. The introduction of Powell into our roster will hopefully provide us with the experience we need to improve as a team as well as providing us a mid-round caller that we can depend on. We now look to progress further and succeed in ESEA Intermediate and CEVO Main with this roster addition.

The new MALIK eSports line-up is now:

Ian “Immi” Harding

Carl “Peggyyyy” Kneale

Grant “inkG” Smillie

Max “MIGHTYMAX” Heath

Mike “Powell” Powell