Yesterday, Vexed announced they were bringing Hovik "KQLY" Tovmassian on trial for the fifth spot in the team, which ended with Steve "jarod" Cohen and Léonard "Smyli" Michelino stepping down from the team.

The two vacant slots have now been filled by veterans Michael "⁠HaRts⁠" Zanatta and Benjamin "⁠drizzer⁠" Charnet for ESL Championnat National, who already shared a team with Hovik "⁠KQLY⁠" Tovmassian in 2013 when all three played for Clan Mystik.



KQLY and HaRts won ESWC 2013 together with Clan Mystik

After Vexed decided to bring KQLY on to play ESL's Championnat National, which allows players to become active again two years after a VAC ban, the backlash was immediate as several players announced they would forfeit their matches if KQLY was allowed to play.

Vexed's first Championnat National match and KQLY's official return is scheduled for tonight. Their rivals, beGenius, have hinted through twitter they may not play if KQLY is in the lineup.

"We're kicking off a new project @beGeniusESC! Our first match @ESLFrance is tonight against @Vexed_GG! Well, it depends on their lineup xd," Jérôme "⁠HeUkA⁠" Bassat tweeted.

C'est parti pour un nouveau projet @beGeniusESC ! Premier match @ESLFrance ce soir vs @Vexed_GG ! Enfin Ca dépend de la lineup xd — Jérôme Bassat (@HeUkALyPtuS2) May 2, 2017

The two players who initially refused to play with KQLY, Steve "⁠jarod⁠" Cohen and Léonard "⁠Smyli⁠" Michelino, have officially cut ties with the organization:

"Despite a tough ending, I wish to say thank you to the entire Vexed organization as well as their main sponsor at WE GOT GAME for the time and effort they spent on our roster. I wish farewell to the Vexed staff and my ex-teammates. For me, it's time to take a small break from CS:GO." - Steve "jarod" Cohen

We respect and value the opinions within the community and aim to be honest and open about our decisions. Unfortunately there was a miscommunication internally, between players and management. Of course we regret that this happened as we have lost two great players, and we endeavour to learn from this mistake and implement further internal processes to ensure that it doesn't happen in the future. We feel as though we took a calculated risk and that we are abiding by the rules set by ESL. We understand that this is a big risk to take, but we believed it to be the right decision for us. KQLY will continue his trial period throughout the ESL Championnat Nationals. - Vexed management

With the inclusion of drizzer and HaRts, Vexed's lineup for ESL Championnat National is now: