mousesports' Nikola "NiKo" Kovač has stepped down as the team's in-game leader in favor of Timo "Spiidi" Richter, according to a Twitlonger in which he discussed yesterday's controversial replacement of AWPer Chris "chrisJ" de Jong with benched player Tomas "oskar" Stastny.

"I will not be our In-Game Leader anymore and hopefully it will boost our game," he said. "Timo 'Spiidi' Richter will take it over with help from me and our coach. We will do whatever it's needed and possible to make better results in our future."

The team came in 12-14 at the ELEAGUE Major with a 1-3 record. They announced the roster switch shortly after the Major, citing their disappointing results in Atlanta as the impetus for the change.

In the Twitlonger, NiKo spoke about the difficult of replacing chrisJ, who was the team's longest-serving player, with oskar, who has been off the starting lineup since October, saying the team needed to do something new even if it seemed extreme.

"We obviously have our reasons why we did this, which we can't obviously share with you guys," he said. "What I can say to you is that, I'm gonna do everything what I can to make this team better. We are gonna try some new things, which I hope it will work out."

NiKo also took the opportunity to offer a fond farewell to his former teammate, calling chrisJ "one of the best persons I've met out there."

"All I ask from you guys is, patience and not so much hate towards us, we are not going through easy time either as you might think, especially after this decision which we made," NiKo wrote.

"Chris "chrisJ" de Jong been my longest teammate in this team and one of the best persons I've met out there and I respect him even more now how he handled and took this situation, I wish him more than best of luck in his future."

Sasha Erfanian is a news editor for theScore esports. Follow him on Twitter, it'll be great for his self-esteem.