MAD Lions parts ways with ZexRow and drone

After playing a forgettable start to the season in the VCL NA 2023, MAD Lions has drastically changed its VALORANT lineup. This is, without a doubt, a clean slate concerning the roster that started the season, as three players have already left the team in recent weeks.

In the last few hours, we have observed a very hot battle on Twitter between Anthony “ZexRow” Colandro and MAD Lions IGL Justin “Trick” Sears. This, without a doubt, makes us completely sure that the problems in the servers go beyond lack of rhythm or performance because, for being former teammates for several months, many things were said publicly.

MAD Lions announces the departure of ZexRow and drone from its lineup

MAD Lions announced last Tuesday, April 4, the departure of ZexRow and Taylor “drone” Johnson from its VALORANT lineup. With this move and the departure of William “Will” Cheng in the middle of the first Split, the only ones left on the team currently are Adam “Ange” Milian and Trick.

Earlier this year, Till Werdermann, CEO of OverActive Media, the parent company of MAD Lions, announced the signing of the former Dark Ratio squad to play under the organization’s name in the VCL NA 2023. In addition, Werdermann assured that the organization had full confidence in this lineup for this season.

However, the organization’s wishes seem to have not been fully met, as after only one Split played, three players already are not part of the lineup.

Bad Split 1 for MAD Lions

MAD Lions started their adventure in the North American Challengers division of VALORANT with a resounding victory in the first map of their series against TSM. However, this was the only map they won in the first four series they played, meaning they started with a 0-4 record in the Split. As a result, the organization decided to bench Will and, in his place, would enter Marshall “N4RRATE” Massey.

While the team was already completely out of contention to qualify for the Mid-Season Face Off NA, the team responded in the final game of the Group Stage by defeating OREsports with a score of 2-1.

The controversy surrounding ZexRow and drone departure

Following the announcement by MAD Lions, Trick, the MAD Lions IGL, and one of only two players on the squad posted a Tweet about what happened.

As we note, Trick takes responsibility for the poor results achieved by the team in Split 1 of the VCL NA. He further claims that he failed as IGL in trying to create an ideal ecosystem in the team that could lead them to success. On the other hand, he said that his mistakes directly influenced the team’s negative results.

To this, one of the affected players, ZexRow, responded, and this was the moment where the heated argument started via Twitter between these former teammates.

To this, Trick also responded and continued the discussion.

Finally, both players expressed their thoughts and feelings according to what happened. However, as with most fights on social media, it came to nothing.

The only thing we could be sure of is that the bad results of MAD Lions in Split 1 of the VCL NA go far beyond mistakes in the game or lack of leadership. If a team does not have good harmony outside the servers, it is very difficult to exist within them.

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