Maze replaces Zyphon as Sprout IGL

After playing on the main Sprout roster for just five months, IGL Rasmus “Zyphon” Nordfoss goes to bench. The organization has announced that they intend to use player Mikkel “Maze” Sparvath in his place to test how he performs as a team captain. 

The 21-year-old player was formerly with the European team “Let us cook” and is now expected to take over the announcements and in-game leadership duties, which was previously done by player Ismail “refrezh” Ali. What’s next for the team and Zyphon? 

refrezh is struggling as an IGL

Refrezh spoke openly about the difficulties associated with his new role as captain. In an interview, he has said it was “tough” for him and that it was “a lot of responsibility” that he had never had before. The player recently posted a Twitter post in which he also addressed the issues surrounding his stutter.

He has explained that his speech impediment partially prevents him from making calls and makes it difficult for the Dane to fulfill the role as well as he would have liked. In any case, hats off to the openness and courage to talk about his weaknesses!

Maze as the new IGL

After signing the contract, Maze now gets the chance to prove his skills as a Tier 1 captain. He previously played at Fnatic Rising and has gained a lot of experience as an IGL during his time at the academy. Most recently, he also played as a leader in Janusz “Snax” Pogorzelski’s team Let us cook and that’s when Sprout caught his eye.

What does the future hold for Sprout?

Zyphon joined the team with refrezh five months ago. The Danish rifler has performed admirably during his time with the team, earning an average rating of 1.06. The change comes almost at the last minute, because at this point in the season, the teams should be preparing and getting used to their new rosters. 

Finally, the new Major qualification cycle has begun and Sprout will surely aim to follow up on their success at the IEM Rio Major, where against the odds they managed to secure a slot on the Legends Stage. Will they repeat that at the Blast.tv Paris Major in May? 

This is Sprout’s current roster:

• Ismail “refrezh” Ali
• Mikkel “Maze” Sparvath
• Victor “Staehr” Staehr
• Laurențiu “lauNX” Țârlea
• Adrian “XELLOW” Guță
• Danny “BERRY” Krueger (Coach)
• Rasmus “Zyphon” Nordfoss (inactive)

We’ll soon be able to see Sprout’s new lineup in action as the Closed Qualifiers kick off for IEM Brazil, where they will face 9INE in the first round on January 8 at 3:30PM CET.

Header: ZyphonCS