TudsoN Leaves MAD Lions

The Spanish esports organization, MAD Lions, parted ways with Filip “tudsoN” Tudev on Sunday, October 3. The 21-year-old Counter-Strike: Global Offensive pro player left the team, which he has been a part of since March 2021.

The End of a Six-Man Roster

With the departure of tudseN, MAD Lions will no longer have a six-man roster, which they fielded since March. During that time, tudseN had to fight with Volodymyr “Woro2k” Veletniuk for the starting AWP spot.

Unfortunately, the 21-year-old Pole hasn’t had many chances to prove his worth, having played for MAD Lions only sporadically. Most recently, MAD Lions put tudseN on the bench during their journey through the IEM Fall Europe.

TudseN has played only five games for MAD Lions since July, having made appearances at the Funspark ULTI 2021 Europe regional closed qualifiers, IEM Fall Europe open qualifiers, and Fantasyexpo EU Champions Fall 2021.

Over that stretch, tudsoN has played six maps and averaged a fairly solid 1.15 rating. Regardless, the team seems to have decided to continue with Woro2k as their main AWPer.

“I took a challenge and was really determined to prove myself and be in the main roster, and I know I did my best to prove my abilities. But sometimes life is brutal,” said tudsoN.

TudsoN has also commented on MAD Lions’ decision to replace him with Woro2k. Although an unfortunate situation, tudsoN has stated that he has learned a lot while competing for the starting role.

“I got the option to be the 6th guy… I had a chance to look at the game at a different perspective which I believe made me a better person and a player.”

MAD Lions Continue Without TudsoN

With tudsoN’s departure from the team, MAD Lions are left with five active members. Their lineup consists of Thomas “TMB” Bundsbæk, Pere “sausol” Solsona Saumell, Justinas “jL” Lekavicius, Johannes “b0RUP” Borup, and Woro2k.

TBM is the longest-standing member of MAD Lions CS:GO esports roster, which he joined in January as an in-game leader. In March, TBM linked with sausol, jL, and Woro2k, who have joined as a part of MAD Lions’ rebuild process.

The latest arrival, b0RUP joined the team in August to replace Teodor “SPELLAN” Nikolov. The Dane has previously played for HYENAS (March – July 2021), who he joined after getting benched from Heroic.

The five-man lineup have recently finished their journey through the IEM Fall Europe, where MAD Lions failed to deliver. They finished their group in fifth place, with a 2-3 record, thus failed to qualify for the playoffs.

Over that stretch, MAD Lions lost against Team Vitality (2-16), Dignitas (9-16), and ENCE (11-16). However, they found some traction in the final two rounds of play, with wins against Sprout (16-12) and OG (16-9).

Unfortunately, their late resurgence wasn’t enough to make it into the second stage and collect the coveted Regional Major Ranking (RMR) points.

Despite failing to qualify for the PGL Stockholm Major, MAD Lions have a filled schedule ahead of them. MAD Lions will attend BLAST Premier: Fall Showdown 2021, where they’ll compete for a ticket leading into the Fall Finals.

MAD Lions Attend BLAST Premier: Fall Showdown 2021

At the Fall Showdown, MAD Lions will compete against 16 teams for the lion’s share of the $162,500 prize pool. The tournament will use a single-elimination bracket, with all games played as best-of-three (Bo3).

MAD Lion’s first opponents at the tournament are Evil Geniuses, who they will face on Wednesday, October 13, at 18:00 CEST. It will mark MAD Lions’ first meeting with EG.

Even though Evil Geniuses are a more established CS:GO esports team, the esports bookmakers have MAD Lions priced as the betting favorites. That makes a lot of sense, considering EG’s poor form.

Having failed to win a single CS:GO tournament in over a year, the BLAST Premier: Fall Showdown 2021 might be EG’s final chance to prove their worth. At the same time, the tournament will serve as an excellent opportunity for MAD Lions to build on what they’ve shown in the final games at the IEM Fall Europe.