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Active Media, the parent company of the Splyce brand that withdrew from Counter-Strike: Global Offensive in 2018, is getting back into the game in a big way. The organization has acquired the former Tricked Esport roster to compete under the MAD Lions banner.
This marks a major step up in MAD Lions’ efforts in CSGO and a major upgrade from the Spanish team it fielded throughout 2019. OverActive Media also owns the Overwatch League’s Toronto Defiant and the upcoming Call of Duty League team, Toronto Ultra.
Nicolai “HUNDEN” Petersen will captain the team and will be joined by Rasmus “Sjuush” Beck, Frederik “acoR” Gyldstrand, Fredrik “roeJ” Jørgensen, and Lucas “Bubzkji” Andersen. The only change in the transition from Tricked to MAD Lions is the addition of a new coach in Louis “peacemaker” Tadeu.
Peacemaker has coached several notable teams including Tempo Storm, NRG Esports, Misfits Gaming, TYLOO, and Heroic. While the coach is known to be hard on his players, his style might work with a moldable group of talent.
The team has made impressive progress over the last year, going from largely unknown to one of Europe’s better teams. Their biggest victory to date came at the V4 Future Sports Festival, which saw them beat MiBR and Virtus.pro to capture the event’s top prize. The roster made its debut under the MAD Lions banner at DreamHack Open Sevilla. The team reached the top four of the event, but were eliminated in the semifinals by eventual winners North.
The team is currently set to return to action in the Mountain Dew League’s Europe Division in January.
As for MAD Lions’ former team, their future is unclear. Some of the players have stated they are looking for new opportunities, but it is unknown if they intend to continue competing as a unit or if they are looking for a fresh start.
While the Lions don’t have any matches scheduled for the foreseeable future, EPICENTER 2019 is currently ongoing. like today’s hot matchup between Virtus.pro and a mousesports team that has won three in a row.
