xek leaves Moscow Five (original) (raw)
Alexander "xek" Zobkov has via a blog on the Moscow Five website announced that he has left the team.
After elimination at the IEM6 World Championship, which came in a quarter-final loss against ESC Gaming, rumors started flying that Moscow Five had seen Roman "ROMJkE" Makarov left the team, supposedly after reading hateful comments aimed at the team on the team's own website and in the blog of the team owner.
Today the team lost a member, with Alexander "xek" Zobkov announcing his departure via a blog on the team's website. The reason behind Zobkov's move is allegedly due to the chemistry in the team, as well as the desire to reach his full potential as an individual.
xek has left Moscow Five
This is the second time Zobkov exits the team. Last year, after the IEM5 World Championship, the team cut Zobkov from the team, later on bringing in Alexandr "Twist" Sharipov. Zobkov later returned to Moscow Five, replacing Sharipov in May.
Since May, there has been no change in the team, but the possibility of changes has been there quite a few times. Smelyi, the Moscow Five owner, has on several occasions expressed his dissatisfaction with the team, which also came to show on March 8, when the Russian team got eliminated in the IEM6 World Championship.
Once again Smelyi expressed his dissatisfaction, this time touching on the team's unwillingness to practice at the organization's training facilities, supposedly only agreeing to do so when Smelyi said he would reduce their February salary. He furthermore states that the motivation of the team is on a low and that the team plays more DotA than CS, but also claiming that the only thing the players are interested in is money.
Eduard "ed1k" Ivanov went on to post a reply to the blog, stating there's no motivation problem. In regards of not being willing to practice, Ivanov stated their salary is miserable for Moscow standards, where the average salary is 50,000 rubles, while the team receives 20,000 rubles per month.
With Zobkov out of Moscow Five, the team is left with the following four:
Eduard "ed1k" Ivanov
Whether Makarov has left the team or not is still not clear. The future of Moscow Five could be to find a new fifth and get a fresh start, but with the recent intrigues in the team, getting cut or folding could certainly be an option too.