Vitality’s in-game leader ALEX has decided to step down from the active CS:GO roster, according to a report by French website 1pv.fr.
The British captain reportedly no longer wants to play due to constant travel. Vitality has one of the busiest calendars in CS:GO at the moment and is scheduled to play in at least three tournaments in the next three months, including the ESL One Rio Major in May.
This news will impact the French scene as a whole since there aren’t French in-game leaders competing at the highest level. ALEX’s decision comes days after Vitality were eliminated in the early stages of IEM Katowice. The team also played at BLAST Premier Spring Series and failed to qualify for the finals.
Vitality are the ninth-best CS:GO team in the world right now, according to HLTV’s rankings. That’s their lowest ranking since May 2019, however.
ALEX has been playing for Vitality since he was brought in to replace Happy in December 2018. He initially led the team alongside NBK-, who was benched in September 2019 after the StarLadder Berlin Major.
With the help of ALEX’s tactics, Vitality became one of the best teams in the world. They had several deep runs at events and won two big tournaments last year, ECS season seven finals in June and EPICENTER in December.
If Vitality can’t persuade ALEX to stay, he may be replaced by Ali “hAdji” Haïnouss, who plays for LDLC. The 24-year-old rifler is Vitality’s preferred target, according to 1pv.fr’s report. This would be hAdji’s second chance to compete in tier-one tournaments since he played for Team Envy in 2018. It’s unknown who would be the team’s captain, though.
