Team Vitality and Alex “ALEX” McMeekin announced that the two parties will be separating. The in-game leader is leaving at his own will, citing the intense traveling schedule as the main driver behind the decision.
New IGL for Vitality
The news of Vitality and ALEX’ split will certainly lead to notable changes in the French squad. The player had been with the team since December 2018 when he replaced in-game leader Vincent “Happy” Schopenhauer.
IGL duties were shared between ALEX and Nathan “NBK” Schmitt until the latter’s departure in September when the Brit took over completely. At the time it was thought that the inability of the pair to work together is the reason for NBK’s kick. Vitality won three trophies with ALEX on board – cs_summit 4, the ECS Season 7 Finals and EPICENTER 2019. The final of those wins came with the Brit as the sole in-game leader.
As soon as suspicions arose of ALEX’ departure badmouths claimed that a new wave of IGL clashes might be the cause, with Richard “shox” Papillon being the culprit this time. The official announcement by both team and player says no such thing.
In his statement, McMeekin reveals that he had sought a schedule relief this year after a rigorous 2019. The promised relief could not materialize, however, due to Vitality’s commitment to BLAST Premier and the ESL Pro Tour, which led to his decision to step down and leave Vitality without an IGL once more.
According to reports, Vitality will not bring in another in-game leader but would instead opt for young talent Kévin "Misutaaa" Rabier. This move hasn't been confirmed by the player, nor the team. If it does go through then one of the remaining core members will have to step into the leading role. The prime candidates for that are shox and Dan “apEX” Madesclaire.
Shox has a rather underwhelming record as an IGL and has said that he would prefer to stray off the role for now. His teammate, on the other hand, doesn’t have any IGL experience, but has been notably active in-game his whole career. The choice would be interesting if it comes down to it. We’ll keep you in touch with any updates on the matter here at EarlyGame.
