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Mouz have suddenly benched their former IGL Kamil ‘siuhy‘ Szkaradek (pictured above), with Ludvig ‘Brollan’ Brolin taking on the in-game leading duties just days before IEM Katowice 2025 begins.
The org, one of several teams competing at IEM Katowice 2025 next month, later announced that star-rifler Lotan ‘Spinx‘ Giladi would be their fifth, transferring from Vitality.
Mouz said that siuhy had been benched due to “differing visions” within the team. According to HLTV, Brollan will take on IGL duties permanently as Mouz added Israeli major-winner Spinx to their starting line-up.
And Spinx, formerly of Team Vitality, put rumours to bed, saying he never had a problem with Vitality UK player mezii.
Mouz said: “We are announcing updates to our Counter-Strike roster, effective immediately.
“Kamil ‘siugy’ Szkaradek will be stepping into an inactive role as a result of differing visions for the team’s direction. Ludvig ‘Brollan’ Brolin has been appointed as the new in-game leader. Additionally, Ádám ‘torzsi’ Torzsás and Dorian ‘xertioN‘ Berman will undertake expanded responsibilities within the team.
“Adrian ‘xelex‘ Vincze from [academy team] Mouz Nxt will serve as a stand-in for the upcoming IEM Katowice tournament.”
After rostermania came and went, many assumed that Mouz had gotten through the transfer period unscathed. With rumours swirling around multiple Mouz players, it was a surprise to many that they kept their roster intact. However, the roster only lasted a single match in 2025 in a Blast Bounty defeat to BetBoom.
In signing Spinx, Mouz undoubtedly sign one of Counter-Strike’s brightest stars. The major-winning rifler is a three-time top 20 HLTV player, most recently being ranked the 13th best player of 2024. That being said, they sign a player who does not naturally slot into Mouz’s immediate needs in siuhy’s absence. The Israeli’s roles clash consistently with Mouz’s new IGL, who will likely have to make sacrifices to fit in his new star.
Mouz will now have their work cut out for them with Katowice starting on January 29th.
End of an era for siuhy
The move seemingly brings an end to siuhy’s relationship with Mouz. Joining Mouz in 2021, the player first became known to the CS community in the Mouz Nxt roster, who dominated the WePlay Academy League.
While in Mouz Nxt, siuhy played alongside future Mouz teammates Ádám ‘torzsi’ Torzsás, Dorian ‘xertioN’ Berman, Jon ‘JDC‘ de Castro, and later Jimi ‘jimpphat‘ Salo.
But as the rest of the Mouz Nxt players were gradually filtered into the starting lineup, siuhy was forced to leave the organisation in order to prove himself elsewhere. The Polish IGL joined GamerLegion in September 2022, joining forces with British coach Ash ‘ash‘ Battye in a highly successful partnership that ultimately led them to successive majors, reaching the Paris Major 2023 grand final.
In light of his Paris Major performance, siuhy finally got his chance in Mouz’s senior team, taking up the role of IGL in July 2023. His period in the German organisation has been largely successful, with Mouz winning back-to-back Pro League seasons, as well as Betboom Dacha Belgrade 2024 where they defeated an in-form Spirit.
However, the roster has, at times, been labelled “studio merchants” or “chokers” due to their relatively weak performances in arena settings. Ultimately, the roster could not overcome those accusations with siuhy at the helm, and will be hoping to take the next step when Spinx dons the Mouz jersey.
Interestingly siuhy’s connection with ash was not his only connection to the British Isles. The Pole was the subject of an ESL documentary that explored his origins, which revealed that he spent much of his youth in Northern Ireland – competing in local LANs before returning to Poland and taking the steps which ultimately led him to pro CS.
Opinion – Is Spinx the right move for Mouz ahead of IEM Katowice 2025?
Darragh Harbinson pens his thoughts:
Multiple Counter-Strike fans and commentators have likened the move to Aleksi ‘aleksib‘ Virolainen’s disastrous removal from Ence in 2019. Under aleksib’s leadership, the Finnish roster had punched massively above their weight, even defeating the legendary Astralis roster in their imperious prime to take the Blast Madrid 2019 trophy.
However, more event wins did not come easily to Ence, and frustration set in. In the end, Ence removed aleksib to make room for Miikka “‘suNny‘ Kemppi – a move which on paper improved the roster’s firepower. In reality, the roster faced one early exit after another as they tumbled down the rankings.
In 2024, aleksib became a major-winning IGL when NaVi lifted the PGL Copenhagen trophy. In joining NaVi, aleksib found a suitable team and coach who believed in him. It would not surprise me if siuhy went on to replicate that feat elsewhere having seemingly lost the faith of Mouz’s players. At 22 years of age, siuhy remains a stand-out IGL in terms of experience and accomplishments for his age. It is inevitable that he will find a move to a top team.
It is less clear that Mouz will recover to the point of winning S-tier trophies. It took Ence four years, and an entirely different roster to achieve that goal. At this point in time, removing siuhy feels like a huge risk as there is little appreciable data on Brollan’s tier one IGLing.
Mouz may however take solace in their 2022 Rio Major run which saw them make the major semi-finals, then under the leadership of Christopher ‘dexter‘ Nong. The result shows that multiple IGLs can harness torzsi and xertioN’s talents. Brollan will also benefit from the abilities of Spinx and jimpphat – the 18-year-old anchoring prodigy.
On paper Mouz’s roster remains incredibly strong. In signing Spinx, Mouz have made an uncharacteristic star signing, but will that lead to success? This writer is not so sure…
Related article: IEM Katowice 2025 preview: How are all the teams looking ahead of the CS2 event and what are their chances of winning?
Darragh Harbinson is a freelance writer specialising in Counter-Strike. He has written for Esports News UK as well as the likes of UKCSGO, Dexerto and Rush B Media.
