UPDATE - Team Empire representative Alexander 'StrangeR' Solomonov just tweeted that Mag is still a part of Team Empire. Resolut1on's statement during his interview with Natus Vincere was apparently a misunderstanding.
Dear e-Sport portals, Mag didn't leave @team_empire. It was misunderstanding at @EmpiResolut1on interview. We're trying to find ourself.
— Alexander Solomonov (@EmpireStrangeR) October 1, 2014
As rumored before, Team Empire has dropped their offlaner Andrei 'Mag' Chipenko. While the reasoning seems to be internal issues, the replacement is likely to be Cleave Gaming's SoNNeikO. An official statement on the matter has yet to be given.
About a week ago, Empire's managing director StrangeR hinted out that changes were about to be made. When Team Empire then announced SoNNeikO as their stand-in for the EMC LAN finals, the rumors about a possible replacement of Andrei 'Mag' Chipenko became louder. In an interview with Natus Vincere published today, midlaner Roman 'Resolut1on' Fominok has confirmed that the team has parted ways with their offlaner. While stating internal issues as the reasoning, he does not go into further details and also does not confirm SoNNeikO as an official replacement yet. GosuGamers reached out to Team Empire and they assured to clear out possible questions soon.
It has to be stressed at this point that the roster change is not official, a statement on the matter is soon to come.
Mag joined the squad a year ago after TI3. The team was set to reclaim their position at the top of the scene and it seemed to work out. Together with back then member Ivan 'Vanskor' Skorokhod, Empire was able to be a dominant force in the European scene. The squad was a European favorite at TI4 but failed to deliver and did not make it past the groupstage. After the tournament, Vanskor left the team and joined Natus Vincere. He was surprisngly replaced by Alexei 'Solo' Brezin, who has mainly been a core position player up until then. He joined the team however as a support player and the team faired quite well at first. Lately however, the Russians have been struggling to get the results needed and dropping Mag feels like the resolution the team has been looking for.
SoNNeikO is a 17 year old Russian player that has been part of Cleave Gaming since June of this year. Cleave mainly participated in StarLadder and was able to impress here and there with good performances but overall failed to establish themselves as a serious contender. Individually however, the team consists of promising and strong players that have been either around for quite some time or are looking to contest the best and SoNNeikO is such a player. Promising performances have earned him a stand-in seat for the Empire squad and it is more than likely that he will be the official replacement for Mag.
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