International CS:GO team Sprout and Australian in-game leader Aaron “AZR” Ward have parted ways 45 days after his arrival, the org announced today.
The 30-year-old came back to pro play in March after over a year of being inactive and was tasked with the responsibility of guiding Sprout to the last CS:GO Major. The team, however, lost three times at the BLAST Paris Major Europe RMR A and failed to qualify for the $1.25 million event.
Sprout lost to Falcons, Into The Breach, and Apeks, while defeating only Viperio in the Europe RMR A. This was a huge disappointment to the organization because they qualified for the IEM Rio Major in 2023 as Legends with Ismail “refrezh” Ali leading the team. On top of the bad team performance in the RMR, AZR also struggled individually. The former Renegades/100 Thieves captain had the second-lowest rating in the event (0.80) and finished with a -40 K/D ratio, according to HLTV.
AZR said he didn’t have time to implement his philosophy during his stint with Sprout, but also said it was clear from the beginning there were unforeseen role clashes on the squad.
“Even though it was a short amount of time I spent with the team, it was clear early on that it just wasn’t a good fit with roles clashing and not having the same vision for the IGL to take and create space for the team as I believe this way is the best for me to call,” AZR said on a Twitlonger. “With me coming back from a longer break and then having just one month to prepare for the RMR I felt like we had no time to implement the roles I would have liked for the team. Along side a rough RMR this would be the best outcome for both parties.”
Related: ESL explains future of most prestigious CS:GO prize after transition to Counter-Strike 2
Sprout wants to be prepared when Counter-Strike 2 launches and will have an academy team by this summer to nurture talent and promote them to the main team once it’s time. For now, the org will start trialing in-game leaders to replace AZR.
AZR, on the other hand, said he’s ready to grind CS2 and work on his game. He doesn’t want to stay inactive for as long as he did after EXTREMUM shut down in October 2021.
