MOUZ moved the German-Portuguese CS:GO rifler Jon “JDC” de Castro to the bench on June 28, which caught the entire CS:GO community by surprise.
The roster change came out of the blue, as nobody in the scene thought JDC would be replaced ahead of CS2‘s release. MOUZ is close to signing prodigy in-game leader Kamil “siuhy” Szkaradek to replace veteran Australian captain Christopher “dexter” Nong, according to a report from June 12, and is also reportedly chasing a deal for OG’s benched star AWPer degster to replace Ádám “torzsi” Torzsás.
It’s all speculation for now, but some CS:GO fans have reasons to believe MOUZ will promote 16-year-old Finnish prospect Jimi “Jimpphat” Salo from its academy team to replace JDC. The organization has been making good use of its academy division since 2022 when it promoted torzsi, JDC, Dorian “xertioN” Berman, and head coach Dennis “sycrone” Nielsen to the main team.
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JDC has been a part of MOUZ since 2021 when he signed a contract to play for MOUZ NXT, the academy project of the German organization. The 23-year-old went on to win four titles in WePlay Academy League, and was plying his trade for MOUZ’s starting lineup since March 2022. JDC never won a tier-one trophy with MOUZ, but he notably helped them reach the semifinals of the IEM Rio Major in November 2022.
JDC, however, hasn’t had the best individual performance since his promotion. He averaged a subpar 0.99 rating in his 468 days with the first team, according to HLTV. And JDC acknowledged his lack of firepower in a statement following his benching.
“I’m unsatisfied with my own individual showing during the period in MOUZ, even though I had some solid tournaments and finished off on a good note in [IEM] Dallas,” JDC said. “I am extremely motivated to show my skills in a new environment and allowed to talk to teams.”
MOUZ will have to sort out its roster for the second semester of the season and for CS2 over the next few days, as they’re slated to play in IEM Cologne’s Play-In stage on July 25.
