After a handful of disappointing finishes over the past few months, veteran CS:GO player and Evil Geniuses rifler Tarik has decided to take a step back from the main roster due to conflicting viewpoints on the team’s current problems.

In his place, the team has signed former Virtus Pro and Team Envy player MICHU. The 24-year-old will join the team while they continue to boot camp in Europe. “Michał is a talented new addition to our roster and a player who is hungry to compete with the best,” EG’s esports director Greg Kim said.

Tarik joined EG in September 2019 and has helped the team win a few events, such as the 2020 BLAST Premier American Spring Finals and ESL One. But the team hasn’t found much success throughout 2021 so far, with early exits from the BLAST Premier Global Final, BLAST Premier Spring Groups, and ESL Pro League.

“Our results as a team have been lackluster and led to the decision of me benching myself,” Tarik said in a TwitLonger. “By no means do I think I was playing well throughout the hardships, but I believe that even with our new lineup that underlying issues had still existed. Ultimately, I had a different approach to our issues however the team didn’t agree with my views.”

Tarik eventually decided that he “shouldn’t be a part of a project which [he] had lost faith in” and, as a result, he willingly benched himself. He said he’ll be reflecting on the things he could have done differently during his time with the team while also shifting his focus to getting back into form and streaming.

EG will be playing in the upcoming FunSpark ULTI Europe Final, starting on Monday, April 19. They’ll be competing against teams like Heroic, BIG, Complexity, Virtus Pro, HAVU, Extra Salt, and ForZe.

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