MOUZ have announced extensive changes to their lineup in the aftermath of a difficult start to the season.
Ludvig "Brollan" Brolin and Jimi "Jimpphat" Salo have been benched, leaving space for the promotion of Adrian "xelex" Vincze from the MOUZ NXT roster and the signing of Justinas "jL" Lekavicius on a short-term loan from Natus Vincere .
As part of the changes, Dorian "xertioN" Berman is also set to take over in-game leadership following the benching of Brollan , while his old role as the pack Opener will be taken up by the Hungarian academy graduate.
The changes come with an asterisk because MOUZ will not be able to make full use of them at the IEM Cologne Major. The Major Supplemental Rulebook requires them to use the lineup that was listed on the invite VRS from April 6, and may only incur one change through the use of a substitute.
That means jL , who has been signed on for MOUZ 's upcoming campaigns at PGL Astana and CS Asia Championships, will sit the Major out while Brollan makes a temporary return to the roster for the event, the organization said.
Questioned about the off-timing and the inability to use the full lineup for the season-ending Major, the organization explained that it wishes to prioritize "giving the new lineup a head start" after confidence in the previous roster's recovery from a disappointing first part of the season waned.
From early 2025 to early 2026, the team made at least the semi-finals at 13 of the 15 events they attended, but have now missed the top-four stage at three events in a row, a trend that was punctuated by a last-place bombing from BLAST Open Rotterdam last month.
sycrone thanked both outgoing players and praised each for their contribution in a lengthy statement. He admitted the decision was "not fair on a personal level" to Brollan after he "sacrificed for the team" with his transition into an in-game leader following the removal of Kamil "siuhy" Szkaradek , which ultimately led to the aforementioned run of consistency.
"This decision is not fair to him on a personal level. But leadership sometimes means accepting that fairness and necessity are not always the same thing," the coach said.
xelex 's promotion comes after a long line of successful graduates from MOUZ NXT , from where the majority of the previous roster originated, including his two new teammates, xertioN and Ádám "torzsi" Torzsás .
The Hungarian rifler has impressed in his year and a half with the academy squad. He averages a 1.21 rating over a staggering 154 maps played in 2026, enough to land him in the top 15 of HLTV's Prospects series as of last month.
"With xelex we are getting a highly talented and hungry player that is in line with our philosophy of promoting inhouse talent from NXT," MOUZ's CBDO, Jan Dominicus, told HLTV.
jL returns to a team for the first time since he decided to take time off from the game and stepped down from Natus Vincere in July last year. In his short trial, MOUZ hope to see "initiative in tough situations" and improvement of communication.
"The addition of jL will help our team with an outgoing personality that is taking initiative in tough situations and will help significantly improve the communication in the team," Dominicus went on.
MOUZ 's lineup for PGL Astana and CS Asia Championships will be:
Dorian "xertioN" Berman Ádám "torzsi" Torzsás Lotan "Spinx" Giladi Adrian "xelex" Vincze Justinas "jL" Lekavicius
Dennis "sycrone" Nielsen (coach)
Their temporary roster for the season-ending IEM Cologne Major will look as follows:
Dorian "xertioN" Berman Ádám "torzsi" Torzsás Lotan "Spinx" Giladi Adrian "xelex" Vincze Ludvig "Brollan" Brolin
Dennis "sycrone" Nielsen (coach)