Sources: MAD Lions set to replace Hunden with AcilioN

Danish Counter-Strike team Mad Lions are turning to Asger "AcilioN" Larsen to step in as in-game leader for Nicolai "HUNDEN" Petersen, according to multiple sources close to the team. Mad Lions announced today that they had benched HUNDEN but did not disclose who they plan to replace him with. DBLTAP can confirm talks between AcilioN and the organization are in the latter stages and the move is likely to happen in the coming days.

HUNDEN had been the in-game leader of the Mad Lions lineup since January 2019 when he joined the Tricked Esports organization along with Frederik "acoR" Gyldstrand. The team would later add Rasmus "Sjuush" Beck, Lucas "Bubzkji" Andersen, and Fredrik "roeJ" Jørgensen. In December, the five players made the switch to Mad Lions and will play in Season 1 of the new FLASHPOINT league.

AcilioN was originally expected to join the unannounced c0ntact Gaming roster, but talks between the two parties stalled. He was benched from the Copenhagen Flames roster late last month in anticipation of his transfer and is now expected to head to play with Mad Lions. Prior to Copenhagen Flames, AcilioN played for Heroic for nearly nine months. His best result as a player was with Heroic when they won the TOYOTA Master CS:GO Bangkok 2018 over TYLOO.

Under the leadership of HUNDEN, Mad Lions reached the semi-finals of three international tournaments. The first was DreamHack Open Sevilla 2019, followed by DreamHack Open Leipzig 2020, and ICE Challenge 2020. They will begin play in the FLASHPOINT league starting in just over a week, where they will compete for a $1,000,000 USD prize pool.

UPDATE (5:22 p.m. ET): When reached for comment, a Mad Lions spokesperson provided the following statement: "In the lead up to the start of the new FLASHPOINT season, Hunden and the team have come to the mutual decision that he move into a management role inside our organization. We are currently finalizing our roster, and will provide an update as soon as we can."