RE : Max's Release from the Team.
While we believe our initial decision to remain silent was the correct one, in light of recent events, we feel forced to make a statement.
It wasn’t easy to stay quiet while being under attack from many sides, including established members of the community. A community we are part of, know, and love. Our initial decision to remain silent was aimed at avoiding drama, however due to the excessive ongoing hate campaign against our players, VM Legacy finds itself forced to address internal matters publicly.We apologize for the length but believe it is important to be thorough and make 1 and only 1 statement.First of all we believe we should summarize what we will discuss which are the two main questions that everyone has:
Why did we decide to part ways with Max?
Why did we not give him any reason for parting ways?We did not want to make this information public nor to hurt the image of anyone, but without the full story with proof included, it would be difficult for people to truly understand the situation so that is what we are forced to do.Why did we decide to part ways with Max?
Unfortunately, despite Max's efforts in applying to join our team, it turns out he harbored strong negative feelings against multiple team members.Max also confided in a teammate (Ninj) that he had these feelings. The team did not like this but hoped that these feelings would be overcome after spending countless hours together, whether in-game or on voice calls. However, instead of improving, more resentment grew and Max began discussing team matters with outsiders and speaking negatively about his teammates. Max acknowledged that his actions would get in the way of the team’s goals yet his actions continued.Whilst this is of course unacceptable, it is exacerbated by the fact that Max broke our main rule that we very clearly outlined to him when joining and explained that breaking it would not be tolerated. This rule was that "all team matters stay internal and he must not speak badly about any of the team to people outside of the team". Both of these were broken on multiple occasions by Max.These issues sadly continued and were brought to the attention of the entire team and managers. After multiple discussion and thorough consideration, it became clear that we, as a collective, ALL agreed that we could no longer trust Max nor continue to play with him.We highly value trust, respect, and team chemistry. This was emphasized to Max upon joining but he showed clear disrespect towards our teammates, our team rules, and we no longer trusted him. That is what ultimately led us to making this decision.
We will now reluctantly show evidence of all that we have claimed.
The first is a statement from Max shortly after th16 was released:
Now we show that Max applied to join us despite having this opinion not that long ago. We never considered this to be an issue because why would he apply to join us if he would never play with our captain? Additionally, his question references replacing Synthe who he further down the line is not happy with.
It is clear that he has spoke with his best friend (Paevu) about a member of the team with the following
When asked by a team member what he meant by this, his response is below. In his response, Max acknowledges that his actions would get in the way of the team’s goals:
Max made these statements after we had already won a Golden Ticket together. He is stuck in the past and referencing that Ninj and Dark are crazy to have chosen to play with Fluxxy and Synthe rather than Hades and Paevu. Considering the difference in skill, achievements, and performances between the players mentioned, it is extremely disrespectful and shows that his opinion on the team members cannot be changed.
Hoping to see a change in Max's view, the day we won the golden ticket Ninj messaged Max later that day and this was his reaction:
When his friends were talking very badly about VM members on a server that him and Ninj share his reply was rather similar:
Max has already shown a strong dislike towards members on the team, he has spoken with outsiders about internal matters, and that he will "spill secrets" after worlds. Max’s actions created a huge lack of trust and he broke the team’s main rule. Lack of trust is not something we want to have within our team. Furthermore Max also would talk badly about both Synthe and Fluxxy to Ninj, but he never discussed his opinions with the team nor anyone else individually. Not in our team server nor in voice chats. We really value communication and this was very troublesome. Max put Ninj in a difficult situation and it made the team feel like he does not fit in well.
Despite clearly stating that he does not like Fluxxy, Max suggested to his friends that he would try to earn his trust in the hopes of having potential NDA info leaked to him.
All of this made the team and management decide that it was impossible to continue with Max on the team. The team chemistry at a potential bootcamp and world finals would be very awkward and it simply would be impossible for the team to be happy and successful. A team cannot work together and succeed without trust.
We now would like to show the community a side of Max which they may not be aware of.
Currently the image of Max is being a victim who has been treated unfairly. We would hope that the evidence so far has dispelled that. Now we feel it is important to show some of his manipulation and reply baiting.So as you can see above, after his removal from the team, he began with messaging Ninj asking for help and a recommendation when applying to MMG.Max then messaged Darkstar praising him as the best teammate while downplaying Ninj's assistance and blaming his teammates (Synthe and Fluxxy) for holding him back.Max then messaged Drew (our manager) claiming that nobody respects him now that he is no longer on the team and that Drew should leave the team despite being on the team since the start of the season. It is also interesting to note that he tells Darkstar that he is the best teammate yet tells Drew that NONE of the team respect him so obviously including Darkstar in this.
One of the agendas we have seen pushed is that we "used" Max to get a golden ticket - both by Max and also his friends
We believe that this is a manipulative attempt to damage our reputation.
We do not understand how we used him to get a golden ticket when he applied to the team despite stating that he would "Never play on a team with Fluxxy". Additionally he has never in his clash career made it to a Stage 3 of a qualifier, but in his first qualifier with VM Legacy won a golden ticket.We tried to be patient and give him time to change his opinions, but it became clear that he simply does not care about his teammates nor the rules of the team, but simply wants to stay in VM just for the golden ticket that we have. As otherwise how is it possible to explain all of the clear resentment he has towards the team members.We hope that this was clear and that our decision to part ways with Max is understandable. We asked the opinion of respected people in the community and did not take the decision lightly but every single person in the team, managers and builders agreed that it was absolutely the right decision. We appreciate his skill as a player, but Max clearly broke the team rule and his behaviour is simply not compatible with our team.
