Twistzz and karrigan: CS2 organizations shouldn't "dictate players' health," BLAST and Astralis "set a bad precedent"

Team Liquid captain Russel "Twistzz" Van Dulken commented on BLAST's decision to allow Casper "cadiaN" Moller to stand in for Astralis at Fall Final 2024. The IGL is upset with the way the organizers dismissed Alexander "br0" Bro's agent. The player raised his concerns on X.

What has happened over the past couple days has revealed a major issue. One that is very threatening to every player in CS and that is player representation not being respected by a tournament organizer.

If the agent is disregarded and not looked upon as the most accurate figure to represent said person, what are we really doing here? Letting any organization dictate the health of a player and not seek the person who is the actual representor is a recipe for disaster, especially when players can be easily silenced or threatened and cannot provide input themselves.

I hope going forward that representatives are also consulted and questioned in any situation that would cause concern over a players well-being. I think this should go for any esport as well and should be used as a wakeup call.

ApEX: "It's really important for me that my teammates give their best all the time. So I'm really pushy with them"

Says that zonic is too kind as a coach, and he wanted him to be harder on the players.

Twistzz was echoed by FaZe Clan's leader Finn "karrigan" Andersen. He thinks that the TO sets up a dangerous precedent. He aslo stressed out how important the voice of an agent should be in this kind of situation.

I am happy with how our statement came across, and obviously, we are not happy about the decision. This can eventually set a really bad precedent for the future with roster changes. Thanks to all IGLs here at BLAST for standing up and speaking out on this matter. We, as players, haven’t been together for a long time for such a case, so it should speak volumes that we all speak on this matter publicly together. Every player is for himself, and the only real representation with the best intention is the agent that represents them.

The core issue of the episode is that BLAST blindly trusted Astralis, who claimed that br0 was "unfit to play," requesting a medical emergency substitute. Seven IGLs of BLAST Fall Final 2024 released an open letter, warning against the decisions made by the tournament operator. Almost all of them boycotted the media day to put pressure on BLAST. The organizers didn't change their initial decision to allow cadiaN for Astralis but promised to review their rulebook in the future. Later, Richard Lewis reported that br0 was trialling at ENCE, contradicting the statements of the alleged health issues.

Richard Lewis: "Br0 is trialing with ENCE at the moment. So Astralis says he's too ill to compete, but he's well enough to trial"