- FaZe Clan needed an urgent replacement at the BLAST Premier Spring Groups
- BLAST refused the swap even though the substitute was already present
- This caused confusion but BLAST finally allowed FaZe to use another substitute
The refusal of BLAST to allow FaZe to substitute k0nfig with rain prompted backlash and the tournament organizer finally revealed their side of the story.
BLAST Refuses K0nfig to Substitute Rain
Mistakes happen often and even big esports organizations and organizers are not immune to making them. The popular CS:GO tournament organizer BLAST was recently involved in a series of miscommunications with FaZe clan, who wanted to use Kristian “k0nfig” Wienecke as a stand-in for Håvard “rain” Nygaard at the BLAST Premier Spring Groups.
However, this move was allegedly met with resistance from other teams, as the Dane was not officially submitted as part of FaZe's roster. The 25-year-old player, who said he had to skip the event in anticipation of the birth of his child, was instead listed as Heroic's substitute. This necessitated an exception to change, but BLAST rejected the emergency replacement. According to several disgruntled members of FaZe, this move was a turnaround from the organizers' earlier decision to allow k0nfig to play.
What’s worse for FaZe is that k0nfig was already on location with the team and present for the media day. He was also present in the team’s practice room when the decision to disallow him from substituting for rain came.
BLAST Explains Their Side of the Story
BLAST’s decision to disallow FaZe’s player change prompted backlash. The tournament organizer finally released a statement sharing their side of the situation. In it, the company claims the reason behind the confusion was miscommunication and a lack of clarity on roster lock timings and k0nfig's eligibility to play.
“FaZe requested the use of k0nfig, this request was denied as the player was registered on another team's roster for the event,” BLAST’s statement reads. “In that process there has been confusion around whether this subsequent emergency substitution request was formally accepted and validated by BLAST.”
“After looking into the incident internally, we identified miscommunication and a lack of clarity from BLAST on roster lock timings and k0nfig's eligibility to play in Spring Groups.” But at least it seems BLAST has learned several things from the incident, claiming further into the statement that it will improve the process in the future. At the end of the day, FaZe was able to substitute rain. The team scrambled at the last minute to find their replacement in the face of Patrick “es3tag” Hansen, who is currently benched in Ninjas in Pyjamas. Although BLAST allows this, es3tag will not be allowed to play if FaZe meets Ninjas in Pyjamas at the tournament. However, this could only happen during the Knockout stage, if neither team qualifies directly to the Spring Final through the initial Group stage.
