- Triumph’s player xCeeD has overslept and has missed the game against Evil Geniuses
- Because of that, Triumph players had to forfeit a game that might have been their best chance to shine
- Triumph managed to win the next match but will have a lot of work to do if it wants to qualify for the Stockholm Major
Jack “xCeeD” Holiman has overslept, leading his team Triumph to forfeit a game against Evil Geniuses.
Triumph Forfeit the Match
Elite Counter-Strike: Global Offensive player has just singlehandedly caused his team to lose a professional game. This happened during the Intel Extreme Masters XVI – Fall: North America tournament.
The culprit is Jack “xCeeD” Holiman, a member of team Triumph. Triumph was scheduled to play against their Evil Geniuses in a best-of-one game. The game was expected to be an exciting match and Triumph’s chance to prove themselves against one of the big names in esports… only it never took place. Thing is, according to Triumph’s in-game captain, Danny “cxzi” Strzelczyk, xCeeD had overslept and wasn’t present at the game. This, in turn, forced the team to forfeit the match because it was “unable to field an eligible lineup within the time limit”.
Triumph would have usually been allowed to find a substitute, only that they already had Wesley “viz” Harris replace Brendan “Bwills” Williams. Triumph wasn’t allowed to get a second substitute, forcing them to forfeit the game.
Triumph In a Tough Spot
While the walkover is welcome to Evil Geniuses, Triumph isn’t having it easy. The match was the latter team’s best chance to shine. If the game did take place, Triumph and Evil Geniuses would have competed on the Nuke map – a map that is known as one of EG’s greatest weaknesses. So much so, in fact, that EG hasn’t won a single Nuke game in the last six months. XCeeD’s absence might have doomed an otherwise great game for Triumph.
With a 1-2 score, Triumph moved to their next game. It was another best-of-one match against 00Nation, a former MIBR team. XCeeD came back in time for that game and managed to note his presence with an unremarkable result of six kills. However, cxzi more than made up for xCeeD’s suboptimal performance as he scored some impressive 33 kills and propelled Triumph to victory.
With a 2-2 result, Triumph still has a lot of pressure if it wants to qualify for the Stockholm Major. The team has no prior RMR points and will therefore have to finish in one of the top five places to have a chance at continuing to the big event. Triumph’s players will now have to put a lot of backbone if they want to distinguish themselves and advance to Stockholm.
