IGLs boycott BLAST Media Day over Astralis emergency substitute ruling

A number of IGLs have skipped the Media Day at BLAST Premier Fall Finals 2024. The drastic step by the IGLs comes after teams tried and failed to protest BLAST's decision on Astralis' emergency substitution request. The decision was foreshadowed by tweets on 23 Sept. where four leaders tweeted, "I might be unfit for Blast Media tomorrow."

UPDATE: In-game leaders of the seven non-Astralis teams competing at BLAST have shared an open letter addressing BLAST's decision to permit an emergency substitute for Astralis. The letter, which is signed by the seven IGLs, including chopper who was not part of the media day boycott, highlights two major points.

Firstly, the letter highlights the importance of integrity and consistency, pointing to previous examples where teams had to compete with coaches. Furthermore, the players take a firm stance against "using "the exploitation of mental health or physical health issues as a means to justify the allowance of an emergency substitute."

BLAST hasn't responded to the letter at the time of this update.

When Astralis announced the signing of Casper "cadiaN" Møller, the move was surprising yet understandable. While the IGL had an unceremonious split with Martin "stavn" Lund and Jakob "jabbi" Nygaard, he still was one of the leading options for a Danish leader. What was more perplexing was the announcements setting cadiaN's debut at BLAST Premier Fall Finals, Copenhagen.

Copenhagen is always a meaningful event for local heroes, Astralis. But given BLAST's roster lock, the team would have had to field br0 in the event. A report by HLTV's Luis Mira revealed that BLAST had sent an email to the teams in attendance informing them that Astralis' had been allows an emergency substitution "due to a medical emergency".

Following inquiries into Alexander "br0" Bro's health, his agent, Fabian Broich, put out a tweet. In the post, Fabian stated that his player was fully healthy and ready to perform.

On the eve of the BLAST Premier Fall Finals media day, Dan "⁠apEX⁠" Madesclaire, Russel "⁠Twistzz⁠" Van Dulken, Finn "⁠karrigan⁠" Andersen, and Marco "⁠Snappi⁠" Pfeiffer posted identically worded messages on Twitter. In the message, they all said they " might be unfit for Blast Media tomorrow."

The tweets came after the organizations failed to protest BLAST's decision, forcing players to take matters into their own hands. While some believed the tweets to be empty threats, the IGLs followed through, skipping their media obligations, while their teammates were in attendance. Not only were the aforementioned players missing from the media sessions, but other IGLs like Aleksi "⁠Aleksib⁠" Virolainen and Janusz "⁠Snax⁠" Pogorzelski also joined the boycott.

Astralis was thus one of the only teams to have all five players present for media. But a previously set up roundtable with cadiaN, for external media, was canceled. While BLAST confirmed that they were "in the process of seeking further clarification from Astralis", no announcement has been made so far.

Will Astralis have to field br0? Stay tuned to esports.gg for more CS2 news and updates.