It seems that a fire was lit today via social media, as the Counter-Strike: Global Offensive community in Australasia are currently up in arms about a certain team deciding to go behind everyone's back, which potentially could force teams to pull out of the events that they have qualified for.
Although originally lit on a heart warming tweet by Mitch “Conky” Concanen, about a sponsorship announcement with Zowie (BenQ), Grayhound Gaming’s player, DickStacy, stated “can’t wait to see you in Shanghai brah. Oh wait, Avant decided they’ll go behind the back of the Australian teams and f**k the dates with no reasoning,” (source) implying that Avant Gaming has decided to go against the grain with teams attempting to change the dates of the Season 10 Asia-Pacific ESL Pro League, so they don’t miss out on the Zowie eXTREMESLAND Asia Finals.
Zowie eXTREMESLAND Asia Finals Qualifiers:
EPL and Zowie Dates:
Reported by us back on October 19th, stage two of the ESL Pro League will clash with the Zowie eXTREMESLAND Asia Finals, which means those that recently qualified for the Zowie Asia Finals will have to pull out in order to qualify for the ESL Pro League Finals ($750,000 event) held in Denmark later this year, if the dates for stage two of the ESL Pro League Asia-Pacific qualifier isn’t changed.
Following Ollie “DickStacy” Tierney’s tweet, players such as Matthew “Texta” O’Rourke of The Chiefs Esports Club added to the fire by stating “the man you gave a lifetime opportunity to, stabbed you mate,” which you can only assume is targeted at Euan “sterling” Moore, who played for Grayhound Gaming from October 2018 to Febuary 2019 and now competes for Avant Gaming.
It’s been made aware to us by a reliable source in the Australasian Counter-Strike community that all teams were in email correspondence with ESL, pleading to them to change the dates of ESL Pro League Season 10 Asia-Pacific. According to our source, this was the first time that every team stood together to stand up to a tournament organizer and work towards a common goal - changing dates.
Our source has also stated that ESL was working with the teams to find a solution, until Avant Gaming pulled their support and decided to go against the grain, stating that they are happy with the dates of the ESL Pro League Asia-Pacfic qualifier; all other teams were not chained into this email and were unaware of what had happened. It’s been said that news of this email slipped and then Avant Gaming were officially in the firing line for going against what everyone had agreed to do... attempt to change the dates.
With all of that being said, what does this mean? Well, if the ESL Pro League (EPL) dates stay the same due to Avant Gaming going against the grain, Grayhound Gaming will likely be forced to pull out of the Zowie eXTREMESLAND Asia Finals to compete in EPL, which would likely give The Chiefs their spot at the Asia Finals, as they finished third at the Zowie Regional Finals. With that being said, if any other teams were to pull out of the Asia Finals, Avant Gaming would likely be gifted a spot.
Although the catch-22 is that if no teams pull out of the Zowie eXTREMESLAND Asia Finals, Avant Gaming would have a stronger chance at qualifying for the ESL Pro League and vice versa if teams do pull out of the Zowie eXTREMESLAND Asia Finals. In the scenario no one pulled out of Zowie, they would only need to likely defeat The Chiefs Esports Club. Due to all of this, it’s forced all three other teams to make some tough decisions on where they stand.
We reached out to a representative at Avant Gaming for questioning on the situation, but they have declined to comment at this time.
Unless ESL makes an announcement sometime soon on date changes for the ESL Pro League Season 10 Asia-Pacific qualifier, the dates will remain the same and we will have to wait and see if anyone pulls out from the Zowie eXTREMESLAND Asia Finals.
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