IGLs go through with protest, BLAST to follow up with Astralis
The BLAST Premier Fall Final hasn't even started, and it is already getting spicy. After Astralis declared Alexander "br0" Bro "unfit to play" and subbed the newly signed Casper "cadiaN" Møller in as an emergency sub, other teams participating in the tournament have gone on to publicly and privately protest BLAST's decision to allow this to happen.
The tournament organizer has now told HLTV that there's an investigation going on to clarify if br0 is really unable to play because BLAST took Astralis' claims at "face value", as has been the usual practice. In response to an inquiry by HLTV, BLAST told the following:
Astralis declared that br0 was unfit to play in the Fall Final. We aren't able to reveal further details around this reason due to confidentiality. We have never asked teams for doctors notes as we respect/take teams accounts at face value and always have. We are in the process of seeking further clarification from Astralis on this matter and if we feel it is needed, we will look into sanctions/penalties.
The investigation regarding br0's medical emergency comes after br0's agent, Fabian Broich, posted that the player was healthy and ready to play. Then, Luís "MIRAAA" Mira from HLTV wrote about the situation and how cadiaN subbing in from br0 might be against the rules, which led several players to declare themselves as unfit to attend the media day.
At the time of publication, Dan "apEX" Madesclaire, Marco "Snappi" Pfeiffer, and Janusz "Snax" Pogorzelski have not shown up, while Astralis got the whole squad, including coach Casper "ruggah" Due, there. Liquid, FaZe, NAVI, and Spirit will be the next teams doing their media diligence, so it remains to be seen if these teams' IGLs will show up or not.
As of the end of Media Day, only Spirit and Astralis showed up with their full lineup. Liquid, G2, Falcons, Vitality, NAVI, and FaZe did not have their IGLs present.
