Team IGLs boycott BLAST Premier Fall Final 2024 media day over Astralis substitution

Four esports athletes have threatened to boycott the BLAST Premier Fall Final 2024 media day in protest over Astralis replacing Alexander "br0" Bro with Casper "cadiaN" Møller, which may violate the competition regulations.

The players in question are Dan "apEX" Madesclaire, Russel "Twistzz" Van Dulken, Finn "karrigan" Andersen, and Marco "Snappi" Pfeiffer. It is known that apEX and Snappi actually carried out their threats and did not show up for a photo shoot before the start of the event.

The conflict arose amid Astralis making a substitution in their roster after the roster lock, taking advantage of one of the points of the BLAST rulebook, which allows for emergency substitutions for medical reasons. Astralis management cited br0's health issues for not being able to compete at the tournament, while BLAST allowed cadiaN to replace him.

br0's agent later reported that the player was in good health and ready to compete. After that, according to HLTV sources, several teams tried to appeal the change, but were unsuccessful – BLAST not only did not reverse their decision, but also refused to comment, citing confidentiality.

As a result, the in-game leaders of Vitality, Liquid, FaZe, and Falcons took the situation public by refusing to participate in the BLAST Premier Fall Final 2024 media day, while the organizers had to respond to the situation. BLAST released the following statement:

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.

BLAST Premier Fall Final 2024 will be held from September 25 to 29 in Copenhagen, Denmark. The total prize pool of the competition will amount to $425,000 – it will be divided among eight rosters. The strongest squad will also secure a ticket to BLAST Premier World Final 2024.

Origin: www.hltv.org