BLAST announces final decision on Astralis situation

Tournament operator BLAST has made another official statement regarding the situation with the replacement in the Astralis roster. This announcement was a response to an open letter from the participants of BLAST Premier Fall Final 2024, which was signed by the IGLs of all teams except Astralis.

BLAST representatives stood by their decision: the squad will be allowed to compete at the tournament with Casper "cadiaN" Møller. At the same time, Astralis, according to the rules of the event, will receive 25% less prize money, as well as a seeding penalty.

As of the 2024 Fall Final, BLAST’s rulebook does not bind a team regarding who they appoint as their emergency substitute. From 2025, we will look into ensuring our rulebook is more aligned to the Majors and the parameters of emergency substitutes are better clarified.

Per our rulebook, any use of an emergency substitution results in a 25% deduction of prize money and a seeding penalty. This will be the case for the 2024 Fall Final.

In the past we have denied emergency substitutions when the root cause is visa issues. Per our rulebook, visas are typically the responsibility of the teams and are not considered valid grounds for emergency substitutes in the vast majority of cases.

When it comes to player health, we take team statements at face value. As a general rule, if these statements were subsequently proved to be false, we reserve the right to impose severe sanctions such as denying World Final qualification and/or additional prize pool penalties.

In this 2024 Fall Final case, we have been given no reason to question Astralis’ original statement to us and the decision to allow them to use an emergency substitute stands.

Note that cadiaN was registered for BLAST Premier Fall Final 2024 after the roster deadline as an emergency replacement. Astralis management referred to the fact that Alexander "br0" Bro will not be able to compete at the event due to health issues, but Bro's agent said that he is healthy and ready to play.

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: x.com