IGLs protest last-second Astralis roster change

After a dramatic two-man (stavn and jabbi) signing earlier this year, a little over a week back Astralis turned heads and raised eyebrows across the scene with their latest recruit. The Danish org picked up the charismatic Danish IGL cadiaN, reuniting the controversial trio. At the time of signing, the roster lock for the BLAST Premier Fall Final had long passed.

cadiaN's first event with Astralis was set to be IEM Rio (theoretically) but Astralis announced that cadiaN would debut at the Fall Final. It was nearly two weeks past the roster submission deadline and Astralis reportedly told BLAST that br0 was "unfit " to play, granting cadiaN a slot through a medical emergency policy.

After a while, br0's agent took to X to shed light on the situation, clarifying that br0 was facing no difficulties with regards to his medical condition, was fully healthy and ready to perform. One can easily deduce from the above that it did not sit well with other participating teams and their IGLs took to X, threatening to withdraw themselves from the BLAST media day.

Ridiculing Astralis' statement to BLAST, IGLs started posting "I might be unfit for Blast Media tomorrow". The Fall Final is set to commence tomorrow, 25th September 2024 with NAVI taking on Falcons. Astralis will also be in action later on against Vitality in the third game of the day.

Astralis' initial roster submission included br0 and their head coach ruggah but the org did not register any substitute. BLAST's rulebook even makes provision for a coach to fill in for emergency situations, negating the need for an external substitute in a situation such as this one.