Owen “Smooya” Butterfield and his mix team “Benched Heroes” is in danger of missing out on the important Major qualifier IEM Road to Rio RMR, due to several players having trouble obtaining an eligible visa to travel to Malta.
k0nfig to miss crucial Major qualifier for Astralis
It has been confirmed that Eugene “Aunkere” Karyat won’t attend the event and now it looks like Buğra “Calyx” Arkın is facing the same destiny, with things “not looking good”. With Benched Heroes, and every other team at the RMR, only having one substitute, it means their RMR participation hangs on a very thin thread.
Something, Smooya decided to comment on yesterday on Twitter.
Decision has been made. If Calyx doesnt obtain his VISA then we shall be missing the RMR. Upset doens’t describe it enough, being possibly forced out of an event because of something out of everyones control is painful as FUCK. Fingers crossed for Bugras VISA.
(…) Not allowing a roster change after the roster lock when something which was completely out of everyones control happened. Make it make fucking sense.. Just doesn’t sit right with me mayn.
Benched Heroes are not alone
Smooya and company are not the only team facing these issues. Friday it came out that multiple CIS teams may end up being disqualified as well due to a large number of players having had their visas denied prior to the Regional Major Ranking. That included Aurora, K23 and 1WIN.
You can read the full story down below.
Several teams may miss out on RMR due to visa issues
Decision has been made. If @CalyxCSGO doesnt obtain his VISA then we shall be missing the RMR. Upset doens't describe it enough, being possibly forced out of an event because of something out of everyones control is painful as FUCK.
Fingers crossed for Bugras VISA
— Owen Butterfield (@smooyacs) September 26, 2022
Not allowing a roster change after the roster lock when something which was completely out of everyones control happened. Make it make fucking sense.. Just doesn't sit right with me mayn?
— Owen Butterfield (@smooyacs) September 26, 2022
Replacement teams are being found
ESL has issued a statement following the many visa difficulties saying they have taken a “precautionary measure”, and that there’s no team which have been replaced per Monday evening.
– We have two first-in-line replacement teams with Illuminar Gaming and Forward, therefore measures being taken are only in the event that additional replacement teams are required. In order to determine a replacement order, we’ll be reaching out to the eight teams who lost in RO16 in the 4th European qualifier about participating. Once teams for the replacement matches have been confirmed we’ll be announcing more details, the ESL statement said.
With #IEM Road to Rio just around the corner, we’re taking precautionary measures in the ever changing dynamics of global travel.
Read more↩️: https://t.co/vlnTJKOt6U
— Intel® Extreme Masters (@IEM) September 26, 2022
All European RMR teams have been found – See the list here
