A Canadian Counter-Strike player has been accused of “LAN-dodging” after failing to get a visa for the World Electronic Sports Games (WESG) in China next week.
Warren “hades” Rettich, who was due to play for Canadian side subtLe in the finals, has withdrawn from the event due to not applying for his visa in time—something his teammates claim he did deliberately.
Team mate Ellis “els” Clay posted a Twitlonger, containing screenshots of messages from hades where he claimed to have applied for the visa as earlier as December 20. However this was not the case and once the groups were released, placing subtLe against tournament favorites like Virtus Pro and EnVyUs, hades was having second thoughts about even bothering to compete.
After leaving it until the very last possible minute to have a chance of applying, hades cited an unspecified issue with his application that would mean he would have to miss the tournament.
Els leaves no doubt that he believes hades is deliberately missing the tournament, severely handicapping the chances of his team mates.
SubtLe were already severely hampered in their preparation for the tournament after Paul “Nerdy” Gill received a VAC ban two weeks ago. The team turned to David “DAVEY” Stafford, formerly of Splyce, to step in.
The controversy has provoked the ire of many in the North American Counter-Strike community.
SubtLe qualified for WESG after finishing second in the Americas qualifier. They will be the sole Canadian representatives, after a Canadian squad featuring DAVEY, Jason “jasonR” Ruchelski, and Damian “daps” Steele could not get visas for the Americas qualifier.
They will face a stern test in what many are calling the group of death against Virtus Pro, EnVyUs, Team Epsilon, Russia, and Team One of Brazil.
