Ahead of the final Home Series of Stage 5, James ‘Clayster’ Eubanks revealed that he would be taking a short break from competing, citing mental health reasons. But by the looks of it, his teammates aren’t entirely happy with the situation.
On July 19, the Subliners tweeted that Clayster would not be participating in the Seattle Home Series, with the man himself saying he “just needs a break from it all.”
This followed a string of poor results for the Subliners, who now go into the Stage 5 Major starting from the Loser’s Bracket and looking a little worse for wear.
Naturally, most of the community came out in support of Clay when the news was first announced, with players putting their mental health first something that many can get behind.
New York had a 1-1 weekend without Clay, beating Paris Legion in a tight 3-2 scoreline followed by a 3-0 sweep at the hands of Atlanta FaZe.
On ZooMaa’s podcast The Flank, the topic of Clayster came up once again, discussing the situation and the implications. At one point, Ian ‘Enable’ Wyatt spoke up to defend his former teammate, saying: “I don’t think Clay might’ve just quit on them, just doesn’t seem right at all.”
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While this follows a similar sentiment to what most fans think, Clay’s teammate Asim suggests differently, mentioning in the Twitch chat that “that’s exactly what it was.”
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Among current speculation regarding the Clayster/NYSL situation…@Enable: "I think Clay might've just quit on 'em, just doesn't seem right at all"
@GstaAsim: pic.twitter.com/d3yZURQg8y
— The Flank (@TheFlank) July 26, 2021
So if Asim, and maybe even the rest of his Subliners teammates, believe Clay simply quit on them, we could see some huge inner turmoil at the Stage 5 Major and Champs.
How this affects the team overall is impossible to say, but if these kinds of accusations are being thrown around just days before, it could spell disaster in the grand scheme of things.
If there’s one thing we know about Clayster, though, it’s that overcoming adversity is in his blood. Don’t be surprised if we see him reaching finals in the coming weeks.