Envy CSGO player reveals issue-riddled benching situation

Following the decision from Team Envy to replace CS:GO roster member Jacob ‘FugLy’ Medina, the now inactive player took to Twitter to express his grievances with how the situation was allegedly improperly handled.

Benching can be a messy, drama-ridden process in the world of esports: just look at how both Aleksi ‘Aleksib’ Virolainen and Nathan ‘NBK-’ Schmitt closed out their chapters at their respective teams before joining forces on the new OG roster.

• Read more: Aleksib on OG move, ENCE’s struggles, and building a roster with NBK

But in the curious case of Team Envy, the situation appears to have gotten downright ugly for FugLy, who finds himself sitting on the bench going forward as a “restricted free agent.”

A veteran of the North American Counter-Strike scene, the twenty-five-year-old rifler has not restricted himself to remain quiet while on the bench, and in a TwitLonger post aptly titled “Benched,” he explicitly states that while he doesn’t care that he was moved off the starting roster, he does take issue with how it was done.

According to Medina, the members of the Envy roster had decided to tell management they wanted to move on without in-game leader Noah ‘Nifty’ Francis in August.

Nifty allegedly found out about the group chat where the players were discussing this, leading to the removal of Aran ‘Sonic’ Groesbeek afterward, who would go back to ATK before that roster was picked up by Cloud9. Sonic provided an immediate reaction to FugLy’s story.

Following that, Envy management began allegedly hinting to FugLy that he would have to move with the rest of the team to Dallas at the beginning of 2020. According to him, an important reason he chose to sign with Envy was that he was told he would not have to move.

• Read more: Cloud9 give rare insight into their in-game CS:GO communication

Fast forward to December, and Envy reportedly told FugLy he would officially have to move to Dallas or be kicked from the team. He told them that he was allegedly fine with that, but would need some financial help with moving due to the mortgage and bills he still owed in Arizona. He says the organization told him that he would hear back from them.

Throughout the month of December, he alleges that he was repeatedly put off regarding the moving stipend, and on top of that, claims his discussions with Nifty regarding the future of the team’s roster were repeatedly ignored.

DreamHack

Envy have struggled to replicate the success of their French rosters since moving to NA.

This led to a series of roster changes that occurred without FugLy’s knowledge, which included one of his teammates in Bradley ‘ANDROID’ Fodor being benched, which was officially announced on New Year’s Day. Finally, after several instances of asking for an update on the moving process, he was reportedly told he was benched.

• Read more: Hastr0 gives sneak peek into Team Envy’s new HQ

All in all, Jacob says he was “jebaited for over a month, lied to, [and] left on the backburner,” and that Envy “was not a team but one person making every decision for himself and no one else mattered, which the org is OK with.”

Numerous members of the CS:GO community replied to his story, wishing the NA veteran well in the future and commenting on the situation with Envy.

FugLy said that none of the issues with Envy stemmed from its owner, Mike ‘hastr0’ Rufail. We will update the story if and when statements from Nifty and/or Team Envy are made available. Envy announced during the roster move that additional roster changes are inbound.

Here is FugLy’s full Twitter post, as written on January 15:

As you are all aware now, I am being moved to the bench of Team Envy. It only came to my attention on the 14th of Jan. I just want to share this story to show what I was dealing with for over a month, whether it was intentional or last minute changes that couldn’t be seen which led to this, I was still ignored and kept in the dark for ALL of the off-season which is my issue. Don’t care in the slightest that I was moved to the bench, I just care how it happened. So just know all this was happening during the most important time for a lot of players.

Also, when I say I am talking to Team Envy, I mean the GM, not hastr0.

August: I’ll start off with the whole Sonic situation that led to him being cut in late August. We were struggling a ton in practice/officials and it was obvious we just weren’t getting better. People started to get frustrated in the team including myself. I was already thinking that our foundation, everything we built just isn’t right and we need a change. We felt the best approach would be to get rid of Nifty (IGL – was not awping at the time, Sonic was). I will not say who approached who but eventually after 2-3 days of talking, we decide to make a WhatsApp group with everyone besides Nifty (Group chat was made at night). Everyone but one person felt it was a good idea, which is why the group was made. We needed everyone to feel this was the right move to make so that we can go to Envy and let them know. The next day after the WhatsApp group chat was made, somehow Nifty found out about it and immediately cut Sonic. No hesitation, no talking to anyone about it, just went to practice and heard he was cut and now we need to look for another player (everyone else was just as surprised). There was no discussion about it, that was final. I know that if we ever did go to Envy about this, it would not have ended well for anyone but Nifty.

Little backstory: A big reason why I chose Team Envy over the two other offers I had back in March was because I was straight up told by Envy that I did not need to move. I have a place in AZ and told them up front. They were cool with it and I had no issues at all.

Now, Sept 4th. comes along and they slowly start hinting that I might need to move come January-Febuary 2020 as the new Facility was being built and they wanted all teams over in Dallas. I told them I will have to think about it and that if they can help me past the minimal stipend amount. No answer or response about moving until December. From Sept to December, I didn’t think much about moving, was being reassured by players on the team that no way I need to move to Dallas. I already pay a mortgage and utilities over in AZ. Moving to Dallas would mean I pay Rent + utilities on top of what I pay in AZ. This is why I was hesitant at the start and was really waiting to hear back from Envy.

Now December 9th comes along, we are on break now. I get another call about moving and now its official. I either move to Dallas or I be kicked off the team. I told them that I am willing to move, I would just need a bit of help (which a certain amount was already a guarantee). All is good, I was told I would hear back from them soon! Now, I get a call from Nifty (Dec. 11th) asking what my plans were and what my ideas were for the team. We talked about ryannn who I felt we should keep. We talked about ANDROID, who I LOVE, but we were on the fence about. I said, OK talk to ryannn and see what he thinks as you know…he is a part of the team after all. Then we can hop in TS or a call together and discuss.

This is around the same time that Eley/Tailored were cut from the Coach and CS Manager positions. Again, had no idea about this beforehand.

December 20th, I get another call from Nifty. No news about ANDROID yet, ryannn has not been contacted from Nifty. We just talk about me moving and that if I am ready/not ready to commit to Dallas. I just said I was waiting to hear back from Envy. I messaged Envy the same day asking for an update and was told I will hop in a call with them over the weekend. December 23rd comes along (not the weekend btw, Monday) and I get a message from ANDROID that he has been cut. Weird…I message ryannn and ask if he knew about this because I told Nifty to talk to ryannn first. Nope. He just found about it as he got cut. I get a call the same day from Envy. They say “It’s the holidays now, we won’t know about your stipend until early next year”. Ok…January comes along, I message Nifty on the 3rd of January about potential players which he responds and agrees that “that” player might be a good option. Even names another potential pickup we get get.

Now to the 8th of January, I ask for another update from Envy which they replied that they are working on getting the team sorted out this weekend and to hang tight. I think at this point, it is just a bunch of bullshit so I message Nifty saying that I am committed to going 100% now. Lets just get this going. I ask if the plan is still the same, me/Nifty/ryannn +2. And he ASSURES me that everything is still going to plan and there’s nothing to worry about. We then start discussing options and talk about how EU is the way to go here. Now, I am thinking Envy are just busy with new Facility and that I wasn’t at the top of their priority list. After all, Nifty did confirm everything is going nicely and that the plan was still the same.

On the 9th of January, I get a message from a number I did not recognize asking “When are you looking to move?”. I message the number back but no reply. I message Nifty asking who this is, obviously he would know as he was the only one I told that I am 100% ready to move now. No reply for 5 days. I wait for the weekend to get an update from Envy. Weekend passes and nothing. Then on the 13th I see an artcle about Calyx joining Envy and ask ryannn if he knew about it. Which he did, and he also thought that I knew about it. That’s when I messaged Envy again and asked for a real update this time. That is when I got the call saying that I have been moved to the Bench. And also ryannn, who is still part of the starting roster, had no idea about me being cut nor about ANDROID getting cut.

So all in all, I was jebaited for over a month, lied to, left on the backburner and after all that, it ends like this. Sucks but it is what it is, I felt I was still very naive even after the whole Sonic situation where everyone on the team knew it was fucked and it was not a team but one person making every decision for himself and no one else mattered, which the org is OK with. They want him running the show as Nifty and Envy are very close. (CoD org)

Update from 1/15: It was brought to my attention that I was a part of the team up until the 13th when new options came to light. Yet, I had no clue about any player releases and player signings before 1/13…and I was being ignored since the 9th.