FaZe’s request to play with Kristian ‘k0nfig’ Wienecke in the BLAST Premier Spring Groups has been denied by the tournament organizer, Dexerto has confirmed.
FaZe turned to k0nfig as a potential last-minute stand-in after learning that Håvard ‘rain’ Nygaard is unable to compete at the event due to the birth of his child.
This request was met with strong opposition from some of the other BLAST Premier teams, as first reported by Dust2.us and confirmed by Dexerto. k0nfig was registered as a substitute by Heroic – the team he played for at the BLAST Premier World Final in December -, while FaZe have a registered substitute in Olof ‘olofmeister’ Kajbjer, who hasn’t competed since late 2021.
???????
— Kristian Wienecke (@k0nfig) January 19, 2023
After much deliberation, BLAST informed the partner teams on the morning of January 19 that FaZe’s request had been denied as k0nfig is registered on another team’s roster for this event.
The tournament organizer has decided to allow FaZe to register a different substitute for the event as the team currently has only four players in Denmark. olofmeister is currently playing Valorant from home on his stream.
“I guess FaZe are going full tilt right now,” olofmeister told his viewers. “I would.”
Subscribe to our newsletter for the latest updates on Esports, Gaming and more.
On Twitter, FaZe player Russel ‘Twistzz’ Van Dulken said that BLAST had previously informed the team that k0nfig would be allowed to play. “Everything changed overnight,” he added.
Informed for some time now by blast that we could use him, suddenly over night everything changed
— Russel van Dulken (@Twistzz) January 19, 2023
According to the Canadian star, olofmeister informed the team that he “didn’t have time to play”, forcing the players to find an alternative.
FaZe will take on Complexity on January 20 in their first match in the BLAST Premier Spring Groups. The North American organization has said that more information about rain’s replacement for the event will be announced prior to that match.
Contacted by Dexerto, BLAST confirmed that FaZe’s request to field k0nfig had been denied and that the team would be granted an emergency substitute. “An update on the substitute will be made as soon as we have it,” BLAST said.