Detonate set to miss out on Paris Major Americas RMR

The North American squad are unable to field a full roster at the tournament.

DETONATE are set to withdraw from the BLAST.tv Paris Major Americas RMR after two of their players won't be able to attend the event held in Monterrey, Mexico. The players in question are Jack "⁠micro⁠" Ryan, who will miss out because of a mistake in the passport application, while Brett "⁠brett⁠" Rhein is unable to attend due to "a serious health issue that popped up out of nowhere."

Teams are allowed one substitute at the event, and due to nothing in the BLAST's rulebook for the Major cycle stating that emergency changes are allowed, DETONATE were forced to forfeit their spot at the event. The news comes as a disappointing end to the teams' surprising run in the Major cycle, during which they recorded upset wins against Nouns and ATK in the RMR Closed Qualifier.

While it is currently not confirmed who their replacement will be, the rulebook does mention the process of picking a replacement team.

"If a team declines an invitation, or is no longer intact, the next-highest ranked team receives their invitation. If there are no additional teams available, then the remaining slots are to be determined by a last-chance regional qualifier."

If that were the case, Evil Geniuses would most likely be chosen as the replacement, as they placed the highest out of teams who didn't qualify after they lost the 7th-8th place decider for a spot at the RMR.

Valve dealt with a previous situation at the European Rio RMR in a similar vein, when matches below the qualification spots were played out so that potential replacements were decided. Illuminar placed the highest in the fourth open qualifier, which made them the highest-seeded team, and eventually took Benched Heroes' spot at the tournament after the European team suffered visa issues. If Valve follows the precedent, Evil Geniuses will be attending the RMR on April 6-9.