BLAST hold firm on Major substitution; BESTIA CEO threatens legal action

The tournament organizer has provided further clarity regarding the factors that led to Legacy replacing BESTIA in Austin.

BLAST have reiterated that their decision to replace BESTIA with Legacy at the Austin Major is final following the Argentinian team's failure to provide visa documentation for all players before the May 21 deadline through a statement on X.

"As is the case for any of our events, all participating teams are subject to the visa requirements of the host country," BLAST statement reads. "Each team is ultimately responsible for securing its players' visas and they are always at the discretion of the host country."

"We shared all relevant visa information and stayed in regular contact to support their process. During this time BESTIA had appointments where they failed to secure all player visas. On Friday, 16th May, we issued a clear and final deadline to all teams with outstanding visa issues: Wednesday, 21st May at 5:00 PM CEST," BLAST's X post continues, stating that the decision was made in line with the tournament participation agreement (TPA).

"As of the deadline, two of BESTIA's players had not obtained the required visas and as a result, we proceeded to confirm they had not met the requirements to participate in the tournament and had to be replaced."

On May 21, BLAST announced that Legacy, the fourth-placed team of the South American Major Regional Qualifier, would be stepping in to compete and that the Brazilian team has obtained all necessary travel documentation. Shortly after, Valve released the Austin Major sticker capsule, in which Legacy were put in place of BESTIA.

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"While the relevant players subsequently did receive visas, there is no dispute that they were not in place in time to meet the required deadline. Accordingly, we had no choice but to uphold the rules of the tournament, which all teams were aware of," BLAST statement ends.

BESTIA's CEO, Alejandro "PapoMC" Lococo, answered BLAST with a pointed statement, in which he promised that the Argentinian organization would be taking legal action.

"You know you're doing the wrong thing. We wanted to resolve this fairly. See you in court," he said on X, before following that up with, "See you in court in Texas and then in London. I'm not going to let you play with my kids' dreams," in a reply.

In a statement posted on X, BESTIA said they "regret" that BLAST decided to uphold an "arbitrary resolution that goes against the most elementary sense of justice and sportsmanship."

"BESTIA complied with all the requirements set forth by the organization in all its communications and duly reported the visas obtained," the Argentinian organization wrote. "We are being unlawfully deprived of our right to compete. What is happening is unprecedented in the history of CS2."

In an earlier interview with Dust2.com.br conducted on Friday, BESTIA's manager Rodrigo "⁠pino⁠" Manarino shared his side of the story. He disagreed with BLAST's statements that there was a lack of communication on the part of the Argentine organization and refuted claims that the team began the visa process in the wrong way.