Cover-Credits:
The visa troubles for Mind Games, in relation to their trip to the ESL One Stockholm Major 2022 which began today, are continuing to escalate since the team was unable to arrive in Stockholm on the first day. Via a tweet, ESL communicated that three of the team's players who had gotten visa confirmations in the last few days were unable to obtain their visas in time to get to Stockholm for the tournament's commencement. As a result, Mind Games, which only had one series versus Thunder Awaken on the first day, was forced to forfeit its game.
Mind Games’ players are unable to travel to Stockholm on the first day of the Major
After learning that three Mind Games were unable to obtain visas in time, ESL stated, “the team will receive a forfeit loss for today's match against Thunder Awaken. We will continue to work with the team and provide updates on the situation.”
Timur "Dinozavrik" Mavrin, Aleksey "Ainkrad" Diveevskiy, and Uladzislau "Petushara" Kazlouski are the most likely three Mind Games participants.
Previously, it was revealed that two Mind Games players, Danil "Bignum" Shekhovtsov and Semion "CemaTheSlayer" Krivulya, both Ukrainians, would be unable to compete in the Major due to the "difficult situation" in Ukraine. As a result, PuckChamp players Henadzi "Astral" Motuz and Andrey "Dukalis" Kuropatkin would be summoned to step in for the squad during the Major.
Travel concerns have now afflicted the whole Mind Games lineup. Fortunately, the squad was scheduled to play only one series on the first day, but it needs to compete in two on the second day of the group stage (13th May). It remains to be seen if the players will be in Stockholm in time to play these two series tomorrow.
While Mind Games appears to have suffered the most, other teams playing in the Stockholm Major had also faced visa hindrances in their trips to the Major. Most teams, however, were able to bring all of their players to the Major in the end.
OG is playing with Sébastien "Ceb" Debs as position five and Johan "N0tail" Sundstein as stand-in coach since its captain Mikhail "Misha" Agatov and coach Evgenii "Chuvash" Makarov failed to obtain the necessary visas in time for the Stockholm Major. Despite the forced changes, OG performed admirably on the first day, winning three of four games.
The ESL One Stockholm Major 2022 began on 12th May and is expected to attract 14 teams from around the world to compete for a $500K USD prize pool and 3,530 DPC points.
