The tournament operator BLAST has issued another official statement regarding the roster change situation for Astralis. This statement was made in response to an open letter from the participants of the BLAST Premier Fall Final 2024, signed by the captains of all teams except Astralis.
BLAST representatives have confirmed that the team will be allowed to compete in the tournament with Casper "cadiaN" Møller. However, according to the event regulations, Astralis will receive 25% less prize money and face a penalty in the seeding ranking.
"As of the Fall Final 2024, BLAST's rule does not restrict the team in choosing an emergency substitute. Starting in 2025, we will consider aligning our rule set with the requirements of Major events to clarify the parameters for emergency substitutions.
According to our rule set, any use of an emergency substitute results in a 25% reduction in prize money and a penalty to the seeding. These sanctions will also apply at the Fall Final 2024.
In the past, we have rejected requests for emergency substitutions if the reason was visa issues. According to our regulations, visas are generally the responsibility of the teams and are usually not considered valid grounds for emergency substitutions.
Regarding player health, we take the teams' statements at face value. Typically, if these statements are later proven false, we reserve the right to impose serious sanctions, such as disqualification from the World Final and/or additional fines from the prize pool.
In this instance, we have no reason to doubt Astralis' initial statement, and the decision to permit them to use an emergency substitute remains in effect."
It is worth noting that cadiaN was registered for the BLAST Premier Fall Final 2024 after the roster lock as an emergency substitute. The management of Astralis cited that Alexander "br0" Bro was unable to compete due to health issues, although Bro's agent stated that he was healthy and ready to play.
The BLAST Premier Fall Final 2024 will take place from 25 to 29 September in Copenhagen, Denmark. The total prize pool for the championship is $425,000, which will be shared among eight teams. The top team will also secure a spot at the BLAST Premier World Final 2024.