Ence lost – and now its leader.
The worst thing that can happen at a LAN event is the sudden illness of a player. Unlike online matches, finding a replacement quickly is very difficult, and postponing the match is practically impossible. Because of this, players often have to stay in the tournament even with serious illnesses, and Gla1ve played a match with a collapsed lung eight years ago.
In early 2016, Gla1ve was a relatively unknown player who frequently changed teams. Before joining Astralis, he switched teams 20 times but spent the first half of 2016 with Copenhagen Wolves alongside Snappi. In February, the team attended a small LAN event in Finland – with a prize pool of 15 thousand euros, eight teams, and only two game days. In the semifinals, the "Wolves" lost to Ence.
In the match, Gla1ve performed poorly: 10 frags in 2 maps and 43 rounds, with a rating of 0.53 and 0.32, despite playing three maps with a 1.30 rating prior. Later, Lucas wrote that the reason for his decline was an unexpected illness – a collapsed lung.
"We had a tough semifinal at Assembly Winter. Two hours before the game, I experienced a collapsed lung. I've had it twice before, so I know the feeling. My team wanted to find a stand-in, and Es3tag was ready to help us. I decided to play through the pain because I didn't want to let the team down. Probably, it was my worst LAN game: only 10 frags in 2 maps," he wrote after the match.
A collapsed lung – the accumulation of air in the pleural cavity, occurs with or without chronic diseases and can result from lung conditions. Symptoms include shortness of breath, chest pain, and a feeling of chest tightness. Without timely treatment, serious consequences, up to a fatal outcome, are possible.
Later, Gla1ve had to spend three days in a hospital in Finland and travel home for over 30 hours because flying was not recommended. Later, he underwent surgery, after which the collapsed lung should be permanently resolved.