There has been a lot of discussion over the last 24 hours regarding our requirement that Fnatic plays with Era at The International, and how it differs from Fear’s substitution in Evil Geniuses. In cases like this, we think being fully transparent is the right approach. Hopefully this sheds some light onto the situation for everyone.
If you are not familiar with the situation we are referring to, please read Fnatic’s update first.
There have been a number of situations over the years, both public and private, where we have had to make difficult decisions around player involvement in The International. A few months ago, Fear from Evil Geniuses developed an injury that could jeopardize his ability to play. As a result, EG had been playing with their proposed substitute, Mason. EG informed us that there was a high likelihood that Fear wouldn’t be cleared medically to compete. With the data of his injury brought to our attention well before invites were decided, we discussed whether or not EG with Mason would still be above the bar for an invite. We agreed they were, and invited EG knowing that it could be either player on the team. When Fear’s medical options ran out, we changed the invite from Fear to Mason.
We review each roster change brought to our attention on a case-by-case basis, with the goal being to make the best decision for players and fans. At the point where there appears to be other agendas in play, our default position will always be to protect the individual players ability to compete in the tournament they were invited to. This is the pattern we followed based on the data we received, specifically the assertion from Era on June 13th that he was healthy and ready to play, and that the team was not acting in his best interests. All of the correspondence between Valve and Fnatic on this issue can be found below.
On May 29th, we were contacted by Patrik Sattermon from Fnatic. He said that Era was dealing with some serious medical issues, and they had concerns about his ability to play. That e-mail is shown below. We expressed our concern for Era’s health and asked to be kept in the loop on how things were going. Fnatic participated in The Summit with Xcalibur as their stand-in.
