The Snapdragon Pro Series for Brawl Stars is one of the biggest esports tournaments for the game to date. With global qualifiers leading to a LAN finals in Japan and a $200,000 prize pool, means there is a lot on the line.
Teams from around the world have been giving their all to be able to qualify. However, the Indian Brawl Stars team of True Rippers, will not be able to travel despite qualifying for the event – and the players aren’t happy.
Source: IG | @truerippers
For context, the Snapdragon Pro Series is being conducted by ESL, and the Indian qualifiers were organized by Nodwin Gaming. True Rippers placed second in the India Open, booking a slot to Japan. They have been disqualified, however, due to passport issues from one player. The slot has gone to third-placed Marcos Gaming.
True Rippers player blames ESL for non-cooperation, but who is at fault?
True Rippers’ Prateek, one of the players of the Brawl Stars team, put out a Twitter thread with screenshots alleging that ESL hadn’t complied with its own rulebook and also issues with the nature of the qualifiers.
Apparently, one of the players from the True Rippers’ roster wasn’t able to get their passport registered on time. While this is proper grounds for disqualifying the team, Prateek said in his Twitter thread that the rulebook allows for a player change.
However, the rulebook doesn’t clearly specify if a roster change is allowed when qualifying for Masters. While it states that no changes can be made during the tournament, a team can change a single player between splits. As True Rippers have qualified for the Masters in Japan, the rulebook isn’t clear about the roster change. However, with the decision of the admin being final per the rulebook, the team has been disqualified.
According to Prateek, though, European team SK Gaming made a similar change and were allowed to do so. And it’s true, the team replaced Symantec with Yoshi last January after qualifying for Japan.
However, based on chat screenshots posted by Prateek with an ESL admin, it seems that they aren’t allowed to do so. It’s open to interpretation on who is in the wrong here.
True Rippers did make a blunder by not having the players’ passports ready on time, ESL could have also made an exception for True Rippers like they did with SK Gaming.
SPS Masters Brawl Stars
Player says Indian Brawl Stars qualifier was “highly unorganized”
The Brawl Stars player’s allegations didn’t end there.
Prateek posted several screenshots where he asked the ESL admins for questions regarding rules and also the lack of clarity regarding the map pool. All of these went unanswered.
It’s unfortunate to see a situation like this happening – especially with a big tournament like the Snapdragon Pro Series. However, much of the blame can be put on True Rippers for not getting their players’ passports ready on time. This comes even after they had a realistic chance of qualifying for the Masters in Japan.
The Snapdragon Pro Series Masters will take place at the Dreamhack Japan on May 13 and 14. Eight teams from around the world will be competing for glory and a share of the $200,000 prize pool.
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