A coach playing a $500,000 LAN: magic face Barcelona with eksiver on the server
There are emergency solutions, and then there are emergency solutions. magic will play StarSeries Fall in Barcelona without AW, and his replacement won't be a conventional stand-in but their own coach, eksiver, for the entire tournament.
No reason has been given for AW's absence, nor any clarification on whether it extends beyond this event.
Why this is so unusual
A coach stepping onto the server isn't unheard of in Counter-Strike, but it remains a rare solution — and especially rare in these circumstances.
First, because of what's at stake: this is a $500,000 LAN. Second, and more importantly, because of the format. StarSeries Fall has no group stage: all eight teams drop straight into a double-elimination bracket where one defeat sends you to the lower side and the next sends you home. There's no room to bed in an improvised lineup.
And third, because of the role. A coach isn't an unsigned player who's been practicing for months: he's someone whose daily job is watching matches from outside, not playing them. Going from analyzing to executing, under pressure and on LAN, is a considerable leap.
The worst possible opener
As if that weren't enough, the draw showed no mercy. magic face Vitality tomorrow, and the French arrive in their best possible shape lineup-wise: they have mezii back from paternity leave and field their full starting five, with ZywOo as the tournament's best individual player by some distance.
On paper, it isn't close. But some nuance is warranted.
magic aren't filler
It would be easy to dismiss magic as the field's small team. They aren't.
The European side arrive in Barcelona off a solid run at FISSURE Playground 3 in Suzhou, where they beat FaZe 2-1 — with overtimes on Ancient and Cache — and then swept PARIVISION 2-0, finishing between 7th and 8th.
And their qualification for this tournament was no fluke either: they came through the European qualifier without breaking a sweat, with a 2-0 over Gentle Mates and another 2-0 over Ninjas in Pyjamas in the decisive match.
In other words, this is a team in form now having to compete with a key piece missing and their coach on the server.
What to watch
The opening match will be the best barometer. With such a compressed format, magic need the adjustment to work from the very first round, because losing to Vitality drops them straight into the lower bracket, where any slip eliminates them.
It will also be worth watching whether AW's absence is limited to this tournament or points to something more. With the Singapore Major on the November horizon and every VRS point counting, this isn't an ideal moment to improvise.
Either way, Thursday in Barcelona will offer something you don't see every day: a Counter-Strike coach playing against a three-time Major champion.
Source: HLTV, Esports News UK, Esports Insider.