Just two days before the event is set to begin, 3DMAX has replaced BetBoom Team at IEM Cologne 2024. According to ESL, BetBoom Team has failed to secure visas for its players for the Germany-based tournament, leaving them unable to compete in Cologne.
3DMAX stand in for BetBoom Team
Credit: ESL
ESL confirmed the news on X, with 3DMAX coming in as a short-term replacement as per the Team Replacement Rules in the ESL Pro Tour rulebook. This means that 3DMAX inherits BetBoom Team’s placement in the Play-In stage, with their journey kicking off against 9z Team on August 7th.
3DMAX is certainly an apt replacement and should bring some fun to the server. Just recently, the team won the Skyesports Championship 2024, winning their first-ever LAN event over The MongolZ. It’s unlikely we’ll see them hoist the IEM Cologne 2024 trophy in a few weeks’ time, but hopefully, they can give us some fun CS nonetheless. It’s a chance to prove themselves all over again, and they’re a team that can count themselves unfortunate to not be invited in the first place.
Cologne visa problems
It’s important to note that BetBoom Team isn’t the only team suffering from visa problems at IEM Cologne. It was recently revealed that degster has failed to obtain his visa to play for Heroic, marking another missed tournament for the player. Instead, Heroic will play with Woro2k, who is a more than capable stand-in for the time being.
This is becoming an increasingly common issue for Russian players in the CS2 scene. Earlier in the year, we even saw Team Spirit affected, losing donk and magixx for the BLAST Spring Groups 2024. For obvious reasons, these visas are becoming more difficult to obtain, and it’s a shame to see one of the most talented regions in the scene hamstrung due to circumstances beyond their control.
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