HellRaisers have withdrawn from the D2CL playoffs, as a measure of opening up enough time to secure their visas for the Red Bull Battle Grounds LAN in May. Balkan Bears Corleone are replacing them in the Dota 2 Champions League playoffs.
Unexpected announcement!
@BalkanBears will replace @HRdota2 in the playoffs.
17:00 (CET) — BBC vs. @NiPGaming / bo3 pic.twitter.com/1QiXOzf2C2
— D2CL (@d2cleague) April 21, 2015
Visas are actually killing esports
— Team Empire (@team_empire) April 21, 2015
HellRaisers claimed their victory and the LAN spot for Red Bull Battle Grounds only five days ago. With the tournament kicking off on May 5, only two weeks away, this gives the team a tight schedule to finish their applications and complete interview process for obtaining a US Visa.
Same old story
This is a familiar story from when Rave started having visa issues. The Filipino team was forced to withdraw from StarSeries Season XII, in order to secure their visas for MLG Columbus. Ironically, they could not obtain the visas on time and were forced to withdraw from that tournament as well. After additional issues regarding their “employment” in South Korea, the team received much national media attention and the backing of a senator. For Rave though, the story had a happy ending, as they eventually managed to get visas for The Summit 3 in LA.
Dota 2 Champions League
Replacing HellRaisers are Balkan Bears Corleone, who will play versus Ninjas in Pyjamas tonight. Lower Brackets versus Power Rangers will be held after the NiP match. Team Empire has already advanced to the Upper Bracket finals, after defeating Power Rangers, 2-0, yesterday.
The Dota 2 Champions League kicked off on February 23. The event is being held in collaboration with Natus Vincere and Virtus.Pro, with a prize pool of over $50,000. An additional $2.50 for each Dota 2 Champion’s League Bundle sold and 10% of every set sold will be added to the prize pool. In addition, all travel expenses for the attending teams will be paid by D2CL. As of April 16, 2015, the total prize pool has reached $78,508.
Hell Raisers roster
Artyom “Artes” Gorobey
Andrey “Afoninje” Afonin
Ivan “Gorec” Kartankov
Dulat “goddam” Seidimomyn
Andrey “Dread”Golubev
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