Benched Heroes Will Miss European RMR

As revealed on Thursday, September 29, a Counter-Strike: Global Offensive stack, Benched Heroes, will not compete in the European RMR. The team failed to secure visas for two of their players and are forced to forfeit their slot to Illuminar Gaming.

Benched Heroes is a stack of CS:GO players who, as the team’s name suggests, are currently free agents looking to make a name for themselves. And even though Michal “MICHU” Muller, Bugra “Calyx” Arkin, Owen “smooya” Butterfield, Eugene “Aunkere” Karyat, and Rodion “fear” Smyk are all teamless, the quintet have proven their worth and made it all the way to the RMR qualifier.

Unfortunately, Benched Heroes will not be able to attend the tournament because two players were not able to acquire a visa. That includes Calyx and Aunkere, who aren’t able to travel to Malta with the team, effectively forcing Benched Heroes to forfeit their spot.

Due to Benched Heroes’ absence from the European RMR, their slot was awarded to Illuminar, the seventh-placed team from the final open qualifier.

Benched Heroes have previously commented on their struggles with obtaining visas. First, it was revealed that Aunkere’s attendance was under question due to the tightening of visa processes for Russians traveling to the European Union.

Although Benched Heroes would be able to handle just one missing player – as the team could use a substitute in Thomas “Thomas” Utting – things took a sudden turn for the worse. Recently, Benched Heroes also unveiled that Calyx was also unable to secure his visa, putting the team in a rough spot as they couldn’t find a replacement to fill in the vacant spot.

Calyx announced that his visa got denied on September 27, giving Benched Heroes just two days to find a replacement, which they weren’t able to do.

“As everyone knows, my Schengen visa got rejected sadly, I am trying to do everything I can to fix it and want go to RMR with the boys but it’s not looking good,” said Calyx.

“Its first time my visa is getting denied so I’m in shock.”

Calyx being denied a visa essentially meant that Benched Heroes wouldn’t be able to field a complete roster since the rules prohibit the use of more than one substitute, nor do the rules allow them to play 4v5.
“History likes to repeat itself,” said MICHU, referring to his time at Envy when a similar thing happened.

“Two years ago, together with Calyx, we advanced to the LAN event in Rio de Janeiro for the final stage of Major quals, but the tournament was canceled due to the pandemic. Today – we are not going to the same tournament.”

Meanwhile, smooya took on Twitter to say that he felt crushed with the turn of events, missing the event due “to something sadly easily preventable”. However, he took the chance to praise former NaVi Junior player, fear, as a great in-game leader and someone other teams should give a chance.

“All I ask is that a team actually gives fear a chance out of all this. He is a legit professional and deserves this the least, hoping for good things for you brother,” said smooya.

Due to Benched Heroes’ inability to attend the event within one week of the tournament, the organizers were unable to conduct reseeding, leading to Illuminar receiving a direct invite to the event, taking over Benched Heroes’ spot.

As a result, Illuminar Gaming will face off against Natus Vincere in the first round of Europe RMR B, on Tuesday, October 4. Notably, the tournament could see more changes, as K23, 1WIN, and Aurora are all reportedly struggling with obtaining visas for their players.