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News making the rounds is that Brazil-based esports organization FURIA Esports will not make it to the Charlotte Convention Center where the 2022 Rainbow Six Charlotte Major will hold.
The team failed to secure their visa early enough to the United States of America, and will therefore not be available for the offline event. However, the team will play online from Mexico, per reports.
The announcement was made by FURIA coach Marlon Mello via Twitter.
“As already announced here on Twitter, all of us at FURIA are going to play the Major in Mexico remotely! Sad for not being able to participate in the first Major with fans in a while but still happy to have the opportunity to play / continue in pursuit of our goals! 🙏 #DIADEFURIA”
Given the recent development, one begs to wonder if the three other Brazilian teams will also face visa issues. At the time of publication, no word on their progress in attending the LAN event has been heard.
It has also been reported that Europe-based Heroic player Georgi “GorgoNa” Stoyanov had problems securing a visa. Fortunately, the Bulgarian has sorted it out, also revealing that Ubisoft had a solution in place had things not worked out.
FURIA finished third in the Copa Elite Six Stage 1 behind Team Liquid and w7m esports to secure a spot in the Charlotte Major. After an impressive run in the lower bracket, they were swept by w7m esports in the lower bracket final.
Meanwhile, the fourth representative is Team oNe eSports, who were swept 2-0 in the lower bracket semifinals by FURIA.
All six teams participating in the Charlotte Major have already been split into groups, with FURIA drawn to Group B alongside Team Liquid, XSET, and CYCLOPS athlete gaming.
The group stage will follow a double round-robin format, with all matches being a best-of-1 game. The top two teams in each group will advance to the playoffs.
Regardless of where they will be participating from, FURIA will be looking to get maximum points for a better chance at qualifying for the Six Invitational. While there are still four major tournaments to gather points from, winning the Charlotte Major will catapult them to the top of the global rankings before the Copa Elite Six Stage 2.
The Charlotte Major will commence on May 16 and will run through to May 22. Although the format and structure of the event have been released, Ubisoft is yet to announce the prize pool.
Tournament organizers have been taking the initiative to make sure teams compete regardless of issues being at the live event. A similar situation presented itself in the 2022 League of Legends Mid-Season Invitational.
Although visa issue was not the problem for LPL’s Royal Never Give Up, they will be allowed to participate in the competition remotely due to COVID-19 travel restrictions in China.
The last time FURIA participated in a Major (Sweden 2021), they finished 16th, managing only two overtime victories in the group stages of the six matches they played. They will undoubtedly be looking to have a better run in Charlotte.
