Key Arena, the stage for TI4Revenge's decision to leave the qualifiers was caused by their attempt to change a member of their roster after having already been invited to participate. Revenge were hoping to secure the services of Iwo from Union Gaming by removing Benjaz, but Union Gaming were not keen on putting their place in danger and Revenge decided to withdraw instead of continuing to participate with Benjaz. The decision to withdrew caused Smash to leave and many personalities spoke out about their disappointment of their withdrawal.
However, according to OnGamers - who published the story earlier today as well as an extract from the Valve email and the response from Revenge's manager, the powers that be in Valve HQ are making an exception for the American TI4 Qualifiers. "We would love for your team to be able to participate and would be willing to extend the qualifiers to 11 teams to make it work," said Valve in an email to Revenge.
The invitation was on the condition that Revenge compete with their line-up as it stood when the invites were sent. This means they would have to play with Freddy "SmAsH" Sina who announced his return after leaving the team on Tuesday, as well as with Benjamin 'Benjaz' Lanao Barrio, the player they were essentially trying to get rid of and replace with Iwo 'Iwo' Bejar Kalinowski from Union Gaming.
Update #1: The Peruvian community are rejoicing as Benjaz accepts to participate in the qualifiers with Revenge. Benjaz's decision to let bygones be bygones means the TI4 qualifiers are back on the table, with Benjaz- posting on his Facebook: "thanks for giving me the opportunity again to represent Peru."
Update #2:
After contacting Benjaz he told joinDOTA the following:
I was excluded from Revenge days before the qualifier announcement. (Why rejoin them?) It is not for them, I do it for my country that wants to see a Peruvian flag in TI. My team-mates apologised to me. I will give my best and thanks everyone for supporting me."
Several people from the media spoke out about the Revenge situation when they were forced to back out of the qualifiers the first time, with our very own HolyMaster saying in his column that "in the end everybody suffered here, because the team, that used to be South America's number one for a really long time, will be missed in those qualifiers. The team loses, the viewers lose, Valve loses. A little cooperation could have worked wonders here." It seems his wish has now been granted and Valve have opened communication but only to extend the same invitation Revenge declined before. This time however, Revenge should be set to compete with their manager telling onGamers "the team is under a lot of pressure to perform now but they will accept it and give their 200%." Revenge will go into the qualifiers with a lot of confidence knowing their fans and their country are behind them, an edge that could very well change the face of the TI4 America qualifiers.
This article was written by
Lawrence Phillips, joinDOTA's Editor-in-Chief.Malystryx has been in eSports since 2004 working as eSports Editor for Razer and Editor-in-Chief of SK Gaming in the past He misses the days of Warcraft3 but makes do with the world of DOTA 2.Location: Bristol, UKFollow him on @MalystryxGDS.What do you think of Valve's decision to re-invite Revenge?
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