Top Open Bracket team pull out of CWL Vegas last minute due to travel issues

French Call of Duty team Supremacy are in an administrative turmoil, causing the roster to miss out on CWL Vegas, the first major event of the Black Ops 4 season.

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With 19th open bracket seed, Supremacy were one of France’s top representatives in Las Vegas, aiming for at least a top 32 finish, for a chance at qualification for the CWL Pro Qualifier League in January.

However, one of the team’s players, Faïz ‘Senka’ Aurang was stopped from making the trip after arriving at the airport, because his ESTA (a mandatory document authorizing entry into the United States) had apparently been canceled by US authorities.

Supremacy made fans aware of the disappointing news on Twitter, on Thursday December 6, the same day as the play-in tournament began and the day before the main tournament.

• More: Tommey’s amazing gesture helps amateur player attend CWL Las Vegas

In a Twitlonger, Supremacy stated that Senka was “informed at the airline office that his request for ESTA had been refused although accepted at the time of the online process via the form two weeks ago.”

They say that they do not know why the ESTA was refused, and “had not received any information regarding a change in the status of his ESTA by the US Embassy before this morning at the last moment”.

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It effectively ends Supremacy’s hopes of qualifying for the CWL Pro League, as they needed a top 32 placing to secure a spot at the qualifying tournament.

Although they considered taking a substitute in place of Senka, Supremacy were uncertain that MLG would be able to accommodate the change of seeding on such short notice, and this uncertainty left them unwilling to take the risk.

• More: How to Watch CWL Las Vegas 2018 – Stream, Pools and More

French fans will have to rely on only three teams attending Vegas; Gone Gaming, featuring Eddy ‘Malls’ Maillard and Arthur ‘Zayrox’ Chabas; Overtime eSport featuring Wailers ‘Wailers’ Locart and Monaco eSports, led by Maxime ‘mAxxie’ Ebran.

In their statement, Supremacy say they are “drawing a line on this season” and will “study the possibilities for our future […] while setting ourselves aside for the moment.”

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You can read Supremacy’s full statement below (translated from French).

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Hello everyone, 

We inform you through this release of our non-participation in the MLG Las Vegas held this weekend in the United States. 

Our players arrived this morning at the Charles de Gaulle airport bound for Las Vegas and it was then that Faiz “Senka” Aurang was informed at the airline office that her request for ESTA had been refused although accepted at the time of the online process via the form two weeks ago. Since then, Senka had not received any information regarding a change in the status of his ESTA by the US Embassy before this morning at the last moment before the team’s departure.

The administrative problems we had with Senka last year were due to the fact that he did not have French nationality at the time, and therefore a VISA was required to travel to Canada. United States. Since then, we had solved these administrative problems and Faiz had obtained French nationality for several months now. The fact that his request for ESTA was authorized and then canceled at the last moment without even informing him in advance is for us still at the moment a complete misunderstanding.

It is not without a huge disappointment that we must give up this major event and draw a line on this season but we have no other possibility at the moment. The delay with the departure of the plane was much too short and we had no guarantee that by taking a player to replace it, MLG would allow on the spot to override the roster lock and thus, modify the seeding of all the Open Bracket.

It was important for us to be completely transparent to you about this delicate situation and the decision that had been made. We will study the possibilities for our future on the scene in the next few months while setting ourselves aside for the moment and we hope, despite everything, that you will support Natshay, Eazy, Yuuzl, Senka and Dynasty who have made many sacrifices to arrive at such disillusionment. 

The Supremacy Team