Astralis, G2 & other BLAST teams surprised by CSPPA’s voice comm concern

Moments before the BLAST Fall Finals were set to begin, the Counter-Strike Professional Players’ Association (CSPPA) raised concerns of how the tournament organizer (TO) was handling players’ voice comms. CS:GO players supported the announcement, but the 14 teams at the event were blindsided by the dispute.

A day after a three-hour delay kept the Fall Finals from running on schedule due to comms deliberations, teams including G2 Esports, Natus Vincere, Team Liquid, Astralis, FaZe Clan, Furia, Mousesports, and the rest of the orgs at BLAST contested the CSPPA’s claim.

It’s not to say that there weren’t any concerns with the handling of sensitive voice communications among BLAST partners, but that the collective of teams had already resolved these issues with the TO prior to the Fall Showdown.

“The teams and all Tournament Organizers, including BLAST, have worked, are working, and will continue to work together to ensure that any and all of our players’ needs pertaining their participation are met to the extent possible,” the 14-team collective said in a joint announcement. “As a result of this already successful partnership between the parties, BLAST resolved the issues raised around the usage of voice comms already on November 23rd.”

In fact, the CSPPA’s involvement in the matter on the whole took the teams by surprise.

“We fail to understand how and why CSPPA are involved in trying to raise concerns with an already resolved issue, without our knowledge or any form of previous communication,” the statement said.

To be clear, organizations generally operate with their players’ interest in mind; but in this round of CSPPA’s problem-solving, teams weren’t aware of any concerns from pro players that weren’t already addressed.

During the delay for the Fall Finals, plenty of CS:GO pros came out in support of the CSPPA’s message. While it’s a direction that teams could have also supported, they were kept away from these discussions.

• Read more: How to watch BLAST Premier CSGO Fall Final: schedule, streams & teams

“While we continue to improve the quality of life of our precious teams and players, we urge both the community and our players to continue raising concerns through the proper channels, so that we can carry on improving their conditions in and outside the game,” the teams said.