Gux verlaat SK-Gaming en keert terug naar fnaticMSI

Zopas is bekend geraakt dat Rasmus 'Gux' Stahl de overgang zal maken van SK-Gaming naar fnaticMSI. Dergelijke overgangen zijn niet zo vreemd in de zweedse counter-strike scene, maar deze keer gebeurde het niet onder de gebruikelijke omstandigheden.

SK-Gaming was de eerste organisatie die met zijn verhaal naar buiten kwam. Rasmus 'Gux' Stahl had de wens uitgesproken om SK-Gaming te kunnen verlaten, zodat hij terug kon keren naar fnatic waar hij eerder dit jaar opstapte. SK-Gaming wou aan deze overgang meewerken, maar slechts nadat hij deel zou nemen met SK-Gaming aan de Arbalet Cup die over een week plaats vindt in Dallas. SK-Gaming beweert dat fnatic de speler geld geboden heeft om niet deel te nemen aan dit event, hoewel ze er zelf niet eens aan deel zouden nemen. SK-Gaming was bijzonder verontwaardigd over deze gebeurtenissen, en vond zelfs dat beide organisaties niet meer tot de G7 zouden mogen behoren.

Statement van Alexander "TheSlaSH" T. Müller, SK-Gaming management

When Rasmus signaled his wish to rejoin Fnatic, we agreed on him playing Arbalet and getting things done after that. I personally explained this to Sam Mathews as well and made clear that Rasmus joining Fnatic was just a matter of terms. However we would have to sort things internally first.

Unfortunately Sam Mathews and Fnatic seem to be so desperate that they pushed the whole thing further and the result makes no side a winner here to be honest. The relationship SK Gaming and Fnatic had in the past is overshadowed if not destroyed by this move. Fnatic offered Rasmus money to not play Arbalet with SK Gaming, an event Fnatic is not playing even.

SK and Fnatic can't be in an organization like the G7 Teams after such a move that is beyond anything I have ever experienced in 11 years of eSport history.

fnatic wist al snel te vertellen dat ze niet blij waren met deze versie van de feiten, en kwam enkele uren later zelf met een eigen versie over wat er nu eigenlijk allemaal aan de hand was.

Zij kwamen meteen met het feit dat Gux helemaal geen contract had bij SK-Gaming, en dat als er al sprake was van een contract, dit niet uitgevoerd werd door SK-Gaming omdat ze Gux al 2 maanden lang geen salaris uitbetaalden. Eveneens was SK-Gaming nog prijzengeld schuldig aan Gux, onder meer voor de 2de plaats van SK-Gaming op de ESWC. fnatic wist te zeggen dat zij een afkoopsom voor Gux zouden betalen, al was het maar uit respect voor SK-Gaming, maar onder de voorwaarde dat Gux zijn prijzengeld en salaris alsnog zou ontvangen van zodra ESWC de storting zou doen. De spelers van fnatic en de organisatie zelf bood Gux een vergoeding aan indien SK-Gaming zijn eis voor het uitbetalen van het achterstallige geld niet zou inwilligen, zodat Gux sterker in zijn schoenen stond om SK-Gaming onder druk te kunnen zetten dat hij niet zou meegaan naar Dallas indien hij zijn geld niet zou krijgen. SK-Gaming ging hiermee niet akkoord, waardoor Gux per direct uit SK-Gaming stapte.

Statement van Sam Mathews, Managing Director of FnaticMSI

FnaticMSI has always aimed to do everything by the book. We have a consistant record of buying players out of contracts, whether it was for Christopher 'GeT_RiGhT' Alesund from Giants or for Bjorn 'threat' Pers from H2K. In this situation with SK things were a little different, firstly Rasmus 'Gux' Stahl had not signed a contract explicitly with SK Gaming, and was about 10 days away from flying to Dallas. Still, FnaticMSI wanted to do the right thing by our long time rival but also fellow esports team whom we have had an amicable relationship with from day one.

So as of last Tuesday I called Alex as soon as I heard that our players had been chatting with Gux about rejoining and that Gux had no contract. We spoke about the situation and how we would resolve it, Alex said he would get back to me.  We were prepared to pay for him if we had to, a nominal fee to show our respect for SK Gaming and to try and make the situation as smooth as possible as it's not easy giving up one of the worlds best players. However, this deal would only go ahead as long as they would agree to pay all outstanding prize money owed to Gux, for example from ESWC 2nd place when it is recieved. There was also the issue that Gux had not received salary for the previous two months, which meant even if there was a verbal concession of a contract, SK were still in breach of this contract. 

Unfortunately we did not hear anything back from SK, and were afraid that should Gux travel to Arbalet Cup Dallas having no agreement from SK about his salary or prizemoney that he would come back even worse off, giving SK the benefit of the doubt and potentially losing any money owed to him.

So we offered an option to make himself secure, and stop SK from bullying him into going by saying that they could withold all money owed to him. Our players all pitched in to donate a fee, whilst FnaticMSI also offered to pay for his salary for this month, should SK revoke his rights to any further money. This is the money which would have gone to SK should we have bought Gux out of his contract. But with SK having no interest in dealing with FnaticMSI we had to leave the situation in Gux's hands. 

Gux therefore left an ultimatum to SK saying that either they agree to pay his salary and prizemoney owed to him once it arrives into SK's bank accounts, or he would not go to Arbalet Cup Dallas. Alex and SK chose the later option, which of course means Rasmus still will lose out in money, but at last he is back home, in an organisation he trusts. Welcome home.

Statement Rasmus "Gux" Stahl:

"There are a lot of reasons why I’m back here in Fnatic. But first I want to say that I have nothing against the SK players, they are all very friendly and took really good care of me when I joined the team. I truly enjoyed playing with them.

When I left Fnatic in December 2009 it was not because of any social problems within the team it was much more complicated than that but of course it is the easiest way to explain what happened. I think the whole Fnatic team afterwards felt that it was a bad choice to split up. I have always had good contact with all the players in Fnatic and we constantly talked about old times when we met. 

When f0rest came to me after ESWC and asked if I wanted to reunite with my old team, it made me think a lot. Since I left, I have always felt that I want to play for Fnatic and I´m glad that they now gave me the opportunity to join the team once again. So the reason why I’m back in Fnatic is because of the fact that I enjoyed my time there and this is where I once learned to play "professional counter-strike" and I feel at home in Fnatic.

The main reason for me to leave SK is because we had an agreement between us that I should cooperate with them and do my share of the agreement, still they never fulfilled their part. This includes that they did not pay me any salary during my time in SK and when I told them about my plans of leaving them for Fnatic they also told me that I would not retrieve any of the prize money. After that I gave SK an ultimatum, if they did not pay me my salary and my prize money I would not go to the Arbalet Cup in Dallas and I would leave as of today.

The information about me getting paid for not going to Arbalet Cup Dallas is completely wrong, what Fnatic has offered me is to pay some of the salary and prize money that SK declines to do and owes me" 

De fnatic line-up ziet er als volgt uit:

Harley 'dsn' Orwall

Patrik 'f0rest' Lindberg

Christopher 'GeT_RiGhT' Alesund

Patrik 'cArn' Sattermon

Rasmus 'Gux' Stahl