Kings of Substitutions: Top 5 Tournaments Won by Teams with Stand-Ins
Substitutions are a common practice in team sports, but in CS, they have only recently become more prevalent and are not yet a permanent fixture. Currently, not every team has a substitute player, and if they do, it’s often someone who has been removed from the main roster and is awaiting a transfer. It turns out that training with six players is significantly more difficult, leading to several restrictions from VALVE on this practice.
However, the issue of substitutions has become much more relevant recently. Players are mentally weaker, can suddenly “lose motivation to play” and take a break, or simply fall ill. The most obvious and frequent reason, of course, is visa issues. Almost every championship sees a player being substituted in one of the teams or an entire team being replaced due to travel problems. Despite the obvious drawbacks and in-game challenges when playing with a stand-in, CS history knows many successful cases. Victories with substitutes occur even at the top level, and today we will recall some of these brilliant triumphs.
IEM Sydney 2018: Xizt – FaZe Clan
FaZe Clan has always been an organization that gathered top players and was deservedly considered a team of star players. In 2018, the team faced a challenging period, primarily due to a sensational defeat at the Boston Major. At that time, the roster included NiKo, Guardian, karrigan, rain, and olofmeister, but the latter decided to take a break from CS, focus on his health, and think about the future. The team was not caught off guard and had already asked Swedish CS legend Xizt to join FaZe for an indefinite period. At that time, the long-standing NiP captain was 28 years old and seriously considering retirement after leaving his home organization. Xizt gladly accepted the invitation to play for the star-studded team in Australia, as playing with such a lineup always offers a chance to win the tournament.
As it turned out, Xizt’s trip to the other side of the world was not in vain, and he managed to lift the coveted Intel Extreme Masters trophy. Individually, he performed well, finishing only one out of seven matches with a negative rating. The journey was relatively short, with the stand-in period lasting less than a month and ending almost immediately after the tournament. Xizt was unable to revive his career, and IEM Sydney became his last championship event as a player.
EPICENTER 2017: Boltz – SK Gaming
EPICENTER was the most popular tournament series held annually in Russia. In 2017, eight top teams from around the world came to Saint Petersburg: SK, Virtus.pro, Astralis, FaZe, G2, Gambit, Liquid, and North. The tournament took place a few months after the Krakow Major 2017, and many teams were changing their rosters. The Brazilians from SK Gaming were no exception, arriving in Russia with the fantastic quartet of Major double champions FalleN, coldzera, fer, and TACO, joined by boltz. The young Brazilian had reached the finals of the PGL Krakow Major 2017 with Immortals and was one of the best players on the roster. After felps left SK, boltz became the ideal candidate to replace him, and everyone understood that a successful performance would likely lead to a long-term contract.
The performance turned out to be more than successful. In a dramatic final against the nominal hosts of the tournament (the Polish quintet VP), SK won 3-2 and sensationally took first place. Following this victory, boltz was officially transferred to SK Gaming and even ranked 18th in the individual HLTV rating for 2017.
BLAST Pro Series: Miami 2019: Adren – FaZe Clan
Once again, FaZe Clan, but this time a year after the victory with a stand-in at IEM Sydney with Xizt. After a not entirely unsuccessful year, the ambitions of the star-studded FaZe roster were much higher than the results achieved, and they decided to remove the team captain, karrigan. NiKo took over the role of IGL, but the question of finding a suitable replacement as a rifler arose, and for some unclear reason, the international team remembered the champion and MVP of the Krakow Major 2017, AdreN.
The Kazakh player was a free agent after leaving Gambit and signed a short-term contract with FaZe Clan. Initially, he traveled with the new team to Atlanta, where they won a small four-team tournament, and a couple of months later, they attended BLAST in Miami. At that time, the tournament format meant that each team played against each other in a BO1 format, with the top two teams facing off in the final. FaZe finished second and faced Liquid in the final, who had gone through the group stage without a single defeat. In the final, FaZe unexpectedly defeated the American team 2-0, but the team still parted ways with AdreN due to communication difficulties during the game.
IEM Katowice 2022: jks – FaZe Clan
Once again, we have to talk about FaZe, but this time about a completely different team, with karrigan having returned and been leading the new roster for about a year. The entire year of 2021, the team couldn’t get close to a trophy, and before the most important tournament in every esports player’s life, IEM Katowice, they lost rain due to the birth of his child. FaZe turned to jks and asked him to stand in for them at the upcoming championship.
As you can guess, FaZe Clan finally lifted the long-awaited trophy, marking the beginning of the team’s domination on the pro scene, which continues to some extent even now. The team didn’t face any issues throughout the tournament and went through the playoffs without losing a single map. The Australian made an excellent impression as a quality player and received an invitation to G2, with whom he won the IEM Katowice trophy again the following year.
IEM Dallas 2024: Stewie2k – G2
Memories of G2’s performance in Dallas are still fresh and will undoubtedly remain in the minds of the entire community. G2 captain HooXi couldn’t attend the tournament due to his sister’s wedding, and G2 decided to invite Stewie2k as a stand-in, who hadn’t played professional CS at the top level for over two years. There’s little doubt that the management did this intentionally, hoping to attract fans in the arena.
The gamble paid off, and even an unconvincing group stage performance didn’t prevent G2 from reaching the playoffs, defeating some strong opponents. The American audience loves Stewie2k, and the crowd went wild throughout G2’s three matches in Dallas. The story turned out to be a Hollywood-style tale, worthy of a good movie. While Jackie didn’t deliver an outstanding performance, everyone noted his moral contribution to the team’s confidence and atmosphere.