The show match in Counter-Strike 2 before the start of the IEM Rio 2023 final between Team Brazil and a mixture of players from Europe attracted special attention. However, it was not because everyone wanted to see how esports players have fun in the new part of Valve's shooter. The team lineups were announced two hours before the start of the match, and it was then that it became known that Vladislav nafany Gorshkov from Cloud9 would play with the NAVI players. The Ukrainian fanbase understandably criticized the club management and the duo of players.

I don't know if esports is a virtual sport, but the NAVI players definitely live in their own virtual reality. Playing a show match with a Russian player who still represents russia on the international stage is a demonstration of tolerance to the whole world.
It's nothing new, it seems. But every time the club and players adhere to such a policy, it hurts me a lot. That's why I think it's necessary to write about it from time to time. Because silence is consent. In short, -rep.

Oleksandr Petr1k Petrik

Later in a conversation with the head of NAVI's esports department, Amiran ami Rekhviashvili, it became clear that they only found out about nafany's participation after s1mple and npl arrived at the arena. Before that, they only knew one of their teammates - GeT_RiGhT. Thus, ESL simply presented "yellow-blacks" with a fact, and it was too late to refuse to participate. The Ukrainian organization has already expressed its protest to the tournament operator.

In March 2022, nafany expressed his thoughts on the start of the war as follows: "There's a lot I want to write. But it'll all just go to waste. Just fuck the war." At the same time, after some time, he could not clearly condemn the war during a stream at the request of his teammate, saying that "Everyone understands everything, and those who don't understand are anluko." Also, neither Gorshkom nor his teammates from Russia on Cloud9 followed the example of electronic and Perfecto, who put a white flag on Liquipedia, thereby refusing to represent their country.

Therefore, on a positive note, KSCERATO, who publicly supports Ukraine not for the first time, is worth mentioning. The Brazilian not only has the Ukrainian flag in his Steam profile, which was visible throughout the show match, but he also came out on stage with the flag at the previous Major.

READ MORE: electronic: "Sometimes I shut up s1mple, but it's not just about him."

The final of IEM Rio 2023 featuring Heroic and Vitality is already live. It takes place on Vertigo, Inferno, and Overpass. The winner will advance to IEM Cologne 2023 and win $100,000. Live match statistics are available at the link.