CSGO: Vitality Withdraw from BLAST Moscow, AVANGAR and Forze Fill In

Vitality has withdrawn from BLAST Pro Series Moscow as of this morning citing the inability to field a full roster.

French CS team Vitality announced this morning that they will not attend BLAST Pro Series Moscow after their decision to bench Nathan “NBK” Schmitt left them unable to play a full roster.

.@TeamVitality are unable to play due to the lack of a complete roster.

Fortunately, two strong qualifier teams are with us, we’re happily welcoming both the Closed Qualifier 1st place, @forzegg, and Major grand finalists @avangarkz into the #BLASTProSeries #Moscow line-up! 🇷🇺 pic.twitter.com/e5tgCZZuGu

— BLAST Premier 💥 (@BLASTPremier) September 11, 2019

BLAST Pro Series has decided to replace Vitality with the recent StarLadder Major Grand Finalists, AVANGAR. ForZe will take the place of the qualified team after winning the Closed Qualifier for the tournament.

Vitality is Flatlining

Schmitt's seeming unwillingness to play out BLAST with his team is a testament to the issues that must be going on inside it. It is normal to see benched players play in previously scheduled tournaments while the team seeks their replacement, but that is obviously not happening in this case. Either Schmitt is unwilling to stand in for Vitality's new fifth, or the team is unwilling to play with him. Either scenario doesn't bode well for a team that entered StarLadder Berlin with high hopes and left after crashing out 1-2 against eventual Grand Finalists, AVANGAR.

Runors have swirled around Vitality adding either current G2 IGL Richard “shox” Papillon or free agent Fabien “kioShiMa” Fiey, but neither move has come to pass as of yet.

BLAST Pro Series kicks off the Friday the 13th, and continues into Saturday the 14th.

Image VIA: StarLadder