BLAST organizers have confirmed an unexpected change to the participant list for the upcoming BLAST Open London: instead of HEROIC, fnatic will take part in the tournament. The Danish-European squad was forced to withdraw after being unable to field at least three players from the roster that earned the invitation through the Valve Regional Standings.
Reasons for HEROIC’s withdrawal
OPEN CHANGE: @heroicgg will be replaced by @FNATICCS2 at the upcoming BLAST Open London
The change is due to Heroic not being able to field 3 of the 5 players from the initial VRS invite to the event. #BLASTPremier pic.twitter.com/hA8b4qJxt2
— BLAST Premier 💥 (@BLASTPremier) August 16, 2025
According to HEROIC’s Director of Esports Robin Nymann, the issue was not due to internal conflicts or another round of transfers, but purely bureaucratic reasons. The team did not have enough time to secure a UK visa for Turkish player Yasin “xfl0ud” Koç. His return to the roster was only announced on Tuesday, August 12, shortly after the organization officially sold Andrey “tN1R” Tatarinovich.
BLAST had set a strict visa confirmation deadline for August 20, leaving HEROIC without the necessary time to complete the paperwork.
This is simply about the gap between our decision to bring Yasin back into the lineup and BLAST’s deadline. We physically weren’t able to acquire a UK visa in time, said Nymann.
HEROIC’s transfer troubles
This summer HEROIC lost two of their key players from the “old” roster:
- Álvaro “SunPayus” García transferred to G2 during the summer break;
- Andrey “tN1R” Tatarinovich was sold — according to HLTV, to Spirit.
In order to retain eligibility for invitations under the Valve Regional Standings system, organizations are required to keep at least three players from the lineup that contributed to the ranking. For HEROIC, that trio would have been SunPayus, xfl0ud, and tN1R. Losing two of them made it impossible to meet the requirement.
As a result, HEROIC effectively lost their invitation and had to give up their spot to another team.
A second chance for fnatic
The invitation automatically passed to fnatic — the next team in line on the Global VRS among those who had not declined participation in the qualifiers or the tournament itself.
For fnatic, this is a real second chance. The squad led by Benjamin “blameF” Bremer previously tried to qualify for BLAST Open London through the European Rising qualifier but fell short at the 3–4th place finish, missing out on a direct slot. Now, they have been handed a golden opportunity to showcase themselves on the big stage.
BLAST Open London — schedule and participants
The tournament will kick off on August 27 with an online group stage running until September 1. The top teams will then travel to London, where the finals will take place at the legendary OVO Arena Wembley from September 5–7.
The updated participant list is as follows:
- Vitality
- MOUZ
- Spirit
- Natus Vincere
- FURIA
- FaZe
- G2
- GamerLegion
- Liquid
- Virtus.pro
- Legacy
- FlyQuest
- M80
- fnatic
- ECSTATIC
- Imperial
Community reaction
The news of HEROIC’s withdrawal and fnatic’s invitation sparked a storm of reactions on social media.
- XSKINS.GG joked harshly: “From a weak team to an even worse…”, implying that fnatic won’t raise the level of competition.
- Another user quipped: “@heroicgg who did you sell this time?” — mocking HEROIC’s frequent roster changes.
- Robin Nymann, trying to clarify the situation, emphasized: “It’s just a matter of time and deadlines, we physically couldn’t get Yasin’s visa in time.”
- Fans pointed out the irony of HEROIC’s chronic instability. One comment read: “Heroic try to keep a roster for more than one tournament challenge (IMPOSSIBLE)”, gathering hundreds of likes.
- Some even suggested the team “tactically” lost in Rising EU to secure a direct invite: “Tactically bombed out of Blast Rising EU to get invited directly.”
Once again, HEROIC’s instability has been exposed as their biggest weakness. For fnatic, however, this is an opportunity to prove their project still has potential — and for fans, it adds an extra layer of intrigue ahead of BLAST Open London.
