The best of the best, the true professionals, have to learn how to play through pain. For Austin “crashies” Roberts, he had to learn at an inopportunte time—at the beginning of the VALORANT Champions Tour Challengers events.
On March 10, just before Envy’s opening round at Masters against Gen.G, crashies revealed that his father had taken his own life less than a month prior. He candidly expressed his frustration and heartbreak, and implored his fans and followers to check in on their own loved ones.
Naturally, his team explored options for a stand-in for him at Challengers and had one lined up assuming crashies wasn’t going to play. But crashies wasn’t going to let that happen.
“They were already looking at a replacement,” he told Dot Esports after Envy’s win over Luminosity. “They didn’t expect me to play, but I came to them and said I want to play. My dad would want me to play. We’ve prepped so hard for this. I didn’t think it would be fair to them to throw that work away.”
Crashies has been a pivotal part of the success Envy has found since joining the team with Victor “food” Wong back in September. He’s been a reliable Sova player and has consistently appeared at the top of the scoreboard for his team.
While the team relies on his play on the server, he’s relied on them for support during this tough time. And, according to him, they’ve answered the call.
“They’ve been super supportive as teammates,” crashies said. “It’s still definitely hard from time to time, but they’ve just been a really good team.”
Envy’s run at Masters continues in the lower bracket today in a rematch against Gen.G.
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