European hopefuls in the ALGS Championship Alliance had to start today’s group stage without star rookie Miron “Effect” Novikov, as he hadn’t gotten visa approval prior to the event. But that could change soon.
Despite needing a subsitute, Alliance have put on a fairly good show so far, taking a win on World’s Edge during the Group C vs. Group D matches with their sub Mikkel “Mande” Hestbek. Following that win, they got even more good news: Effect claims his visa has finally been approved.
“I GOT MY VISA BIRMINGHAM I COME LFGGGG,” Effect tweeted earlier today. If his visa is indeed approved, he could appear for Alliance as soon as he arrives in Birmingham, and ALGS rules allow teams to switch out players and their one designated substitute freely during the tournament.
The young Russian player brings a huge amount of firepower to the Alliance squad; he put up 15 kills and dealt over 7,000 damage during the winners bracket of the ALGS Split Two Playoffs. Beyond that, he makes smart plays and moves well, enabling his teammates to excel alongside him. While John “Hakis” Håkansson, Oscar “Yuki” Jiang, and Mande have already proven they can win without that firepower and strategy, it certainly won’t hurt to have it at their disposal as the finals approach.
Alliance weren’t the only ones dealing with missing players at Champs due to visa issues. Aurora Gaming’s Lev “taskmast33r” Grigoriev also didn’t receive his documents to travel to the U.K. before the LAN, and Kiryl “9impulse” Kostsiu only got a visa less than a day before the beginning of the tournament.
It remains to be seen if Aurora will have the same luck that Alliance apparently has had with Effect.
