Counter Logic Gaming’s Counter-Strike team can breathe a sigh of relief as one of their most important players returns to the lineup after securing a visa ahead of important qualifiers.
In-game leader Pujan “FNS” Mehta is set to travel to Los Angeles today ahead of the ESL One Cologne offline qualifiers, starting Aug 1.
Got my VISA approved! 🙂
— Pujan Mehta (@TSMFNS) July 29, 2015
Mehta wasn’t able to play with the team at the CEVO offline finals in Columbus earlier this month. The Canadian player ran into from a problem not entirely alien to the esports world: needing to renew his U.S. visa. The team brought Joshua “Sancz” Ballenger—who currently plays for Ex-Nihilum—to the event as a substitute.
Without Mehta in the lineup, CLG didn’t make it past the group stages. They overcame Team Liquid but once again being unable to match North American frontrunner Cloud9, falling 0-4 in total maps. Despite the final result, many fans were still pleased with how the team performed overall play, commenting that Ballenger was a more than capable stand-in for Mehta.
The next stop on for CLG is the ESL One Cologne offline qualifiers at the ESL Studio in California. With Mehta back in the lineup, the team will expect to challenge for one of the two spots available to the major event in Cologne next month. CLG will face off against Mythic (formerly Luminosity gaming), Maximum Effort (formerly Nihilum), and eLevate in group B of the qualifier. After the various North American roster shuffles, it will be anyone’s game in what promises to be a tight group.
