Jake “Stewie2k” Yip caused a whirlwind of discourse with a single tweet after an ESL Pro League match. September 22 brought an exciting battle between North American Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO) giants Team Liquid and Evil Geniuses (EG). EG bested their opponents 2-0 after facing off on Mirage and Inferno.
COVID-19 put competitive CS:GO in a unique situation. International travel is impossible, causing matches to be region locked. While European (EU) and NA teams compete in their respective areas, tournament organizers produce events remotely. As a result, balancing time zones between parties in different parts of the world has proven itself a difficult task.
Stewie2k: “F*ck 10AM matches”
Shortly after the match concluded, Stewie2k took to Twitter, expressing disdain towards early morning matches. He stated, “f*ck 10 AM matches, that’s all.”
FUCK 10AM matches, that's all.
— Jake (@Stewie) September 22, 2020
Within minutes the CS:GO community jumped at the chance to scold the professional player. One fan sarcastically replied, saying, “wow, getting up at 10 AM to play a game, wow so difficult.” Hundreds of replies flooded his tweet, reminding Stewie2k he’s fortunate to be in his position.
In response to the backlash, Stewie replied once more, stating, “the overwhelming amount of tournaments saturate the scene.” Next, he mentioned scheduling inconsistencies affect players in more ways than one.
If it's so easy then why don't you guys come do it for yourselves or..you can't. I'm not complaining about my position in life lol but the overwhelming amount of tournaments that saturate the scene and the inconsistency of starting 10am, 12, 3, lack of practice, and other factors
— Jake (@Stewie) September 22, 2020
Several of Stewie2k’s colleagues, including Chaos Esports Club’s Anthony “vanity” Malaspina, jumped to his defense. Vanity explained professional players keep to a strict schedule of practice and are accustomed to playing particular time slots. For this reason, he says playing several hours earlier than usual makes it difficult for players to perform their best.
How hard is it to understand pros are on a schedule, Every NA Team as far as i'm aware starts at 1130 or 12 PST. Being expected to perform at your best 2 hours before you typically are focused and ready to play CS is going to make people upset.
— Anthony (@Vanityxz) September 22, 2020
In conclusion, Stewie2k’s tweet sheds light on the poor communication between teams and tournament organizers. Additionally, it sparked discourse about the need for proper channels to be made available for players to share their grievances. At the end of the day, the community heard Stewie2k’s opinion, and professional players hope to have their feedback taken seriously by tournament organizers.
