CR4ZY set to attend Arctic Invitational

CR4ZY will still attend the Arctic Invitational despite having received an invitation to compete at BLAST Pro Series Moscow, HLTV.org has confirmed.

A report from Dexerto revealed on Tuesday that CR4ZY had been contacted about the possibility of replacing Vitality in Moscow as the French team currently have just four players after benching Nathan "⁠NBK-⁠" Schmitt in the wake of the StarLadder Major.

With the Russian tournament kicking off in just 48 hours, this meant that CR4ZY would have to withdraw from the Arctic Invitational, a one-day tournament that will be held in Helsinki on Saturday with over $100,000 on offer.

CR4ZY will face SJ in the semi-finals of the Finnish event

Contacted by HLTV.org, CR4ZY CEO Antonio Meic confirmed the approach from RFRSH Entertainment and the interest in attending the Moscow event, which the organisation saw as a "big opportunity." However, the short time window made it impossible to sort everything out in a way that "no damage would be done".

Mr. Meic stressed that CR4ZY "could not be happier" to attend the Finnish event, where they will meet local side SJ in the semi-finals, and confirmed that the team will be in Helsinki with their full roster despite reports crediting G2 with an interest in Nemanja "⁠nexa⁠" Isaković and Nemanja "⁠huNter-⁠" Kovač.

HLTV.org has reached out to RFRSH Entertainment for more information about Vitality's slot at BLAST Pro Series Moscow. ENCE, Natus Vincere, MIBR and Ninjas in Pyjamas are all confirmed for the Russian tournament, with a fifth team coming from the CIS Play-In, pitting AVANGAR against FORZE.

Nathan 'NBK-' Schmitt Age: 25 Team: VitalityB Rating 1.0: 1.04 Maps played: 1652 KPR: 0.70 DPR: 0.66 FORZE #20 Dmitriy 'facecrack' AlekseyevAlmaz 'almazer' AsadullinEvgenii 'FL1T' LebedevBogdan 'xsepower' ChernikovAndrey 'Jerry' Mekhryakov ENCE #5 Aleksi 'allu' JalliJani 'Aerial' JussilaMiikka 'suNny' KemppiSami 'xseveN' LaasanenJere 'sergej' Salo Vitality #4 Cédric 'RpK' GuipouyDan 'apEX' MadesclaireAlex 'ALEX' McMeekinMathieu 'ZywOo' Herbaut Ninjas in Pyjamas #16 Patrik 'f0rest' LindbergChristopher 'GeT_RiGhT' AlesundJonas 'Lekr0' OlofssonFredrik 'REZ' SternerNicolas 'Plopski' Gonzalez Zamora Nemanja 'nexa' Isaković Age: 22 Team: CR4ZY Rating 1.0: 1.10 Maps played: 742 KPR: 0.74 DPR: 0.63 SJ #58 Jesse 'KHRN' GrandellMikko 'xartE' VälimaaTony 'arvid' NiemeläElias 'Jamppi' OlkkonenTuomas 'SADDYX' Louhimaa G2 #9 Audric 'JACKZ' JugRichard 'shox' PapillonKenny 'kennyS' SchrubFrançois 'amanek' DelaunayLucas 'Lucky' Chastang AVANGAR #6 Dauren 'AdreN' KystaubayevSanjar 'SANJI' KulievTimur 'buster' TulepovAlexey 'Qikert' GolubevDzhami 'Jame' Ali Nemanja 'huNter-' Kovač Age: 23 Team: CR4ZY Rating 1.0: 1.15 Maps played: 918 KPR: 0.80 DPR: 0.67 Natus Vincere #7 Danylo 'Zeus' TeslenkoEgor 'flamie' VasilyevOleksandr 's1mple' KostylievDenis 'electroNic' SharipovKirill 'Boombl4' Mikhailov CR4ZY #12 Nemanja 'huNter-' KovačNestor 'LETN1' TanićNemanja 'nexa' IsakovićOtto 'ottoNd' SihvoRokas 'EspiranTo' Milasauskas MIBR #15 Gabriel 'FalleN' ToledoVito 'kNgV-' GiuseppeFernando 'fer' AlvarengaLucas 'LUCAS1' TelesEpitacio 'TACO' de Melo