ALGM 2:0 EDG 
Earlier today, BLAST and Ubisoft unveiled that five of the twenty teams competing at the BLAST R6 Major Salt Lake City have been impacted by visa issues. The esports organizations affected by these have been Wolves Esports, EDward Gaming, Five Fears, Wildcard, and Twisted Minds.
Wolves Esports’ case has been the most drastic one as the entirety of their roster has been denied American visas. In EDward Gaming, Wildcard, and Twisted Minds’ cases, they have been forced to make a replacement in their starting five. Finally, Five Fears’ problem has affected their head coach.
For a full look at the changes made in each roster, check out the graphic displayed below or read our article about today's news here.
Unfortunately, this is not the first time that a bunch of teams have had to deal with visa issues when playing in the United States. In May 2022, Team oNe and w7m esports had to take part in the Six Charlotte Major from Mexico, as the Brazilian players couldn't secure their visas in time. At the same time, Elevate's Thai roster couldn't travel to either Mexico or the United States in time, which ultimately resulted in the squad forfeiting the event.
A year and a half later, the BLAST R6 Major Atlanta, held in Atlanta, Georgia, saw Geekay Esports and ALPHA Team face visa issues. Back then, both teams were able to compete in the tournament after finding suitable replacements, including João "Kamikaze" Gomes and Jake "Leadr" Fortunato, who played for the South American and MENA rosters, respectively.
When it comes to Rainbow Six Siege events, visa complications haven't only affected competitions held in the United States. For example, the Six Invitational 2024 saw Team Falcons play with Victor "Bersa" Bruschini and Jake "Leadr" Fortunato as stand-ins.
Although we mentioned the Six Charlotte Major to give readers context, it's important that, from now on, we don't focus on the event held in North Carolina, as none of the teams affected by visa issues had to find replacements. Therefore, let's focus on Atlanta and the Six Invitational 2024.
As mentioned above, the players who stepped in for the affected teams were Kamikaze, Leadr (twice), and Bersa. Both Kamikaze and Leadr had failed to qualify for Atlanta. In Leadr's case, he was also part of Heroic, a team that was already out of the race to qualify for the Six Invitational 2024. Therefore, those two players were eligible to compete in Atlanta. Meanwhile, both Leadr and Bersa had failed to qualify for the Six Invitational 2024, meaning they could take part in the competition held on Brazilian soil.
After looking at the bigger picture created by previous visa-related precedents, we can return to the BLAST R6 Major Salt Lake City, where Twisted Minds, EDward Gaming, and Wildcard have added stand-ins to compete in the tournament. However, unlike in previous cases, these teams have signed players who aren't LFO. So, what has changed?
Logically, the Rulebook supports the substitutes used by Twisted Minds, EDward Gaming, and Wildcard. What they have done is completely legal, and that's because the Rulebook has slightly changed when it comes to adding stand-ins at international tournaments.
What did the BLAST R6 2024-25 Rulebook say?
The Rulebook used during the BLAST R6 2023-24 esports season indicates that "if a Team is not able to have five Players competing in a particular match of BLAST R6, including through calling a Substitute, or with its Coach stepping-in, the Team can request to have another one of their Team Staff members replace the unavailable Player. Authorization to compete with a Team Staff member replacing a Player is subject to Ubisoft and to the Tournament Organizer’s approval."
"In the event that a Team is unable to have five Players competing including through calling a Substitute, a Coach stepping-in or any other Team Staff member, the Team can exceptionally request to play with a Stand-In Player. A “Stand-In Player” is a person exceptionally authorized to compete with a Team he is not under contract with, for a limited period of time (a “Stand-In Player”) and for the sole purpose of avoiding the Team forfeiting that match for breach of the Team composition requirements set forth in Section 4.2."
In short, if playing with a coach was not possible, teams were allowed to add a stand-in player. This is what Geekay Esports, ALPHA Team, and Team Falcons did at the time; they brought in players to fill the gaps left by those who were denied visas.
However, the difference between what is happening today and what happened at previous events lies in the following lines:
- Stand-In Players must meet all eligibility requirements presented in Section 3.3. Exception can be made to the Residence eligibility rule stated in Section 3.3.3 only for offline competitions, and subject to UBISOFT and/or BLAST and the Tournament Organizer’s approval in each instance.
- A Stand-In Player cannot have been registered with another Team that has competed, in the same Stage of the Season, against the Team he is standing-in for. This applies across all competitions of BLAST R6.
- A Stand-In Player cannot be registered in the Roster of another Team that is competing in the same competition he is asked to stand-in for.
Logically, this condition makes it harder for teams to sign players from their home region, as those players must either be retired or compete in the region's Tier 2 scene. Naturally, the pool of available options becomes larger if the roster speaks English, as teams can then consider players from other regions around the world. However, this made things slightly more difficult for ALPHA Team (Spanish/Portuguese), Geekay Esports, and Team Falcons (Arabic/English).
If, back then, a North American team competing at the BLAST R6 Major Copenhagen had run into visa issues, it would have had to temporarily sign a player either from North America's Tier 2 scene or from another Tier 1 region, provided the player could speak English.
What does the BLAST R6 2026-27 Rulebook say?
This season's Rulebook follows the same idea, but there are some minor differences that mainly affect Wildcard's situation.
As the previously highlighted condition doesn't apply in the current Rulebook, teams dealing with visa issues are now in a position where they can sign any player who hasn't qualified for the BLAST R6 Major Salt Lake City. Therefore, Wildcard were able to add Matthew "Hotancold" Stevens, who was recently benched by M80.
If the condition mentioned above had still applied, Wildcard wouldn't have been able to sign Hotancold, as they had played against M80 in the North America League 2026 Kickoff Upper Bracket Quarterfinals. However, that condition no longer exists in the current Rulebook.
Another difference between the two Rulebooks is that the current version specifically addresses the willingness of a team's substitutes and staff members to play in the event. We have highlighted the relevant section below for clarity:
"If a Team is unable to have five Players competing including through calling a Substitute, a Coach or any other Team Staff member accepting to step-in, then the Team can exceptionally request to play with a Stand-In Player. A “Stand-In Player” is a person exceptionally authorized to compete with a Team despite not being registered as part of the Team’s Roster, for a limited period of time (a “Stand-In Player”) and for the sole purpose of avoiding the Team forfeiting that match for breach of the Team composition requirements set forth in Section 4.2"
Therefore, we must assume that neither Lorenzo "Lagonis" Volpi nor Justin "Justin" Ponce accepted to step in, meaning Wildcard's final option was to add an external stand-in player. The same logic can also be applied to the staffs of EDward Gaming and Twisted Minds.
As for EDward Gaming and Twisted Minds, there was nothing preventing Noah "Noa" Urwitz or Abdulrahman "Guardz" Alsaeedi from joining their respective lineups in Salt Lake City. Under the current Rulebook, both players are eligible to compete in the event alongside their new teammates.
For more information about Rainbow Six Siege and its esports scene, make sure to check out Siege.GG.