At ESL One Bangkok 2024, the attention of viewers was drawn not only to the teams' performances but also to several incidents that sparked public discussion.
The first event that caused a stir was a statement made by German esports player and streamer Max "qojqva" Bröcker during his personal Twitch stream, in which he spoke about Russian player Nikita "Daxak" Kuzmin from World Chimera Esports. Max pointed out that he does not enjoy playing with Daxak, even when they win. "Should I start ruining if Daxak picks me? I would say this to him, but he's on mute. I've had him muted for about 5 years. The problem is, we just can't win together. Even when we win, I don't get any fun from playing with him. It's unpleasant to play with him. Very, very unpleasant," said qojqva, sparking significant discussion among fans and colleagues.
Simultaneously, one of the key players for Team Falcons, Ammar "ATF" Al-Assaf, was spotted at the tournament with a bandaged finger. This fact did not go unnoticed by the viewers, and a video soon appeared on Reddit showing ATF's finger injury. Although the player seemed to be in good form and continued competing, it remains unclear how the injury might have impacted his performance. However, judging by the video, ATF did not appear to experience significant discomfort and likely adapted to the injury, despite potential challenges with accuracy and speed of button presses. Nevertheless, Team Falcons continues to advance confidently through the upper bracket, remaining undefeated.
While ATF deals with his injury, his teammate from Team Falcons, Andreas "Cr1t-" Nielsen, shared his thoughts on the current level of competition in an interview at ESL One Bangkok 2024. He stated that there were no teams at the tournament that could be considered "unbeatable."
"Honestly, I don't think there are any super-scary teams at this tournament. In my opinion, everyone seems shaky. The best team at BLAST Slam I was BetBoom Team, but now they have a different player. All the other teams here look like they could lose to anyone, including us,"
said Cr1t-. He added that his team is confident in their abilities and believes that, by improving their performance compared to the group stage, they can defeat any team.