AVANGAR and forZe will play at BLAST Pro Series Moscow after Team Vitality were forced to pull out because of their incomplete roster.
AVANGAR, who reached the final of the StarLadder Berlin Major, and forZe were due to clash in the CIS play-in to decide the sixth and final team at BLAST Pro Series Moscow.
Team Vitality announced benched Nathan "NBK-" Schmitt after being eliminated from the StarLadder Major at the quarterfinal stage and have not yet added a replacement.
The line-up of teams at BLAST Pro Series Moscow is now:
- Na'Vi
- ENCE
- AVANGAR
- NIP
- MIBR
- ForZe
Know your Counter-Strike? Make your predictions now for BLAST Pro Series Moscow 2019 for the chance to win real money. Every new Luckbox account starts with $5. Remember it's 18+ only for betting, and be sure to gamble responsibly
forZe will take over Team Vitality’s place in the BLAST Pro Series Moscow schedule, facing ENCE in their first initial group stage match, while AVANGAR faces NIP.
Apologies to fans
Team Vitality CEO Nicolas Maurer said: "We apologise to BLAST and the fans for the inconvenience. We have been working hard to get a competitive roster in place before the tournament as we were looking very much forward to play in our first BLAST Pro Series tournament.
"They have been very understanding in this process and we hope to play a BLAST tournament at some point in the future. For now we regroup and go to work on reshaping our roster."
BLAST Pro Series CEO Robbie Douek said: "We were excited about having Team Vitality play in our tournament, especially after their great form over the last couple of months. But when they came to us asking to withdraw, we of course listened and understood the dilemma they were facing, and agreed on allowing them.
"Stepping back and work on their roster was the best option. We wish them the best of luck building their new roster and look forward to having them on board for another BLAST tournament in the future.
"We were looking into options in terms of bringing in a substitute for Team Vitality, but since we are so fortunate to have two strong qualifier teams, forZe, who did great at the Major and AVANGAR who were last week's runners up, we have chosen to dissolve the qualifier final and let forZe and AVANGAR advance straight into the main tournament.
"We have a great line up for what will be a hugely entertaining weekend of Counter-Strike."
