Renegades’ debut in the StarSeries & i-League CS:GO Season 7 playoffs was successful, but it didn’t come without controversy.
Playing opposite Ninjas in Pyjamas, Renegades AWPer Sean “Gratisfaction” Kaiwai was seen flipping off the crowd following a key clutch round for his team. The reason? A fan of Ninjas in Pyjamas was shouting his location out in an attempt to help the Swedes.
The incident has been clipped on Twitch.
During round 25 of game one, Gratisfaction was left in a one versus one situation with Ninjas in Pyjamas star Patrik “f0rest” Lindberg. Playing around the A bombsite on Mirage, neither player was certain where the other was, which made for a tense standoff.
Though they were unaware of it at the time, F0rest and Gratisfaction were very close to one another. F0rest was standing outside connector and Gratisfaction was snuggled in a nearby corner. Once the two were set for a showdown, a fan could be heard shouting “sandwich,” the call used for Gratisfaction’s location.
While it is unclear whether or not F0rest heard the fan, it did not matter. Gratisfaction initiated and landed an immediate headshot on F0rest to take the round and put Renegades within reach of map point.
However, Renegades definitely did hear the fan with Gratisfaction flipping them off while coach Aleksandar “kassad” Trifunović talked with a nearby official about the issue. Renegades went on to win the map 16-11.
It is unknown whether the fan faced any consequences for his interference.
Though Gratisfaction won that key duel with f0rest, he still had a generally unremarkable showing in the first map. However, that changed when the teams went to Dust 2. After going 17-16 on Mirage, Gratisfaction topped the scoreboard with a 20-7 K/D on one of the more friendly maps for snipers. Renegades went on to win 16-5 and closed out the series 2-0.
Though there was initially some discussion that Gratisfaction was taunting Ninjas in Pyjamas, he made it clear on Twitter that this was not the case.
“Wasn’t pulling the fingers towards NiP. Nothing but love for those players,” Gratisfaction said. “It was to the dickheads in the crowd screaming out my position.”
The win over NiP advances Renegades on to the tournament’s semifinals. Renegades will face the winner of the upcoming quarterfinals match between ENCE Esports and Natus Vincere. Meanwhile, Ninjas in Pyjamas was eliminated from the event with a fifth-place finish.
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