CS2 team owner claims TSM tried to “steal” RMR slot by poaching players
Riot GamesThe founder of Into The Breach esports has accused TSM of trying to “steal” his team’s RMR slot by poaching two of his CS2 players.
TSM recently jumped back into Counter-Strike after six years away from the esport. The organization announced the signing of a European squad on August 26 and has since competed in a smattering of tournaments leading up to 2024.
The organization’s return was a long time coming as TSM indicated that it was interested in coming back to Counter-Strike esports in 2022.
TSM reportedly dealt with issues with the team before publicly announcing its return to CS2. The players and coach reportedly butted heads with the organization as head coach Rémy ‘XTQZZZ’ Quoniam allegedly threatened to leave the team at one point.
Those issues seemed to be smoothed over as of now and has XTQZZZ left the project to return to Team Vitality in October.
It seems there was even more behind-the-scenes drama as an org owner has accused TSM of trying to poach his players and “steal” their RMR spot.
TSM accused of trying to poach CS2 players
Sam Macedonio, the founder and CEO of ITB esports, claimed on social media that TSM tried to poach two of his CS2 players to take their RMR slot for Major tournaments.
“FYI TSM tried (and failed) to poach both Karol ‘rallen’ Rodowicz and Joey ‘CRUC1AL’ Steusel to steal our RMR slot. After a string of mediocre results from their overpaid staff and players, what’s TSM’s solution? Take a few steps back, focus on sustainability, rebuilding their fan base and infrastructure, creating a tournament-winning team worthy of their heritage? Nope,” Macedonio said.
The accusation has a quote post of ITB announcing that the two players re-signed with the organization.
TSM signed Kévin ‘misutaaa’ Rabier from ITB and, if they also signed rallen and CRUC1AL, then they would inherit ITB’s RMR points. Regional Major Ranking is a way for Valve to keep track of teams’ ranking over the season for invitations to Major qualification tournaments.
TSM has not responded to the allegation at the time of writing.