Team Liquid’s ex-IGL and CSGO Legend, Gabriel ‘Fallen’ Toledo got into a slight spat with teammate Jake ‘Stewie2k’ Yip during the first map of their lower bracket game versus Natus Vincere at BLAST Premier World Finals. The teammates exchanged a few words and things looked sour throughout the game from there on out, as Liquid were sent home by NaVi.
This was the last event for the roster together as ‘FalleN’, ‘stewie2k’ and ‘Grim’ would be going their own ways, as said by EliGe in a post game interview as well as the official announcement by Liquid later on. The team would’ve liked to go out on a high but it wasn’t meant to be. That wasn’t helped by the evident friction in the team as Liquid found it hard to get back into the game after that.
STEWIE2K AND FALLEN CSGO DRAMA EXPLAINED:
The 11th round of the first map – Dust2, between NaVi and Team Liquid was an eco (save) round from TL with them only buying a couple of Desert eagles and the rest on USP-S’. Stewie2k opened the round with 3 deagle headshots to give his side a significant advantage, and they were up in a 4v2 situation despite a weapon disadvantage.
As NaVi progressed further on the A site on Dust2, stewie2k and FalleN both were on the ramp. Stewie, already being fired up, wanted FalleN to bait for him so he could get 2 more headshots and win the round but he failed to communicate the same to his team. It didn’t stop there as he then frustratingly called FalleN out saying ‘Why you hiding dude?’ after they lost the round and the tension within the team was visible as seen in the clip below.
Stewie then touched on it again in the post game interview saying ‘FalleN didn’t know what he was doing’ and it was clear that he was frustrated. He also said that is how things snowballed for them, as has been the case for Liquid for a while and they lost all momentum and the overall energy in the camp was brought down.
THE CLARIFICATION FROM ‘THE PROFESSOR’
Fans then took to Twitter and reddit to label stewie2k as the bad guy but FalleN, like the figure he is, came forward himself to clarify. In a series of tweets where he said goodbye to all of Team Liquid, he explained the situation. He clarified that the clip didn’t show his side and that he also said stuff that he shouldn’t have when they were playing. He said ‘There’s so much stuff built up from this whole year that yesterday I couldn’t handle a technical commentary on the game from Stewie and added more fire, hampering both of them. He deserves your affection’
He added ‘Yesterday’s video doesn’t show my answer and to criticize it so much just for a small sample is really unfair.
Let’s remember all the moments we tried so hard, from Mibr, to SK and TL. I admire you a lot man and I know you like me a lot too’
Stewie2k was quick to accept his mistake as well and said that is not how we wanted his relationship with FalleN to be remembered as. He showed his admiration and respect for him ever since his SK and MIBR days and wished him the best of luck, saying ‘there will be no teammates that will match’.
This showed that CSGO is more than just an esport and emotions may get the better of us sometimes, but both these players showed maturity and understanding when it came to things outside of the game, and the whole esports community can learn a lot from them.
