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UPDATE 07/01/2022: Atheris announces its return
As the players anticipated, Atheris Esports will be competing in LATAM's SI 2022 Closed Qualifiers. The team has sorted everything out just in time to prepare for the big occasion. Flights have already been booked.
With the Brazilian members already in their country of origin, the Mexican players will be flying to the Portuguese-speaking country too.
UPDATE 02/01/2022: Players announce Atheris reverts its decision and will fly to Brazil
Following Atheris' decision, the rumors of the team playing with Fran "Royz" Guillen spread like wildfire. However, these were only rumors. It is well-known in the Mexican community that the coach has been dealing with some medical issues for the last months. With Luís "Guicho" Gómez not being able to fly to Brazil, he was the only option.
After some internal discussions and a medical appointment, Royz has been given the green light. Atheris' players want one last ride, and that's what they will get. Today, Victor "Bersa" Hugo has confirmed that the team will compete in the upcoming LATAM SI Closed Qualifiers.
Atheris Esports, Malvinas Gaming, Black Dragons, and Furious Gaming will start the tournament from the group stage, while Fenix Esports and MIBR are already waiting for their opposition in the final bracket.
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Atheris Esports have confirmed now their withdrawal from the LATAM SI 2022 Closed Qualifiers. The news comes after rumours of Atheris' inability to attend had begun to swirl over the past few days.
To our community: due to a problem out of the teams' hands, we are have been forced to announce that sadly we won't be able to compete in the SI 2022 Closed Qualifier. The traveling restrictions have increased due to the pandemic that we continue to go through, for this reason, and by not fully complying with the requested protocol, we will not be able to travel to Brazil, resulting in at the end of our competitive year. We regret that it had to be so abrupt, which takes both the players and the organization in general by surprise. At Atheris we respect the freedom of decision of each of our players. We wholeheartedly hope to continue counting on your support in 2022. Sincerely, Staff.
Various anonymous sources to SiegeGG have stated that Atheris are unable to travel to Brazil because Luís "Guicho" Gómez is not yet vaccinated against COVID-19.
Atheris' attendance was put in doubt four days ago, when Brazil's traveling restrictions changed. From Dec. 18, travelers had to show proof of COVID-19 vaccination. Although this restriction could be eased in the future, the closed qualifier will be played in less than a month, which makes that possibility unlikely in the short term.
On the same day that restrictions changed, Atheris' owner and famous Mexican streamer Alejandro “MYMALK4PON3” Leyva, asked on Twitter if someone knew of a place that delivered one-shot vaccines in Mexico City.
People of CDMX, do you know of any place that gives ONE-shot vaccines?
This leaves Fenix Esports as the only Mexican side in the tournament. However, they are also experiencing problems in their line-up. Eduardo "Luxor" Ortíz has apparently been fired from the team, as stated by him in a TwitLonger earlier today.
Following that announcement on Twitter, Leyva also stated on his Twitch stream that the organization does not see a future for itself in Siege, though the players will be under contract until "February or March".
The Atheris owner stated the following during his stream:
"But yeah, I can just say thanks to those that supported us, we face new challenges, our road is not over yet, maybe it does us good to rest from Siege, because the game is going through a rough patch with hackers, so they need to fix it so people can enjoy the game as before. Maybe our road is on COD, LoL, even Halo."
As such, it is now unclear if the playing roster will stay together, or if the players will join separate teams for the 2022 season.