Update (Nov 4th):
With ion being unable to acquire a visa in time for the Pro League Season 10 Finals in Japan next weekend, he will therefore be replaced by the ex-Pro League player for paiN Gaming and current Apex professional of Nino "ninexT" Pavolini:
For ultra emergency reasons, I will play in place of Ion in the Pro League of Japan. I've been away from R6 a long time, but I hope to help the team.
NinexT was a key name in LATAM R6 during Years 1 and 2 in which he played alongside players such as mav, Julio, wag, Psycho, pzd and kamizake and was crowned the Brazilian champions after winning Season 1 of the BR6 league. Last December, however, just prior to the start of Season 9 he left paiN Gaming to begin a competitive Apex Legends career and was quickly picked up by Cloud9 a few months later. Now, two months after his appearance at the $500k Apex Preseason Invitational and a year after he last played R6 competitively, he has joined FaZe Clan as a standin for this event as they prepare for their quarter-final matchup against DarkZero Esports
Wag, Julio, Nesk, NinexT and mav together at a Battlefield 4 LAN at ESL One 2015
Original article:
Five days ago, the manager for Ninjas in Pyjamas (NiP) had tweeted that his team still didn't have visas to travel to Japan, the host country for the upcoming Pro League Finals, after ESL had, at the eleventh hour, apparently told the organisations they had to sort it out themselves.
What a joke.... @ESLRainbowSix said they were going to get the visas to Japan, we sent all the documents and we are waiting. Now 10 days left for the trip I went to collect the visa and they said that's our responsibility. Thanks, ESL.
Since then, it was confirmed that NiP had successfully obtained their visas, however the same cannot be said for the FaZe Clan roster as ion's application was apparently denied, meaning it is unlikely he will be able to travel and compete at the Finals on the 9-10th of November.
It's not bait, guys. Ion's visa is not approved, we are seeing if there is something to do at the consulate before the flight on Monday but it seems difficult.
Acquiring the relevant visa from Brazil to Japan takes around six working days, with organisations previously being able to expedite the process. However, with just seven working days remaining before the Finals (and less before their flights to Japan), it seems doubtful they'll be able to get anything sorted in time.
This also means that FaZe Clan's options are severely limited as no other player will presumably be able to get a visa in time either, meaning the team's coach, Marlon "Twister" Mello, may be forced to make his Pro League debut at the Finals akin to Fnatic's coach Jayden "Dizzle" Saunders at the Season 8 Finals.
We don't have a sixth player. Twister would play.
Should he be able to attend, this will be ion's fifth international appearance after his third-place finishes at the Season 9 Finals and DreamHack Valencia 2019, his joint fifth-place finish at the Raleigh Major, and a group stage exit at DreamHack Montreal 2019.
With only two of the top-eight teams from Raleigh in attendance -- FaZe Clan and the Vodafone Giants -- many thought this was the best or second-best opportunity FaZe had of winning an international title, but no matter the outcome of their visa issues, this is a setback for the team. Nevertheless, their next game is against DarkZero Esports at the Pro League Finals in just over a week's time and it remains to be seen what the outcome of this situation is.
Keep an eye out here at SiegeGG for more updates regarding ion, FaZe Clan, and the Season 10 Finals as a whole.