LaVega won the CPL Korean Qualifier earlier this month by defeating Project_kr. Today, they announced that one of their members, Tai Gn "ktg" Kim , will unfortunately not be attending as he was declined his travel Visa. With very little time left to obtain a Visa for another Korean player, the team looked to the United States. John "bigwie" Wie, despite being an American citizen, is fluent in both Korean and English. This made him the most fitting candidate to attend the tournament with the team and overcome the language barrier.

Receiving the shocking message earlier today, Wie was taken aback as he has not played at such a high caliber level in quite some time. While he no longer seems himself as a respectable Counter-Strike player, he believes this will aid him, relieving some of the pressure that many top competitors feel while playing in a tournament such as the CPL.

"The organizers of CPL Korea contacted me out of the blue during exam week and asked if I wanted to go to CPL with them [LaVega]," said Wie. "My Korean speaking skills are very good now so I don't think the language barrier will be that big of a problem. I do expect a high seed, and I just hope I can help Lavega perform as well as they would have with KTG."

Stuart Brooks, the International Business Manager for the International eSports Group, the organizer of CPL Korea, explained that Wie was the perfect fit.

"LaVega moved their search to Korean nationals living in the US and they found a viable replacement," said Brooks. "Ktg's replacement is none other than John "bigwie" Wie. John was the perfect fit for LaVega because he is a skilled and respected player and John also fit the requirements of being a Korean citizen as well as being able to speak Korean."

LaVega's CPL roster is comprised of:
Suk Ha "sukha" Hwang
Jong Mu "musa" Park
Su Young "arigato" Jung
Beom Jun "zbz" Ji
John "bigwie" Wie

Exclusive statement from Stuart Brooks of IEG on the next page

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