FlyQuest Benches aliStair After Shanghai Major Failure

The roster change makes sense after FlyQuest’s failure at the Shanghai Major given their early exit from the Opening Stage. Even though they got off to a great start, winning both their best-of-one games on day 1 against Complexity and BIG, they lost back to back best-of-three series against Liquid, paiN and MIBR.

aliStair’s track record on the team

aliStair has helped FlyQuest bring home on trophy, specifically ESL Challenger Atlanta where the team triumphed over BIG. "The boys are always pushing me forward, not putting me down or blaming me for anything. I'm glad that today I could show a good performance for them," he said at the time. Everyone around aliStair, including himself, have been very appreciative of his time at the roster. 

For instance, FlyQuest President and Chief Gaming Officer Christopher "PapaSmithy" Smith said following the benching announcement: "Alistair has shown incredible drive to become the best version of himself during his time at FlyQuest. I have never met a competitor more singularly focused on improving both in and out of game routines in the pursuit of winning. Without Ali’s heroics, we would not have become the first Australian team to win an international tournament since 2017 at DreamHack Atlanta, nor would we have been able to return to the Major after the heartbreak of Copenhagen. While we are choosing to go in a different direction today, Alistair will forever be an important part of FlyQuest CS2 history, and we wish him the absolute best of luck in his next steps."

The Australian also took the X (formerly Twitter) to reflect on the year: “This year will definitely go down as the toughest year I’ve ever faced in CS. Not making the first major of CS2 and going through a slump strengthened me and made me search for answers to rebuild and get better. I truly believe exiting this year, I have the best mentality I’ve ever had and a better outlook on how I should approach competition. This is not the end for me in Counter Strike and I’m grateful for my time with the gents I’ve got to play and grow with.”