From: Patrik Sättermon [mailto:] Sent: Thursday, May 29, 2014 8:31 AM To: Icefrog; Erik Johnson Cc: Danijel Remus; Sahil Deva; Anne Mathews Subject: Fnatic Dota 2 - Concern Dear Erik and Icefrog, First of all, allow me to introduce myself. My name is Patrik Sättermon and I work as the COO at Fnatic here in our HQ in London, UK. I'm today reaching out to you regarding an unforeseen and inconvenient situation in our Dota 2 team. We would really appreciate the highest grade of confidentially on the matter I'm about to address, so we can guarantee the integrity and understanding of the player in question that we are currently having issues with. A few days ago I had to take the decision to urgently send Adrian "Era" Kryeziu back home to Sweden from our pre Summer bootcamp here in London. This was made out of health concerns of the player in question, as Adrian has recently suffered from a lot of anxiety, that the past weeks has grown to severe panic attacks and a full-blown depression. As you can imagine this has put Adrian in an extremely fragile mental state, which obviously requires immediate professional healthcare. Yesterday I had a follow-up call with Adrian's family regarding his first contact with the psychiatrists in Sweden and the verdict is that Adrian must be admitted into a programme, as well as being put on anti-depressive drugs that for the first 3-4 weeks will make his mental condition worse. This for Fnatic, and obviously our Dota 2 team, means that Adrian will not be capable of exercising his profession in the nearest future. Since we have an upcoming tournament in a few days(BTS), we are therefore forced to look into a replacement player so we can not only secure a five-man line up, but also get back to practice which is a must considering we are steadily moving towards the busiest Summer season of all time. Now, several of our players have raised concerns about what implications our situation can result in when it comes to our participation at TI4. As you can imagine it's still quite up in the air whether Adrian will be able to return to our team during the Summer season. For the sake of us being able to prepare for the future, and guaranteeing success for our team, we must turn around every stone in order to be as ready as possible for the biggest eSports competition till date. Finally, I'm hoping to hear back from you as soon as possible so we can explore what options we have. My colleague Danijel has already put me in a Skype chat with you, so please don't hesitate to reach out there as well. Best regards, Patrik Sättermon Chief Gaming Officer FNATIC www.FNATIC.com /// @FNATIC /// www.facebook.com/FNATIC Skype: Phone: Phone: Twitter: @cArnCS LinkedIn: Fnatic Limited UK From: Erik Johnson Sent: Thursday, May 29, 2014 1:45 PM To: Patrik Sättermon; Icefrog Cc: Danijel Remus; Sahil Deva; Anne Mathews Subject: RE: Fnatic Dota 2 - Concern Hi Patrik, Thank you for your mail. We’re upset to hear that Adrian is having a tough time right now. To the extent that you’re talking to him and his family, please pass along our concern for his health. It sounds like things are somewhat fluid right now, but we appreciate you letting us know what is happening currently. We will of course keep this confidential. Let us know how things develop in the coming weeks and we can talk through different options if we end up needing to explore them. Erik Johnson Valve From: Adrian Kryeziu [mailto:] Sent: Friday, June 13, 2014 7:19 AM To: Icefrog; Erik Johnson Subject: The Internation 4 Hello guys, as you both probably know already I am Era from Fnatic, the reason why I'm writing this mail to the two of you is due to very bothering situations. About 2 and a half weeks ago I was sent home from our Bootcamp in London due to anxiety issues, as I wasn't able to see a doctor nor therapist there. I've now been home and I've seen both a doctor and a therapist. These anxiety attacks has occured before, either a day before or just when I'm about to fly out to a different country. It only got worse with the time, hence the reason why I wasn't in Vegas aswell as this Summit. After two weeks at home without a PC and meetings with professionals regarding the issue, I've been told that my current state is very positive, and that I would be ready to play and participate in Dreamhack, ESL aswell as The International - however they also said that I should just stay home and relax for another week or so, meaning that I wouldn't be able to travel back with the team to the bootcamp after Dreamhack. With all this said, I had a skype coference with the team 2 days ago when they returned from LA. They said that they don't trust my health state and think it would be a risky and bold move to take me to TI as I can't go back to the bootcamp with them, therefore, they pretty much had me fired of the team (still contract signed) for the rest of the summer, as they think they can do "better" with a Standin. So, my question here is, are they allowed to do that? Espicially knowing that I CAN play at TI 4. Best regards, Adrian From: Erik Johnson Sent: Friday, June 13, 2014 11:37 AM To: 'Adrian Kryeziu' Cc: Icefrog Subject: RE: The Internation 4 Thanks for letting us know what is going on. It is great news to all of us that you’re feeling healthy and took the right course in terms of treatment. This must all be really stressful for you right now, so let’s work toward a solution. When we invite a team of five players, we are in fact inviting those five players. Each of those players is allowed to control their participation in our tournament solely. To be clear, no, no one else can make the decision about participating in our event other than the player. If there is a real documented medical issue with a player, we review those on a case by case basis. Because of the nature of your situation, my opinion is that the decision about what you can and can’t do is best left to medical experts. You should produce documentation from who you’ve been working with that states that you’re in a healthy state and ready to compete. Assuming you have that, the only way Fnatic will competing at The International will be with you sitting in one of the five seats. Erik From: Erik Johnson Sent: Friday, June 13, 2014 11:45 AM To: 'Patrik Sättermon' Cc: Danijel Remus; Sahil Deva; Anne Mathews; Icefrog Subject: RE: Fnatic Dota 2 - Concern Sounds like there has been some communication around this issue recently. I wanted to make sure our position was clear. When we invite a team of five players, we are specifically inviting those five players. The final decision about whether a player can compete in our tournament is solely controlled by that player. If there are real medical issues, we will review those on a case by case basis, but the final decision still rests with that player. Aside from specific rules, our job is to make sure that we are making good decisions on behalf of the community. The Dota audience has a well understood moral compass and sense of ethics around professional player management, and we will always make sure that our decisions around specific issues are reflective of that. I hope this helps to clear up any potential confusion about how we’re running The International. Let me know if you have any questions or concerns. Erik From: Patrik Sättermon [mailto:] Sent: Friday, June 13, 2014 12:42 PM To: Erik Johnson Cc: Danijel Remus; Sahil Deva; Anne Mathews; Icefrog Subject: Re: Fnatic Dota 2 - Concern Dear Erik, I was meant to reach out to you guys today as I just got back to our headquarters here in London after an extended business trip in Asia. I strongly believe that the fastest and smoothest way forward is to schedule a Skype call where we can discuss this matter. I do have Dreamhack Summer coming up for me starting tomorrow, but as this matter is urgent, I'm very happy to be flexible around your hours. Please let me know when is good for you and we take it from there. My Skype details are to be found in the details below. Best regards, Patrik Sättermon Chief Gaming Officer FNATIC www.FNATIC.com /// @FNATIC /// www.facebook.com/FNATIC Skype: Phone: Phone: Twitter: @cArnCS LinkedIn: Fnatic Limited UK From: Erik Johnson Sent: Friday, June 13, 2014 12:44 PM To: Patrik Sättermon Cc: Danijel Remus; Sahil Deva; Anne Mathews; Icefrog Subject: RE: Fnatic Dota 2 - Concern I’d prefer e-mail. From: Patrik Sättermon [mailto:] Sent: Wednesday, June 18, 2014 5:48 AM To: Erik Johnson; Adrian Finol; Icefrog Cc: Danijel Remus; Sahil Deva; Anne Mathews Subject: Re: Fnatic Dota 2 - Concern Dear Erik, Icefrog and Adrian, I'm now returning to you after having discussed this matter thoroughly with our Dota 2 team, and also Era's family. As you know this period of time has included a lot of turmoil and frustration for everyone involved. This unexpected situation has severely halted our preparation going into what is the most busy and competitive Summer in the history of Dota. The decision the team has now come to, with blessing from Era(Adrian Kryeziu), is that Steve Ye aka. Excalibur will step in as our carry player for the upcoming events, including EMS Frankfurt, and more importantly in this dialogue: The International 4. We lifted on every single stone around to try work out a solution that would involve Era, since we strongly believe his experience and skill sets would be very needed at the Summer's events. But as you already know at this stage, Era's health issues does not only hinders us to prepare accordingly(LAN practice), but also and more importantly, it is risking his own well-being during travelling, something that thus far has lead us to go through two urgent calls for stand-ins just days before two important events, D2L and BTS. After we have hopefully gotten your approval for the late player change, I believe it's very important that we together determine a solid strategy when it comes to how to communicate this so it's done in a manner that protects the integrity of our team, with emphasize on Era. To add additional transparency, I would like to mention that the team wants to reward Era in the event of financial success, this specifically means that him and the replacement player will share any prize money winnings. Finally, please let me know if any additional information is needed from our end at this point, and on behalf of the team and the Fnatic organisation I want to thank you for your understanding during this stressful period of time. Best regards, Patrik Sättermon Chief Gaming Officer FNATIC www.FNATIC.com /// @FNATIC /// www.facebook.com/FNATIC Skype: Phone: Phone: Twitter: @cArnCS LinkedIn: Fnatic Limited UK From: Erik Johnson Sent: Wednesday, June 18, 2014 10:37 AM To: 'Patrik Sättermon' Cc: Danijel Remus; Sahil Deva; Anne Mathews; Adrian Kryeziu (); Adrian Finol; Icefrog Subject: RE: Fnatic Dota 2 - Concern Patrick, We’ve discussed this internally and do not see a path where Fnatic can compete in The International with a different team from the original five that were invited. The key issue here is less about player health, and more about time. The tournament will begin in a little over two weeks, which is well past the point where roster changes can happen. If Fnatic would still like to compete this year, the invite stands for the original five players. Please let me know what you decide in the next 48 hours so we can move forward. Erik From: Patrik Sättermon [] Sent: Wednesday, June 18, 2014 3:44 PM To: Erik Johnson Cc: Danijel Remus; Sahil Deva; Anne Mathews; Adrian Kryeziu (); Adrian Finol; Icefrog; Kai Hanbueckers Subject: Re: Fnatic Dota 2 - Concern Dear Erik, I’m a little bit frustrated that you seem to believe that the health issues of the player in question, is not the sole reason we are finding ourselves in this situation - which we again so much wish we wouldn’t be in. We do appreciate the short time frame, but take this as a testimony that we wanted to explore all options, even the most astronomical long shots, when it comes to participating with the original lineup. I’m grateful that you have copied in Adrian himself in the loop, even that I can guarantee you that we have had a very open and candid dialogue with him throughout this stressful times. I have also invited Kai “H4nn1” Hanbueckers to be a part of this email chain, to ensure complete transparency between all parties involved. As I mentioned in the previous email earlier today, even if that was perhaps not in-depth enough, not only Adrian himself and his parents agrees to the proposed player change, but also his doctor. In fact, Adrian had a follow up appointment with his psychiatrist yesterday and in this meeting the doctor recommended Adrian to rest and stay away from stressful situation, including overseas travel, in order to guarantee swift recovery. Attached in this email you also find a doctor’s certificate that was issued after Adrian’s failure to attend BTS earlier in June, before which he suffered from severe panic attacks that made us urgently put him on a flight to Sweden for immediate healthcare. Adrian has agreed to attaching this file here for your reference, so you realize that we are in fact talking about health issues, which for us in the end of the day is more important than the success of our team, which of course comes in as a close second in priority. The doctor’s certificate is in Swedish but I appreciate that you guys would need to validate its content with a third party anyway, so I have intentionally left out any translation, unless such is requested by you. Now, we are finding ourselves with two options that by no means are ideal. The first is obviously to go against Adrian’s doctor and instead hope that the recent frequent panic attacks won’t come back during the two-weeks long competition in Seattle. The second option, which we are pushing for powered by every parties approval, is to replace Adrian with Steve(Excalibur) until the doctor gives us his blessing to let Adrian get back to the game and lifestyle he loves. We definitely do not want to reject our invitation to TI4, as that would mean that the immense amount of time and money invested into this project would go to waste. We do therefore sincerely hope that you all can once again discuss this matter and analyse the new information and documentation I present to you in this letter, again with Adrian’s approval. Finally, as you have given us a relatively slim deadline to determine this I would appreciate if we actually can get all parties onto a Skype call and discuss this so we can save time, something the team would also appreciate as they are currently losing sleep not knowing which direction we are heading towards. Best regards Patrik Sättermon Chief Gaming Officer FNATIC www.FNATIC.com /// @FNATIC /// www.facebook.com/FNATIC Skype: Phone: Phone: Twitter: @cArnCS LinkedIn: Fnatic Limited UK From: Erik Johnson Sent: Wednesday, June 18, 2014 5:23 PM To: Patrik Sättermon Cc: Danijel Remus; Sahil Deva; Anne Mathews; Adrian Kryeziu (); Adrian Finol; Icefrog; Kai Hanbueckers Subject: RE: Fnatic Dota 2 - Concern This is sad news for us, but it sounds like you won’t be able to compete in the tournament this year if I’m reading this correctly. The only possible outcomes are that the original five invited players compete, or you are withdrawing from the tournament. Sounds like the original five cannot play. We would still like to extend the offer of coming out to the event as spectators for the duration of the event. Erik From: Patrik Sättermon [mailto:] Sent: Wednesday, June 18, 2014 5:53 PM To: Erik Johnson Cc: Danijel Remus; Sahil Deva; Anne Mathews; Adrian Kryeziu (); Adrian Finol; Icefrog; Kai Hanbueckers Subject: Re: Fnatic Dota 2 - Concern Dear Erik, Before anything I would kindly like to ask you to explain how you are reviewing these cases. I mean, earlier in this very email conversation you mentioned that this is done on a case by case basis when there are health concerns involved. Also, you said that it is the player that has the final say, something that leaves me somewhat puzzled as the player in question suggests this lineup change, due to his circumstances. Meanwhile, as you are not even willing to discuss this further over a Skype call, I guess we are left with the option of participating with our original lineup. All we can really do now is to prepare ourselves to the extent that is possible, and hope things goes well. On my agenda first thing tomorrow I will have to jump on a call with Adrian and his family to see how this can be structured in a way that minimizes the risks for his health. I will also inform our Dota 2 manager to reach out to Dawn Dempsey from your event crew so we can continue the dialogue regarding bookings. Best regards, Patrik Sättermon Chief Gaming Officer FNATIC www.FNATIC.com /// @FNATIC /// www.facebook.com/FNATIC Skype: Phone: Phone: Twitter: @cArnCS LinkedIn: Fnatic Limited UK From: Erik Johnson Sent: Thursday, June 19, 2014 12:20 PM To: Patrik Sättermon Cc: Danijel Remus; Sahil Deva; Anne Mathews; Adrian Kryeziu (); Adrian Finol; Icefrog; Kai Hanbueckers Subject: RE: Fnatic Dota 2 - Concern In general, there are no roster changes allowed after invites have been issued. One of the main reasons for this is that the invites are based how the team has performed over an extended period of time, and if there is no data on how the team performs with the new lineup, we don’t have any objective way to decide if the team is still above the bar for the tournament, or below it. There are several other factors in addition to this one. We have had a case where a roster change happened after invites were issued, but before the qualifiers, and moved that team down into the qualifiers. If Fnatic’s current situation mirrored that one, that would be our solution, but we are past that point. Individual players do have the final call on whether or not they personally are going to compete, but they don’t have managerial control over the team. Their decision is binary, they can either play or not play, not decide on the lineup of the team without them. I think we are being pretty clear with what our position is. Let me know if you have any other questions, and how you want to move forward. Erik From: Kai Hanbueckers [mailto:] Sent: Thursday, June 19, 2014 4:49 PM To: Erik Johnson Subject: Re: Fnatic Dota 2 - Concern The format is very clear and strict about how a team gets invited to the International and everyone of us knew that since the very beginning of our switch from HoN to Dota2. Everyone of us tried their best to perform throughout the year and we've shown one of the most consistent performances in the entire western scene. Only the 5 players should be granted the Invite as you are mentioning LGD's case in the last years International and I completely agreed with that decision, yet Era's case is not nearly the same. Era's health concerns have popped out of nowhere in the beginning of January as he wasn't able to attempt the offline finals of d2l in Vegas. It came with huge doubts also from my part as I didn't understand at all why he wouldn't be to attend the LAN finals because he has shown no signs of sickness or at least if he felt that way he has never brought it up and it was new to everyone. In that tournament we managed to get second place with two stand-ins and have shown the rest of the world that we are not just the 5 people that can score a good result without a standin. After that there was a long break,only qualifiers and Adrians travel issues haven't been a problem until very recent. The last LAN event that we've played together has been Dreamhack Bucharest, where he seemed fine to us and none of us knew that his health condition actually dropped again. Era's relapse came with the start of the boot camp on the 20th of May, where our manager informed us that Adrian could not take his flight because of his health issues and would come to London a few days later, traveling with his girlfriend and her parents. When Adrian arrived at the bootcamp none of us have seen him this way before as he was not himself and had to puke every day during the time he actually stayed with us in London, that was for less than a week. The moment Era left home again we informed you about our current situation and at the same time looking for a standin that can play for BTS in LA. We obviously had our thoughts about the time that Adrian is going to be missing out on, especially looking at the short time frame that we have to prepare for TI. We couldn't come up with someone in a moment of a glimpse but we were looking for talent that inspires us, which we knew would be hard. Those players that don't just play solid DotA but can shine. I do not agree with picking up a semi known player because with the stand-in we had to be prepared for anything which includes TI as none of us knew when Era is going to recover. Picking up Excalibur felt like the best shot we had. The time frame we had to practice before the BTS event was 2 days before we flew out and we managed to beat arguably the strongest team of 2014, Team DK as well as Team Vici, that won EMS and NARVI the qualifier winner of the US qualifier. We only gotten 5th/6th place but in 2 days of practice I think out progression has been very promising with a guy that might not have the greatest competitive knowledge but for sure has the skill and the potential to bring great results. Getting back from LA, we were in a rush to make a decision how we are going to continue with the issue we had. From Era's side it was still not clear how he is feeling as he had to see a doctor and see how he progresses. We can't put ourselves into his position and can’t judge any of his actions but obviously everyone is very depressed about the current situation. We not only drop the chances of our LAN finals, that we worked very hard for but we also have no idea how to progress with Era's health issue, as he didn't know whether or not he is capable of playing himself. Right before Dreamhack we've had a Skype call with him, which also let to his tweet that you've probably read. It was a misunderstanding of both sides. Our Skype call just ended in silence because none of us knew how to deal with the situation. We knew we had to practice for TI but we also had to respect Adrians decisions on how he wants to approach his health issue the best, so at that point we hoped to get more practice with Excalibur to see how he progresses in the very short time we have and give Era more room for recovery because at that point I was afraid that in the end we are standing there with empty hands because we have nothing to show for and a potential Era that collapses at Dreamhack. After Dreamhack was over we had another chat with Era and it came back to the same problem that he, himself did not know if he was ready to play at ESL and the upcoming TI. With your decision on how we are supposed to process for the upcoming TI, we've obviously gotten very depressed. We've tried our best to make everything humanly possible happen to be able to compete at this years International and that does not mean we want to exclude Era, but it means that we need a stable roster to perform at TI, a roster that does not just get stomped every single game because that's not what anyone of us has aimed for and neither have you with our given invite. Dota changes within weeks and if you are not up-to-date to the current meta, you can be invited to TI because you performed in the first half of the year but in the end if you didn't adapt you are going to achieve nothing. With our recent results we definitely have shown that we have the potential to beat the best, as we also have beaten Alliance in a best of five, 3:0 today that just won Dreamleague. We've had a total of 4 days to practice for BTS and Dreamhack and learned a lot from these two events. I fully support your decision on how you invite teams for the international but once again I can only hope for understanding. We've shown in the past that a stand-in does not make the team(D2L). Excaliburs progress with us is impressive and in the end as you've mentioned you want to have the best teams at the International and those players that have deserved it with their performance throughout the year. I think we've dealt with this situation as best as possible and being punished like this with showing that we actually have a good shot at competing is heartbreaking. I sincerely hope for appreciation and another thought on this case, we've been the most stable team in Dota 2 history and got confronted with a situation where there is no clear solution to the matter. Both situations are going to be worse but I don't think this is a binary decision as you mentioned because a mental issue does not give you a binary answer like you would have in terms of the LGD decision you've mentioned. If we are forced to play with Era, that right now is not himself, there is no guarantee of what is going to happen at the International in terms of results and knowing that we've worked our asses off for this event and with what is at stake, the worst feeling everyone would have and that includes Adrian is, that you didn't do whats possibly best for this year’s International. Yours, Kai From: Erik Johnson Sent: Thursday, June 19, 2014 9:18 PM To: Kai Hanbueckers Cc: Danijel Remus; Sahil Deva; Anne Mathews; Adrian Kryeziu (); Adrian Finol; Icefrog Subject: Re: Fnatic Dota 2 - Concern Kai, Thanks for your mail. Although it likely doesn't compare to the stress you and your team are going through, this is a pretty heartbreaking situation for us as well. Having met a number of you personally, we hold you all in very high regard both as players and people. The decision we've come to was the result of a group of us talking through the issue and considering what is the most fair thing for all teams competing this year, as well as the tournament in future years. Unfortunately, we will not be changing our decision, and the original five invited players are the only ones eligible. This isn't a decision we came to lightly, and none of us are particularly happy at the situation. However, we don't hold any ill feelings toward you, your team, or any of the players affected. We do need to come to a resolution however, so you all need to decide which path you want to go down. Sorry that everyone is in such a difficult situation. Erik From: Kai Hanbueckers [mailto:] Sent: Friday, June 20, 2014 9:08 AM To: Erik Johnson Subject: Re: Fnatic Dota 2 - Concern Hey Eric, I've put myself into your spot and I can understand your point of view as well. It's obviously sad for us to hear but we have to accept it. I wasn't sure if it was clear in my last email but we are going to attend The International with Adrian in this scenario. Where we end up in terms of results is questionable but we won't give away an entire year for nothing. Kai From: Erik Johnson Sent: Friday, June 20, 2014 9:13 AM To: Kai Hanbueckers Subject: RE: Fnatic Dota 2 - Concern Sorry this has been so stressful, but I’m really relieved with the decision you are all making. If there are any special arrangements of any kind we can make, please let me know how we can be accommodating. I’m not sure if airplanes are a specific trigger for Adrian, but if so, we could try to get him a better seat for the long flight over. Erik