In a Jan. 9 stream, YouTuber and owner of Moist Esports MoistCr1tikal slammed the U.S. visa application process. Discovering that the applications of his Apex Legends team had been declined, he revealed the team will be forced to play out of Canada for months to compete in the ALGS.
Original plans to move the promising team to Florida have been put on hold while the organization wrestles with a “cringe” application process that has already seen visas declined by a “fossil” visa agent with no understanding of esports.
On a livestream, MoistCr1tikal spilled the beans on the hellish application experience. Other esports teams applying for visas have, according to MoistCr1tikal, faced their own issues that have since been resolved. However, in a frustrating turn of fate, Moist Esports had its visas outright declined.
In his words, the visa agent assigned to them “didn’t understand video games” and was effectively a “relic of the past.” He passionately complained that in the U.S. system, you are “truly at the mercy of your agent,” and the bad luck resulted in an exile to Canada for several months while the team restarts the process from scratch.
In particular, MoistCr1tikal said the agent didn’t believe the team was achieving global success despite competitive results being easy to research online. Moist Esports have consistently finished in the top 10 in global tournaments, including in the 2023 ALGS Split One and Two Playoffs. The organization is also one of EA’s partnered teams for Year Four.
A message sent in his livestream chat questioning the potential success of monetary bribes brought on further criticism. Clearly frustrated by the experience, MoistCr1tikal jabbed, “I don’t think he’d even be able to accept the bribe. He’s too old. He wouldn’t know what it was for.” He concluded, “I don’t think there’s anyone that could have helped us, not even god.”
Moist Esports is co-owned by MoistCr1tikal, Ludwig, and SuperSpicyMatt, operating out of Florida. The organization signed the Australian free-agent Apex Legends team formerly known as “Team Burger” in September 2022 after their strong performance in the ALGS Championship. During the 2023 season, the team competed in the APAC South region. However, new opportunities prompted the team to move to the North American region for ALGS Year Four.
Two players, Matthew “Emtee” Trengove and Ben “Wxltzy” Walton, remain from the original Team Burger roster and are of Australian nationality. The new third player, former NRG player Gild, is from the USA. The team will be forced into a frosty Canadian lifestyle, unable to utilize Moist Esports facilities to prepare for the upcoming ALGS Split One.
With the ALGS Pro League beginning on Jan. 20, hopes are that the talented Moist Esports trio can adjust to the cold Canadian climate. After all, they have no other choice in the matter.
