Streamer Sebastian “Forsen” Fors has withdrawn from the Hearthstone Global Games (HGG) in protest at the inclusion of controversial broadcaster Mats “P4wnyhof” Karthage.
P4wnyhof’s inclusion in the HGG voting has caused controversy from the beginning. He is a divisive figure in the community, largely as the result of a tournament he ran in 2014. P4wnyhof changed the rules of the tournament, called the Gentleman’s Cup, to benefit his own team. He has also been accused of viewbotting his Twitch channel, although those accusations have yet to be substantiated with evidence.
Forsen was voted in to join Team Sweden alongside the Alliance trio of Harald “Powder” Gimre, Sebastian “Ostkaka” Engwall, and Jon “Orange” Westberg. But he’s now followed through on a promise to withdraw if P4wnyhof were voted onto Team Germany.
“If I keep playing this tournament and feed the drama,” Forsen said in a statement, “blizzard might just invite him to whatever other event in the future. Which is of course horrible. I’m sad that I’m one of the few players who can afford to forfeit a chance like this, and I dont really blame anyone of the others for sticking to their invites.”
Jan “SuperJJ” Janssen of Germany also said he would withdraw if P4wnyhof was voted in, but he did not make the team.
Forsen’s withdrawal has not been acknowledged by Blizzard and no information has been given on his replacement—though Forsen believes Team Liquid’s Jeffrey “Sjow” Brusi would be a favorite to take his spot.
