Wildcard have signed Stewie2k.

Genuinely. We tried to come up with some sort of angle, some sort of meta-story, some sort of punchline, but there’s literally nothing weirder or funnier than the straight-up truth.

Wildcard have signed Stewie2k. This week. As a player, not a streamer or coach or any sort of cop out. He’s going to be playing. Counter-Strike. With them. On the team. Instead of one of the Europeans, apparently.

Seriously.

For now, he’s playing in the PGL Astana qualifier so they can be an NA team, but rumours seem to suggest he’ll be sticking around so they can get an easier run at the Major.

One can’t help but wonder, though, if they’d be better off trying to get through the European qualifier with their full roster. We get the idea - if Stewie2k is anywhere near the player he was at his peak, you can get through NA quite easily - we just… don’t like it?

You’re blowing up a lot of prep, muscle memory, and cohesion for an easier (on-paper) shot at the Major. It seems like, at best, a sideways move.

Obviously, we might look pretty silly if they A: don’t use him for the Major qualifier or B: Get through easily, but we can’t even imagine how the player who gets cut might feel.

It’s one of Sonic, phzy, or susp — and a little birdie tells us it’s phzy. It’s… brave, we’ll say that.