Jaryd “summit1g” Lazar is one of the most popular Counter-Strike streamers, with more than 1.3 million followers. Over the weekend, he subbed for a pro team. It did not end well.
Summit was subbing for a member of Splyce, a not particularly accomplished American team. He’s competed before, but it’s not his main claim to fame these days. Dreamhack Austin’s CSGO tournament wasn’t a Major, but it’s not like pros were playing for chump change. With $250,000 on the line, heavy hitters like Luminosity, Tempo Storm, and Cloud9 laid it all (or at least a fair amount of It) on the line.
After losing to eventual tournament winners Luminosity, Splyce found themselves pitted against Counter Logic Gaming, one of the better American teams in the sport. Surprisingly, they held their own, taking 15 rounds to CLG’s 11 (via PCGamesN).
Then things took a turn for the [sad trombone sound]. Summit got a clutch kill, eliminating the last member of CLG. It was a huge moment. All he had to do to snag the round and the game was disarm the bomb.
There was just one problem: Summit had thrown a molotov to flush out his opponent, and he managed to obliviously walk right into the flames on his way to the bomb. He died after the commentators had already declared Splyce the winner, after people started celebrating.
“No! What happened?” asked one of the commentators. Then everyone watched the replay. “OH NOOOO. SUMMIT!” he shouted, moments later. “That is heartbreaking,” said the other.
Splyce ultimately ended up in overtime, lost the game, lost another entire game, and lost the whole match 2-0. Counter-Strike players have already taken to naming that part of the map after Summit and using his name as a callout (ala “A,” “B,” etc). The memes have not been kind to him. Not even a little bit.
Summit apologized for his screw-up:
He’s been able to have a good laugh about it, too:
All’s well that ends well. Kinda. If nothing else, let this serve as a cautionary tale: Defuse first, then—and only then—should you celebrate.
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