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The Smoke Criminal returns, but it doesn’t look like he’ll be around for long.
North American CS2 superstar Jake “Stewie2k” Yip is back to competitive Counter-Strike, linking with Wildcard for this week’s PGL Astana regional closed qualifier likely in place of Swedish sniper Love “phzy” Smidebrant.
The Smoke Criminal’s return comes nine months after his one-off stand-in victory with G2 at IEM Dallas. All signs point to the PGL Astana qualifier also being a one-time affair, but there’s room for Stewie2k to remain a Wildcard member beyond—with a major appearance in Austin not out of the question.
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Stewie2k back 9 months after incredible IEM Dallas G2 win
Wildcard revealed Stewie2k as their super sub on April 26 viaX/Twitter. The graphic and announcement didn’t confirm how long Stewie2k would hang around, nor who he’d be replacing. It wasn’t long before the community caught on that phzy might be unable to play the qualifier.
“I’ll be playing as a stand-in for Wildcard in the upcoming Astana Qualifiers,” Stewie2k said inhis own announcement. He alsosaid in Ryan “Freakazoid” Abadir’s streamearlier today that he’d only be joining Wildcard for the qualifiers, and “something [was] up with phzy, but not sure.”
Stewie2k disappeared back into the shadows after hisbreakout stand-in performance for G2 at IEM Dallaslast June. He may have not been the chief reason for the team’s win, he nonetheless contributed to the team’s trophy lift.
Since then, Stewie2k has been enjoying streaming more CS2 but made no move to join a competitive team.
How Stewie2k’s participation affects Wildcard’s road to the Austin Major is interesting. ThePGL Astanaqualifier is Wildcard’s last chance to earn VRS points for the MRQ, but with Stewie2k in the roster, the team becomes a multi-split majority favoring North America.
As such, Wildcard could avoid the tougher European MRQ for Austin, instead playing in the weaker NA MRQ—improving the squad’s chances at qualifying.
PGL Astana 2025: Schedule, teams, results, and more
Astana welcomes the world’s best CS2 teams for the first time.
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Wildcard takes on minnows Daaku in the PGL Astana qualifier opening match on March 28. For moreCS2news stay tuned toesports.gg.
