Alkaren to Miss BLAST Bounty Due to Visa Issues — HEROIC Adjusts Line-up with yxngstxr Return

Alkaren to Miss BLAST Bounty Due to Visa Issues — HEROIC Adjusts Line-up with yxngstxr Return

HEROIC’s plans for the opening event of the 2026 Counter-Strike 2 season have been disrupted, as the team confirmed that Kazakhstan’s Alimzhan “Alkaren” Bitimbay will not participate in BLAST Bounty 2026 Season 1. The organization announced the decision on January 13, citing unforeseen visa issues as the reason behind the star AWPer’s absence. 

As a result, Simon “yxngstxr” Boije will return to the active HEROIC roster to take Alkaren’s place for the start of the season. yxngstxr had recently been benched in favor of Tim “susp” Ångström, but now steps back into a starting role while the team searches for a solution for Alkaren’s eligibility. 

HEROIC stressed in their official statement that the decision is not related to Alkaren’s skill or character, underlining that the organization is actively trying to resolve his visa situation and hopes to reinstate him as soon as possible. 

What This Means for BLAST Bounty

BLAST Bounty 2026 Season 1 marks the first Tier 1 Counter-Strike 2 event of the year, featuring a $1,150,000 prize pool and 32 teams invited based on the Valve Regional Standings (VRS). HEROIC’s campaign is scheduled to begin on January 14, with a Round of 32 match against Friendly Campers — a Polish squad that replaced NRG after the North American team withdrew from the competition. 

The tournament itself features a unique “bounty” format: lower-seeded teams can select their opponents and earn increased payouts for upsets. The eight best squads from the initial online stage will later advance to a LAN finals stage in Malta. 

BLAST’s first event of the year arrives amid several notable absences in the field; powerhouse organizations such as MOUZ, The MongolZ, G2, and Legacy reportedly declined invites, alongside other prominent names. This has opened the door for roster shuffles and opportunities for teams like HEROIC to capitalize despite early-season uncertainty. 

Alkaren’s Rise and HEROIC’s Roster History

Alkaren, who is only 18 years old, has quickly established himself as one of the more exciting young talents in the CS2 scene since joining HEROIC in 2025. He originally joined the organization on loan from Team Spirit Academy, replacing then-AWPer gr1ks in August 2025. That roster change drew some attention at the time, as HEROIC opted to pivot toward Alkaren’s aggressive AWPing and tactical flexibility, a move that saw him debut at high-profile events like the Esports World Cup in Riyadh. 

Over the latter part of 2025, however, HEROIC experienced a period of mixed results. While the team remained competitive and ranked inside the top 20 globally, several offline events — including IEM Cologne 2025 and other Tier 1 LANs — produced mostly middling placements. The squad ultimately missed out on qualification for the StarLadder Budapest Major, highlighting a need for stability heading into 2026. 

Immediate Impact of Alkaren’s Absence

With Alkaren unavailable for BLAST Bounty, HEROIC’s roster for the event currently consists of:

• Yasin “xfl0ud” Koç (Turkey)

• Linus “nilo” Bergman (Sweden)

• Tim “susp” Ångström (Sweden)

• Christoffer “Chr1zN” Storgaard (Denmark)

• Simon “yxngstxr” Boije (Sweden)

• Coach: Tobias “TOBIZ” Theo (Denmark)

This lineup reunites the team’s Swedish contingent while bringing back yxngstxr’s experience. Despite his recent benching, yxngstxr remains a familiar face in the Heroic system and has previously filled key roles in both online and LAN competition. 

The change takes extra significance because BLAST Bounty’s early matches are already proving unpredictable: for example, EYEBALLERS recently upset FaZe Clan, eliminating one of the CS2 heavyweights from the tournament. 

Given how tightly contested BLAST’s bounty format can be — with early seeding and matchup rewards adding strategic dimensions beyond traditional brackets — HEROIC’s ability to adapt quickly may play a crucial role in their success this week and beyond. 

Broader Scene Context

Visa complications are not unprecedented in CS2 and other esports, especially for teams with international rosters. In 2025, for instance, several teams including Falcons publicly explained that obtaining Schengen visas for young players posed logistical challenges, sometimes influencing event attendance decisions. 

Alkaren’s absence from BLAST Bounty — despite the event’s initial online stages — reflects ongoing complexities around international travel and player eligibility, even in tournaments where only later rounds take place on LAN. It underscores how off-server issues can directly affect competitive lineups, results, and team momentum at the very start of a new season.