Black fragility reaches a new low as Russian e-sports player Vladislav “Krad” Kravchenko, formerly of AMKAL and now a starting member of 9Pandas’ Counter-Strike 2 roster, has been suspended for one month from the ESL Challenger League (ECL) Season 49: Europe.
His crime? Using a skin deemed “offensive” during a match on January 21.
The controversy erupted when podcaster Ludvig “quacke” Nilsson took to Twitter to call out Krad’s Desert Eagle skin, which featured a sticker combination forming the word “NIGGA”—a term frequently used by Black people across social media with little to no repercussions. However, when a non-Black player dared to display it in-game, the ever-vigilant left-wing competitive gaming community immediately demanded punishment.
The outrage was swift, and Krad quickly found himself in ESL’s crosshairs.
ESL swiftly responded, initially handing Krad a two-week suspension. However, when it was discovered that Krad had allegedly lied in his explanation, ESL doubled down, extending the ban to a full month.
Once again, the hypersensitive policing of in-game cosmetics reaches absurd new heights.
A clip from Krad’s stream surfaced on Twitter, showing him discussing his customized gun featuring a slur formed with stickers. Following his suspension, the rifler addressed the situation on Telegram, advising fans to “learn from his mistakes” which, apparently, was nothing more than playing the game as intended.
This controversy stems from Counter-Strike 2’s so-called “revolutionary” update, A Call to Arms, which Valve introduced as yet another way to squeeze more money out of players through microtransactions and in-game cosmetics. One of the update’s key changes expanded CS:GO’s original sticker system.
Previously, players could only apply up to four stickers on most weapons, with the exception of the G3SG/1 auto-sniper, which allowed five. Now, with the new customization features, players have even more room to express themselves and, as Krad’s case shows, even more ways to get banned for it.
Previously, each sticker placement was locked to a fixed position, limiting customization options. However, the A Call to Arms update changed that entirely, introducing the ability to freely move and rotate stickers before applying them.
More importantly, it increased the maximum number of stickers per weapon to five, allowing for far more creative and often hilarious gun crafts. The update has led to a surge of unique and quirky designs, making the old “BIG DICK NRG” crafts look downright amateur by comparison as Valve does what Valve does best, profit without having to lift a finger.
With the ability to customize weapons using virtually any combination of stickers, hundreds of which are available in the game Counter-Strike 2’s A Call to Arms update opened the floodgates for players to create everything from hilarious designs to outright offensive gun crafts.
Allowing five stickers per weapon and the freedom to move them around resulted in everything from crude imagery and swastikas to words like “FAP” and “NIGGER.” Naturally, stickers featuring specific letters surged in price as players sought to push the limits of in-game customization.
Krad, however, found himself in hot water during an ESL Challenger League Season 49 match against Monte when his Desert Eagle skin featured a sticker combination spelling “NIGGA.” The player later claimed he hadn’t noticed the arrangement due to playing with his weapon model set to his left hand a statement echoed by the 9Pandas organization, which attributed the incident to carelessness and the way left-handed models display skins differently.
Upon realizing the issue, Krad “immediately deleted the skin and expressed regret,” but that did little to stop the inevitable backlash.
Before ESL officially confirmed his suspension, Krad took to Twitter to explain that he had recently purchased the skin and was unaware of the sticker placement due to how left-handed models reflect weapon appearances. Unfortunately for him, intent didn’t matter, the outrage mob had already decided his fate.
his, of course, offers plausible deniability, as sticker crafts are inverted when using the opposite hand. However, in the world of commercialized e-sports where even the slightest “problematic” gesture or perceived political misstep can lead to immediate blacklisting, ESL had little choice but to make an example out of him. Krad’s so-called “crime” had to be punished.
For 9Pandas, this suspension is a significant setback, as they had only signed Krad to the roster two weeks prior. With ECL Season 49 in full swing, losing a key player disrupts their rebuilding process and momentum. The team has already announced that Anton “tonyblack” Kolesnikov will step in as Krad’s temporary replacement, but the damage has been done.
Whether Krad’s case will serve as a cautionary tale or just another chapter in e-sports’ ever-growing obsession with policing in-game content remains to be seen. One thing is clear, CS2’s newfound customization freedom isn’t as “free” as Valve bank account had intended.
