In Counter-Strike 2, the biggest game on Steam, there was a bizarre situation. The Israeli professional player Shach “Flamez” Shushan was shown on Twitch, as he apparently provocatively raised the middle finger in a match. The picture was shared by the tournament editor on Twitter. The middle finger was understood as a glaring gesture of a bad winner, but was meant very differently.
In what situation did that happen? It was a match in the quarterfinals at the Blast Bounty Spring 2025 tournament between Team Vitality and Eternal Fire on January 25th.
The Rifler of Team Vitality, Flamez, had just played an excellent game, got 3 kills and thus secured the round of his team. The opponent team Eternal Fire first took a timeout to recover from the shock and to discuss a new strategy.
In the Timeout Blast cut a summary of the round and showed the dominant player, Flamez, how he apparently celebrated his great performance by laughing at the opponents with a laugh. According to the motto: “I showed you it.”
Blast posted a picture with the gesture on X.
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Organizer posts unsportsmanlike gesture on Twitter, she points to Twitch
How was the gesture understood? At that moment it looked as if the 21-year-old Israeli behaved unsportsmanlike and showed himself as a bad winner who mocked his opponents with the middle finger.
The gesture looked twice because Eternal Fire won the match with confidence 2-0, i.e. that made no difference from Flamez.
Player claims: He respects his opponents
This is how it clarified: Blast has publicly apologized for showing the gesture of the streamer in this context, because the outstretched middle finger had nothing to do with the situation.
Apparently Flamez had only swore with a Blast photographer and stretched out the middle finger in fun.
The Israeli professional says: Blast would have picked up his gesture from a different angle and then posted on Twitter. He himself has “nothing but respect” for the opponents. The gesture was also recorded before the actual match, and was only unhappily cut into the situation.
So the player did not do anything unsportsmanlike, the photographer also contacted and confirmed that the middle finger was considered to him and that it happened purely in fun. So he got out of the matter well, in contrast to another professional: CS: GO: Player makes a woman after the World Cup victory, she destroys his life-that is what he does today