Rare Atom releases statement on Yuqilin Pinnacle of Battle S3 withdrawal

Rare Atom has released an official statement with regards to their forfeiture of the upper bracket semi-final at the Yuqilin Pinnacle of Battle Season 3 against Lynn Vision and eventual withdrawal from the tournament. Rare Atom's initial forfeiture had riled up quite the storm in the Asia-Pacific Counter-Strike community with regards to the result of the Lynn Vision game forfeit in the IEM Cologne 2026 Major race.

Rare Atom's statement says that the team had arrived to the venue at 13:00 local time for their game against Lynn Vision as per the rules stated to them by the tournament organiser (TO), Yuqilin Esports, with Rare Atom stating that the 'organisers only notified teams on the first day of the event that they were required to arrive to the venue 90 minutes prior to the start of the match'.

On April 2nd, Rare Atom states that they clarified with the staff that they needed to reach at 13:00 for the Lynn Vision game but on the game day itself (April 3) they were informed at 12:08 PM local time that they needed to get the venue by 12:30 PM. Rare Atom says they were not notified prior about the timing change and when they eventually arrived for the game at 13:28 (they knew they were late for the map veto stage) the TO already handed Rare Atom a map loss and handed them a forfeiture of map and side selection.

What Rare Atom's forfeit and eventual withdrawal meant that Lynn Vision picked up some crucial points and in the tight Asian race for an invite to the IEM Cologne Major 2026, Lynn Vision went past SemperFi and are currently in the cutoff bracket to get an invite for the upcoming Cologne Major.

"Throughout the event, the organizer only informed teams on the first day of the offline stage that they needed to arrive at the venue 90 minutes before the match. We complied and arrived on time for previous matches. After the match on April 2, we asked venue staff and were told that we needed to arrive at 13:00 the next day. However, at 12:08 today, we were suddenly informed that we needed to arrive at the venue by 12:30. Before arriving, we had not been notified of any details regarding potential penalties."
Rare Atom's statement released on Weibo translated

The TO, Yuqilin Esports also released a statement to HLTV which contradicted what Rare Atom said, stating that"

Today, April 3rd, RA stated that they were unable to arrive by the check-in time (90 minutes before the match - 12:30) due to weather conditions. Consequently, we consulted with the LVG team and granted RA an additional 30 minutes (13:00) to ensure the match could proceed smoothly. At 13:25, we notified RA of their default loss on the first map and asked LVG to proceed with the BP. After the match maps were finalized, the RA team finally arrived at 13:28. They raised an objection to the penalty, expressed a lack of understanding regarding the default loss rule, and, after further communication, ultimately decided to withdraw from the match.