UPDATE 2/16: Broxah has confirmed his visa has been approved via Twitter, making him the final projected starter for the 2021 LCS season to arrive in the United States and join his team. Broxah's date of arrival is currently unknown. 

Original story:

The 2021 League of Legends Championship Series Spring Split begins on Friday, February 5, and while nearly every import starting in the LCS has arrived in North America with a few days before opening day, one player is still stuck in visa jail. Counter Logic Gaming jungler Mads "Broxah" Brock-Pedersen is still in his home country of Denmark, and when he will be able to join his team is currently unknown.

This is unfortunately a familiar situation for Broxah, who made his North American debut for Team Liquid in week 4 of the 2020 LCS Spring Split after visa issues forced him to miss the first three weeks of play. 

Despite the circumstances, Broxah seems to be remaining positive, consistently streaming, playing solo queue and practicing on his own as much as possible while helping the team in a remote capacity.

Broxah wasn't the only projected starter to not compete in the 2021 LCS Lock In due to visa issues. CLG was eliminated before the arrival top laner Finn Finn "Finn" Wiestål. FlyQuest jungler Brandon Joel "Josedeodo" Villegas missed week 1 of the LCS Lock In due to visa issues, and Team Liquid jungler Lucas "Santorin" Larsen was also delayed for the same amount of time despite competing in North America since 2014. 

The players haven't been the only LCS professionals affected by visa issues. The two cornerstones of Evil Geniuses coaching staff, including new head coach Peter Dun, have been coaching remotely.

After week 1 of the LCS Lock In, Immortals simply decided to start IMT Academy after LCS jungler Andrei "Xerxe" Dragomir, AD carry Quin "Raes" Korebrits, support Mitchell "Destiny" Shaw, and head coach André "Guilhoto" Pereira Guilhoto were delayed by visa issues in an effort to allow the LCS team time to develop synergy before the Spring Split.

Unlike last season, Broxah's visa issues on CLG have the interesting wrinkle of being caused by COVID-19 complications, and in an interview with Inven Global, Santorin shared his surprise at experiencing similar issues at the Danish Embassy earlier this month. 

I was not worried in terms of my visa being denied, but I was worried about how long it would take due to COVID-19," Santorin explained. "The pandemic has changed the way that the Danish Embassy works and that affected me in ways I would never have expected. I've been playing in North America since 2014, and I've never had any visa issues."

As of now, it looks as though CLG will have to start the season without Broxah in the US. This story will continue to be updated as more information becomes available. 

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