Jordan Kaplan · @JKap415
2nd Mar 2021 from TwitLonger
Storytime
So here's the story about how Stro and I finally parted ways after I was on his team for 2 1/2 years consecutively at the time and why I alleged earlier that he "tried to fuck me over." For those who don't know or may forget, the BO3 season was 2016 and IW was 2017. Remember that because I'll be bouncing back and forth between referencing both throughout the post. This is gonna be long, so sorry for that in advance.
Let's start with some important facts to know. The roster of myself, Slasher, Ap, and John was the nV team from mid-2016 through the end of 2017. During this time, myself and Slasher were signed through the 2016 season, but Ap and John never actually signed a contract with the team. In our 2016 contract, me and Slasher had a clause where we had to stream 20 hours a month and could be fined $50 for every hour we didn't hit that requirement (please remember this detail.) We won 2016 CoD Champs and renegotiated and agreed to new terms for 2017. We actually let Stro keep half of our 2016 CoD Champs money for a few extra months (iirc we didn't get the 2nd half until like April 2017 after winning Champs in September 2016) in return for a higher 2017 salary. This is because he wanted the cash on the books to look better for investors at the time. Now although we agreed to new terms, Stro NEVER actually sent us the contracts for the 2017 season. I asked multiple times through the first few months for him to send the contracts so we could sign, but he never did. However, we were getting paid the correct amount and on time every month so I just let it go and didn't care. Let it be clear we were NEVER under contract during the 2017 season, none of us.
Now let's fast forward to 2017 Champs. Going into it, there were a lot of rumors about Slasher wanting to drop the 3 of us for a new roster for 2018 (WWII). We heard the rumors, it was whatever. Nothing we could really do about it so we just practiced because there was still a ton of money on the line here, obviously. We go to the event, lose 2 bo5s to OpTic in finals. I shit the bed, whatever. Most of you I'm sure know that part of the story. Then 3 days after the event, yes literally 3 days, myself, John, and Ap get a contract offer from EnVy in our email. Why would an org want to sign players 3 days after the season ends? Especially when rumors are flying HEAVILY about those 3 players getting dropped? Because he wants to sell us for a buyout, of course. Something he easily could have done had he just sent us the contracts at the start of the season. But he didn't and we sure as hell weren't going to sign now and be held hostage. And when I ask Stro why he sent us the contracts now, he said, "I just think it's time we get it done." LOL!!!!!
Since Ap and John were never under contract with EnVy, Stro knows he has no argument with them and they both become free agents. However, since I had signed for 2016, he insisted that my contract had auto-renewed for the 2017 season. Now if you know the first thing about contracts (which a "businessman" like Stro should) then you know that there's no implications in a contract like this. The contract either says something or it doesn't. And nothing in my 2016 contract said anything about a potential auto-renewal for 2017. I had a lawyer look over it and he agreed and told me he couldn't believe it was a real argument. After going back and forth for a week or so of Stro insisting that he TRULY BELIEVES that my contract auto-renewed for 2017, I call Stro and tell him straight up I'm leaving the team and if he wants to take me to court, I'll see him there. After that, Stro tries straight up guilt-tripping me (one of his favoriteeeeee negotiation techniques, I might add) and say things like "Oh man I just think it's really messed up that you'd do this after how long we've been together." And "We paid you all this money these past 2 years and even gave you a higher salary for 2017 and this just feels really unfair." Again, remember, he agreed to that higher salary because we let him keep the $400,000 he owed us for 4 extra months.
Now, for my favorite part of the story. While on that last call with Stro, he brings up the fact that my 2016 contract included the possibility of fining me for not hitting the 20 streaming hours a month. Keep in mind, he owes me roughly $80,000 at this point between S2 playoffs, Champs, and salary. I tell him something along the lines of "fuck it, go ahead and fine me for those hours and take it out of what I'm owed." I look through my Twitch history and had missed 26 hours of streaming through the 2016 season. I missed it by about 3 hours each in March and June or something and then I didn't stream at all in August because 2016 CoD Champs was literally September 1st-4th and we went out and WON THAT SHIT!!!! And here we are in a call in August 2017 and he tells me in the call that he will be fining me that $1300 from missed streaming hours in 2016. And I basically laugh and hang up the phone and we go our separate ways. He never did take me to court.
This probably didn't have to be this long but I'm not proof-reading it, so it is what it is. If you made it to this point, I appreciate you and you probably have a longer attention span than I do. I'm not even sure if I worded it all in the best way possible to make sense, but I hope you all see the point. It's a story I've wanted to tell for a while, but just never had a real opportunity to.
TL;DR (the best I can give): Hastro was too lazy to send us contracts in 2017 and we never signed that season. He tried finessing me, John, and Ap into signing after the season is over when he knew he was going to be dropping us so that he could then sell us to a new team for buyout $. When I was too smart to fall for that absolute horseshit, out of pure pettiness, he retroactively fined me $1300 for not streaming leading up the biggest CoD tournament of all-time at that point in time.... A tournament I ended up winning under his org. Also, his favorite negotiation tactic is simply guilt-tripping kids who don't know better/don't have the experience to know better into signing deals.