ESL, a major esports professional league, has imposed a six-month to two-year ban on the coaches of CS:GO teams Hard Legion, Heroic, and MIRB. They took advantage of a bug that allowed them to watch games from anywhere on the map without the opposing team (or anyone else) knowing about it.

The ESL does not explain exactly how the bug works, only stating that it can be enabled "by combining different steps." The coaches allegedly used the bug to communicate information to the players that they were not supposed to communicate. This is a very clear violation of ESL rules, specifically Section 6.10.5, "Use of Bugs and Glitches":

The intentional use of game bugs, glitches, or errors is prohibited. It is at the discretion of the administrator whether or not the use of said bugs affected the game, and whether or not to award rounds, award games to opposing teams, or force a rematch. The use of the following bugs is strictly prohibited. If a bug not listed here is used, it is at the discretion of the administrator whether or not punishment is warranted.

ESL has closely analyzed the relevant ESL and Dreamhack matches, and after consulting with Valve to "solidify" its findings, ESL has confirmed that each of the three coaches - Hard Legion's MechanoGun, Heroic's Hunden, and MIBR's dead - have used this bug The team announced that it had confirmed that:

As a result, dead was suspended for six months, Hunden for one year, and MechanoGun was banned for two years. The three teams (Hard Legion, Heroic, and MIBR) will be retroactively disqualified from the tournament and forfeit their ESL Pro Tour points and prize money.

"The teams have been contacted and notified. We have also notified the other tournament organizers of this matter and will work with them to investigate the match," ESL said.

"ESIC will eventually issue a statement and impose a separate sanction in accordance with the ESIC Player Code of Conduct, which applies to all ESIC member events and applies further than our sanctions, which apply only to DreamHack and ESL tournaments and leagues.

"As part of this announcement, we also believe it is important to note that several coaches other than those mentioned in this post have encountered the bug. They did not exploit it."

The Esports Integrity Coalition (ESIC) was founded in 2016 as a multi-league organization dedicated to combating cheating in esports; ESIC members include ESL, Dreamhack, Blast Pro Series, LVP/Fandroid, and several other tournament operators.

Following the suspension, MIBR posted a message on Twitter stating that it would "investigate the allegations" and virtually immediately suspended the dead pending the outcome of its investigation.

On its website, Heroic similarly stated that it was aware of the allegations and suspension and had launched its own internal investigation. It declined to comment further while it unfolded, but promised to "answer all questions at a later date."

Update: Hard Legion issued a statement saying that after conducting its own investigation, it concluded that the ESL's decision was fair and that it will not appeal. However, it does not believe that the players were aware of the cheating and defends them, saying that they "continued to play fair" despite coach Bogatyrev's attempts to give them tips during the match. Coach Bogatyrev was dismissed.

The Esports Integrity Coalition also concluded that there was "no doubt" that the coach in question had taken advantage of the spectator bug and consequently imposed its own sanctions. The duration of the suspension is the same as that imposed by the ESL, but extends to a wider range of competitive leagues. The ESIC also requested that non-member tournament organizers honor the bans "for the purpose of protecting the international CS:GO esports scene."

"At the time of issuing this statement, the ESIC is of the opinion that there is insufficient evidence to determine that any player knew of or was complicit in the coach's conduct. However, the ESIC will continue this investigation for a further two months from the date of this statement until such time as evidence provides a basis for further investigation of this matter."

Anyone with information relevant to the investigation should contact ESIC at [email protected] with the subject line "ESICS310820". All correspondence regarding this matter will be kept confidential.

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