ESL has delivered temporary bans to three coaches – MechanoGun, HUNDEN and dead – for violating the terms of their rulebook. After Investigations done by ESL and Valve, it was found out that the three coaches who belong to teams Hard Legion, Heroic and MiBR respectively had used a spectating bug which gave them information on the enemy team’s whereabouts that would otherwise be impossible to obtain.
“A bug in CS:GO allows the coach of a team to become a spectator anywhere on the map, unbeknownst to anyone else,” ESL states in their blog. “The coach would then be able to stay in that position, getting a free camera/observer position on e.g. the opposing team’s spawn area (or other areas of the map that would be hidden to the team otherwise), and could advise their team to react based on that knowledge.”
This kind of bug abuse is a direct violation to section “6.10.5 Use of Bugs and Glitches” in the ESL rulebook, and the coaches were punished accordingly by ESL after they ensured the abuse was patched.
According to ESL, Hard Legion’s “MechanoGun” used the bug on 6 maps in 3 matches at ESL One Road to Rio, Heroic’s “HUNDEN” used it on 10 rounds in a single match at DreamHack Masters Spring, and MiBR’s “dead” used it in a single round on one map.
Here are the punishments handed out to the coaches and the teams involved, as exactly mentioned on ESL’s website:
- dead will receive a 6-month ban from playing or coaching in competition
- HUNDEN will receive a 12-month ban from playing or coaching in competition
- MechanoGun will receive a 24-month ban from playing or coaching in competition
- The teams will retroactively be disqualified from the tournament in question
- The teams will forfeit their ESL Pro Tour points from the tournament in question
- The teams will forfeit their prize money from the tournament in question
ESL has also informed fans that while multiple other coaches had access to the knowledge of this spectating bug, they didn’t abuse it in competitive games to gain an unfair advantage.
“Competitive integrity of tournaments is our highest priority, and we will continue to work towards creating a clean and reliable competitive environment,” ESL states.
