We all love a good underdog story.
David beating Goliath, Frodo Baggins’ destroying the One Ring, the Jedi obliterating the Sith Lord and Team Akuma beating Na’Vi….wait what?
That was exactly how all of us felt when the 47th rank team beat clear favourites Na’Vi 2-16 at the EPIC League CIS Spring 2021 regional major ranking event. As if things couldn’t get any stranger, the relative newbies also defeated Virtus.pro, K23, and other renowned CIS squads.
What should have been a story of triumph has transformed into a travesty.
Fresh allegations have now emerged accusing the Russian team of cheating and fraud. From hardware-based radar hacks to external aimlocks, here’s how (we think) they did it.
Sign 1: Caster cameras 1 Gameplay 0
The first rule of any live stream gaming event is well….to stream games. Yet, caster cameras were on for almost 18 rounds of the games, preventing viewers from watching the live gameplay. That’s 18 rounds of game footage wiped off the face of the earth. This means that no one could tell what was going on in Team Akuma’s matches or study their tactics to understand how they managed to snag such convincing victories.
Suspicious much?
Kudos to game casters @YouM3tv and @ggTeaTime for stepping up to the plate and helping to entertain viewers but this kind of sloppy coverage at a major gaming event is a big no-no.
Sign 2: No Delay GOTV Stream
Several CSGO pros have revealed that they were streaming the Epic League 2021 CIS RMR events’ matches on GOTV live without any delay. This means that anyone with a password could have logged into the stream and advised players *cough* Team Akuma *cough* on opponents tactics and locations. In a world where regulations order gaming tournaments to have a delay of at least 90 seconds, it is bewildering to know that there was no delay in what is undoubtedly the biggest CSGO event of the year.
Russian CSGO star Aleksandr “Zorte” Zagodyrenko didn’t mince his words on the issue. Check out his full-length explanation here.
“Why no game delay bro?”
Sign 3: What are you looking at bro?
Esports fans and players from around the world have put together videos and discussion threads to point out the rather dodgy behaviour of Akuma players throughout the tournament. One example is the tendency of players to look towards the side during safe or clutch situations which don’t quite make any tactical sense. On several occasions, members are often seen looking at the radar, although this provides zero help, especially in coupling situations.
Here are some clips you can check out:
Sign 4: No Valve Anti-Cheat
For an all-important RMR event leading to the Stockholm Major, the level of game integrity present at the Epic League was an utter joke. Basic security. features that are usually mandatory in all big CS:GO tournaments were shockingly absent here.
For one, Valve’s Anti-Cheat was disabled. There were also no recorded replays or team voice recordings to go over. With no evidence to study, it will be virtually impossible for teams or the relevant authorities to verify fair play or take action.
What are your thoughts on how the tournament was run? Let us know in the comments!
