Following ESL banning coaches Aleksandr ‘MechanoGun’ Bogatiryev, Ricardo ‘dead’ Sinigaglia, and Nicolai ‘HUNDEN’ Petersen for abusing a spectator bug in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, BTS has concluded its own investigation into the bug and has also banned dead for the same offense.
dead was coaching MiBR when these offenses occurred, and the team has already acted decisively, firing the coach following the ESL ban. The organisation is yet to make a comment following the BTS decison, but while they have been offered the right to appeal, the team’s reaction to the ESL ban suggests that is unlikely.
This cheating allowed spectators – such as the coaches – to place themselves anywhere on the map. This allowed them an unfair insight into what the other team was doing, and included observing areas which the opposition would usually be unable to see, such as the enemy team spawn area.
The review was carried out by Michal Slowinski, the Head CS:GO Referee for CS_Summit 6 Online, and determined that dead was the only one to have exploited this bug. The investigation uncovered the following:
- dead encountered the glitch twice prior to CS_Summit 6 Online (once on April 23 vs Yeah Gaming and once on May 1 vs Envy at ESL One: Road to Rio)
- dead demonstrated he knew how to fix the glitch while maintaining competitive integrity prior to CS_Summit 6 Online (by requesting a technical timeout, disconnecting, and reconnecting — which happened in the May 1 match vs Envy at ESL One: Road to Rio)
- dead knowingly abused the coach spectator glitch to obtain an unfair competitive advantage in MiBR’s Lower Bracket Round 3
At the end of its statement, BTS laid out the consequences of the investigation clearly:
- dead will receive a ban from playing or coaching in competition at the next 2 CS:GO events hosted by Beyond the Summit
- MiBR will retroactively be disqualified from CS_Summit 6 Online
- MiBR will forfeit their prize money from the CS_Summit 6 Online
- As a result of MiBR’s disqualification, Triumph will retroactively be awarded the 7th-8th place spot in CS_Summit 6 Online
BTS has completed its investigation of the abuse of a spectator glitch during CS Summit 6 Online.
We are issuing punishment to the coach of one team today.
Read: https://t.co/VVRgPXbWt2
— BTS CS:GO (@BTScsgo) September 2, 2020
These new revelations will continue to raise question marks over the legitimacy of results from online tournaments, with the pandemic enforcing teams to play from home, making matches much harder to regulate and officiate.
