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Valve sanctions banned CS:GO coaches, resets RMR points

Four months after 37 Counter-Strike: Global Offensive coaches were banned by the Esports Coalition Integrity Commission for exploiting the infamous coaching bug in online games, Valve has revealed it's now sanctioning those found at fault.


In an update posted to the official CS:GO blog, Valve has ruled that those found exploiting the bug will be banned from attending Majors in the future. Valve uses a scaling table to show how this will be put into effect, but in short, coaches found to have two ESIC demerit points will be banned from one Major, coaches with three demerits will be banned from two Majors, and so on and so forth to six demerit points. It's currently unknown which coaches are set to miss out just yet though, but those with six points will be barred from all future Majors.


In addition to the sanctions, Valve has also made some pretty big changes to the way coaches can communicate with their players during online Regional Major Ranking matches. Now, coaching staff will no longer be able to work with players during qualifying matches. This means coaches won't be allowed in the same room as players or on the same server. They also won't be allowed to communicate with their players at all during the course of the match.


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2021 RMR Update



2020 RMR Sticker Capsules

Over the past year, the top CS:GO teams in the world competed in regional ranking events for invitations to a Major Championship. Ultimately there would be no Major in 2020, but it is important that fans have an opportunity to celebrate and recognize the hard work of the best teams of 2020. So we’re excited to announce 2020 CS:GO RMR Capsules.

These capsules represent the teams that would have received invitations to the 2020 Fall Major, broken down by their invitation status (Legend, Challenger, Contender). You can find the final RMR scores and standings here.

For these stickers, 50% of the proceeds directly support the teams.

2021 RMR Events
We will continue to hold regional RMR events to identify the 24 teams to invite to the 2021 PGL Stockholm Major. In the link below you can find all the details and updates to the 2021 RMR event system, but here are some highlights:
  • RMR points are reset for 2021, however the 2020 RMR Legends will start with 600, Challengers with 300, and contenders with 100 points.
  • Teams can now specify a substitute player (any player who is not registered to participate or substitute for another team) that is separate from their coach.
  • A team incurs a penalty when they substitute out a player in an event, but there is no penalty when that player is brought back in.
  • During online matches only players are allowed in the room and on the server. Neither coaches nor any other team staff will be allowed in the room, on the server, or to otherwise communicate with the team during an online match.
  • The full details of the 2021 RMR system can be found here.
Coaching Integrity
In September of 2020 we were alerted to the fact that many professional coaches were exploiting a coaching-feature bug to gain an unfair advantage during matches. You can read about our initial response here.

Since then, ESIC has published the findings of their investigation and the resulting sanctions. You can read about them here.

As our follow up, we have decided that coaches that exploited the camera bug will be ineligible to participate in some number of future Valve-sponsored events–that number to be determined by the extent of the abuse.

The following table translates ESIC demerits into Major ineligibility:

ESIC Demerits — Number of Majors to Miss
  • 2 Demerits — 1 Event
  • 3 Demerits — 2 Events
  • 4 Demerits — 3 Events
  • 5 Demerits — 5 Events
  • 6+ Demerits — All Events

In addition to consequences for individuals, we have also thought about how commonly coaches exploited the bug, for how long it went unreported, as well as how common coach stream-sniping accusations have been.

To avoid the diminished integrity of coaching from casting a shadow on the integrity of Valve-sponsored events, we’ll be changing the restrictions on support staff in the following way:

During online matches only players are allowed in the room and on the server. Neither coaches nor any other team staff will be allowed in the room, on the server, or to otherwise communicate with the team during an online match.

Finally, today's Release Notes can be found here.

Vitality's CS:GO team fined $10,000 for stream sniping

The Esports Integrity Commission has fined Vitality's Counter-Strike: Global Offensive team $10,000 for stream sniping. The misdemeanour occurred during Vitality's BLAST Premier matches against Team Liquid and Complexity, where the official stream clearly showed the broadcast being played on a television in the lounge behind the players.


The BLAST Premier is one of the biggest esports tournaments, but ESIC's assessment of the footage "does not suggest that the players were given information derived from the stream or that they gained any advantage in their matches". Therefore, ESIC determines that a ban would be a "disproportionate" punishment for Vitality.


Vitality's management has accepted responsibility for the error, with CEO Nicolas Maurer saying that "Even though this is not coming from a malicious intention, we agree that this placement [of the television] is controversial. This is a big mistake on our side and we accept the fine." Both the team and BLAST Premier commissioner Andrew Haworth acknowledge that as soon as the team was made aware of the stream playing behind its players, someone immediately turned off the screen. Maurer additionally apologised to all CS:GO fans for the violation.


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ESIC bans 35 CS:GO players for betting-related offenses

35 CSGO players banned by ESIC for betting related violations

Nearly three dozen professional Counter-Strike: Global Offensive players have been sanctioned for breaching the ESIC's Anti-Corruption Code. For several it's their second offence in the multiplayer game, and the punishments include bans of up to five years.


The Esports Integrity Commission issued a report on the sanctions Friday, breaking down the investigation, infractions, and subsequent actions taken. Coming from the Australian, North American, and European regions, 35 players have been deemed to have committed some infraction of the Anti-Corruption Code, meaning they bet on matches featuring ESIC members, bet on a specific individuals matches within the ESIC, or bet against someone's matches within the ESIC.


Five levels of punishment are given, severity ranging from betting within the ESIC, landing a one year ban, to betting against a single team for 10 or more matches, earning the offender a hefty five years instead. Two previous offenders had their bans increased after evidence of further infringement came to light; Akram 'ADK' Smida, formerly of Rooster, who now has a two year ban instead of one, and Darly 'Mayker' May, formerly of Ground Zero, had his one year upped to three.


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