After yesterday's ruling, it's clear that confinement isn't giving those in confinement with good ideas. Yesterday, we learned of the fine issued to MIBR by Flashpoint, FACEIT's franchised CS:GO league. The reason for this fine? Having provided their players and staff with the opportunity to follow their quarterfinal match against OG, on a slight delay, via a television displaying the official stream, in clear view of the players.
Although the stream ran on a delay to prevent teams from cheating mid-match — a necessity for online competitions, where admins are unable to directly monitor the players — it's clear that this did not go far enough for Christopher "MonteCristo" Mykles, the commissioner of the league. Mykles understood that viewing a match on an official stream, even on a delay, provides a team with direct information on their opponent — information they would never usually be able to access through traditional means — giving them a greater understanding of their opponent's tactics.
As their actions led to an infringement on the competitive integrity of the competition, MIBR must now suffer a fine in the form of a reduction to their cash prize. $10,000 will be deducted from their future earnings and will be instead redirected towards a Brazilian charity to be named later. Other teams have also been warned: the next infraction of this kind, that is, viewing an official stream during the match, will lead to an immediate disqualification.
In a larger context, the Esports Integrity Commission (ESIC) announced this week their intent to invoke a zero tolerance approach in Esports towards this practice known as stream sniping. For a reminder, Flashpoint hosts a number of top-level teams. Some teams, such as Cloud9 or MIBR, hold stakes in Flashpoint, others, such as OG and Fnatic, receive invitations, and some, like Virtus.pro, qualified for the league through online competition. Regardless of how they got there, each side must battle it out for their share of the $1M prizepool.
Next time, MIBR would do well to remember what parents often tell their kids: if you're not watching the TV, then turn it off .
100 Thieves have confirmed their exit from competitive CS:GO, with CEO Matthew "Nadeshot" Haag citing ambiguity and uncertainty in the scene as the reasons.
Photo: MIBR
