Yesterday, ESL Asia announced that Malaysia based Arena of Valor team Nexplay Esports has been disqualified from the ESL MSP Championship for using ringers (unregistered players on a registered player’s account). The statement goes on to say differences in IPs were detected during a group stage match on the 8th of Sept and that Nexplay’s explanation for the discrepancy was due to the use of VPNs and that Nexplay were unable to provide substantial evidence to prove that their players were using a VPN to play on the day of the match. Further investigations were conducted by ESL Asia and sufficient evidence was found to prove that Nexplay’s claims were not valid. The nature and findings of these investigations have not been made public yet.

Nexplay has since responded via an announcement on its Facebook page that it is conducting an internal investigation as the situation was not escalated to the upper management during the time when it occurred. The statement goes on to say that if the players in question are found to be guilty, action will be taken as they do not condone such actions. However, they have also stated that if ESL Asia is unable to provide solid proof that Nexplay is indeed cheating, legal action will be taken. The team goes on to state that everything that ESL Asia has communicated so far are only accusations and assumptions.

As per ESL Asia’s original announcement, the team was in violation of rule 2.9.2 of the official rulebook which requires teams to field at least three out of five players whose home country is Malaysia, Singapore or the Philippines. Foreigners living in Malaysia, Singapore or the Philippines need to have a valid visa which is longer than 90 days so Malaysia, Singapore or the Philippines can be counted as home country. Foreigners living in Malaysia, Singapore or the Philippines need to have a valid visa which is longer than 90 days so Malaysia, Singapore or the Philippines can be counted as home country.

Based on this, action has been taken in accordance with rule 4.3.5 which states:

When cheating is uncovered twelve (12) penalty points will be awarded to the Player on the ESL website, and six (6) minor penalty points will be awarded to the Team of the Player. The Team will be disqualified from the current season of the League and the Player will be banned from all competitions in ESL for two (2) years.

About the ESL MSP Championship

The tournament features eight Arena of Valor teams (two invited plus six chosen via open qualifiers) from Malaysia, Singapore and the Philippines who will compete for a total prize pool of 10,000 USD with the winner receiving a slot at the Arena of Valor International Championship (AIC) 2019.