A doping scandal investigation is underway at Digital Extremes following the events of last week’s Prime Time Games: a sporting event competition for the Tenno to challenge themselves and earn a place in history by accomplishing great feats. However, one of the competitors has earned a place in history as a cheater in light of the scandal.

The Destreza Fencing event began at 1650 between competitors [DE]Rebecca and [DE]Megan. Rebecca had brought the Excalibur warframe. Megan chose Nekros.

In the first round, Nekros’ opener with a flurry of rapid strikes punctuated by an aerial strike shocked the crowd. Typically fencing takes a seemingly formal pace where the two competitors battle for every centimeter to gain a tactical advantage. With this acrobatic display, Nekros quickly established that the room belonged to Megan. Excalibur held its ground to study the surprising tactics of the opponent. Rebecca made the tactical decision to keep her footing rather than taking the bait to enter an aerial duel. Megan had studied Excalibur’s stance as she zipped around the arena and then quickly changed shifted her stance for a direct attack, forcing Excalibur to lose its footing.

With little time to recover, Excalibur swiftly leaped out of the following flurry of strikes at the risk of becoming vulnerable to Nekros’ whirlwind once more. This round was far from over. Seizing the opportunity to surprise her opponent, Excalibur adopted Nekros’ style to deliver a blow from above and displace her foe. Nekros toppled to the floor, enraged to see the attack was copied and had worked. The two now stood within arms reach in a split second of incomparable tension before adjusting their stances to engage in a direct battle.

Excalibur struck first. The Destreza cut through the air, but it was an indirect hit and insufficient to end the match. Excalibur had gained the upper hand and thrown Nekros into a panic. Megan looked both shocked and angry, muttering “Muda…” under her breath. Nekros’ retaliation was matched by Excalibur and their blades blurred as they exchanged blows. In a moment of careful observation and skill indistinguishable to blind luck to the average eye, Excalibur struck at the heart of its foe and ended the match.

The crowd roared with excitement.

This first match had shown the potential of both competitors. This is what they had come for; to see the best of the best competing to show just how skilled the Tenno were in combat. However, the judges were not as easily impressed. Rebecca had won the match by a fine margin and gained only a small lead over Megan with the point scoring system. In a controversial decision, the judges did not supply Rebecca’s warframe with the necessary Health Orbs to prepare for the next battle but had fully healed Megan’s Nekros after losing the round.

Learning from her first confrontation with Excalibur, Nekros took a much more classic approach to the duel. Megan would not underestimate her opponent this time. The match was over almost immediately; Excalibur could not withstand the fight with the handicap it was forced to take. Honoring their ruling from the first round, the judges only supplied Excalibur with Health Orbs this round. However, the damage sustained by Nekros was inconsequential compared to the first round by Excalibur.

The crowd had grown fearful of what would come next. Excalibur seemed calm, ready. Nekros was visibly tense. The third round began with a whisper.

Nekros took initiative once again leading into the fight as she had done in the second round. Excalibur responded by leaping into the air and guarding herself from the expected lunges soon to come. Seeing that Nekros was still assessing the situation, Excalibur took decisive action. A dive to strike with the element of surprise had knocked Nekros onto its feet. Megan laughed, taunting her foe and pushing her off with ease. Nekros struck the surprised Excalibur, causing her to stagger and opening her to a series of attacks. Excalibur attempted to leap out of the way, but it was too late. Nekros had claimed victory.

The crowd roared once more. This time, in anger. They had figured out what had given Megan such an advantage: Mods.

The doping investigation is being carried out by Digital Extremes, the official committee responsible for organizing the events. Megan has already openly admitted to enhancing her warframe with upgrade modules but no actions have been taken by the committee to acknowledge her statements or provide new information to the press. Our Senior Doping Analyst reached out to Rebecca for comment.

“I always thought of Megan as a friend, sometimes a rival. Like anyone else, we’ve had times where our competitive sides got the best of us. But, like, I’m not making excuses why I lost. This is just scandalous. I would never cheat like this. What do you mean? That wasn’t cheating! It was just a loophole. She never specified you couldn’t use the Simulacrum!”

This scandal has shaken the Tenno’s trust in Digital Extremes to provide a fair competitive playing field. The investigation has already found links to high ranking members of the Digital Extremes staff using steroids to enhance shins and geoffs. Advocates of the games have begun to question Digital Extremes’ ability to provide a fair and impartial ruling in regards to the doping scandal.

Perhaps by coincidence, this was also the first year of The Tennolympic Games which features a similar series of sporting events for Tenno athletes to compete in. Already struggling for air time against the Prime Time Games for air time, the Tennolympic Games have unfortunately encountered a number of setbacks including improper equipment, outdated facilities, and sentient sentinels. Coverage of the Tennolympic Games can be found on the Omni Voice channel or viewed below: