ESL allow VAC banned players to compete again

ESL allow VAC banned players to compete again

The recent update to ESL's rulebook has shocked the Esports scene all around the world. In their latest announcement, they stated that from now on all VAC banned players will be able to participate in their tournaments, as soon as two years have passed since the cheating occurred. The reasoning behind the new rule lies in ESL's correlation to professional sports, in which the organizations usually allow comebacks for athletes who have been tested positive for illegal substances.

ESL's ruleset, which allows cheating parties to undergo a two-year rehabilitation period is nothing new, but their decision to enforce the same principle with players caught by Valve's anti-cheat is noted as a precedent. The most notable player that was caught cheating by ESL Wire is the Ukrainian star Oleksandr “s1mple” Kostyliev, who still managed to maintain a successful career despite his bans for cheating and ban evasion.

This decision will affect all leagues powered by ESL, including premier competitions like Intel Extreme Masters, ESL Pro League and ESL One. This arrangement includes numerous of high-profile Counter-Strike: Global Offensive players, so let’s take a look at some of the most notable names who are affected by this ruleset.

1. Hovik “KQLY” Tovmassian

KQLY was introduced to the spotlight back in late 2013 with Clan Mystik, after winning one of the most prestigious events at the time – Electronic Sports World Cup (ESWC). Battling on the home soil, the Frenchmen managed to pull a miracle run to the grand final, where they faced their compatriots Team VeryGames, who were arguably the best team in the world at the time. Completing their fairy-tale story and taking home $12,500, he managed to secure himself a spot within a brand new LDLC roster with Vincent “Happy” Cervoni and Dan “apEX” Madesclaire. The decision came as a shocker, considering that KQLY was picked before Kenny “kennyS” Schrub, who later became the best player in the world. Following a few decent performances at EMS One Katowice and ESL One Cologne, Tovmassian became a wanted figure within the French scene, where he landed a move to Titan with three of his LDLC colleagues.

In the first offline event, Titan won Dreamhack Stockholm Invitational in an all-French final, beating the famous LDLC lineup who became major winners two months later. Leading up to the mentioned major, KQLY was handed a VAC ban during the Titan's boot camp, which completely shook the scene with controversy.

Tovmassian’s ban shook the integrity of competitive CS:GO

Later on, Tovmassian stated that the ban was justified, which ended up with him being removed from the active lineup and banned indefinitely. Although he did keep playing and streaming occasionally to maintain the form, in an interview with HLTV.org, he stated that the probability for a comeback is almost impossible, considering that there aren't many parties that would be interested in making a team with a former cheater.

2. Simeon “dream3r” Ganev

The talented Bulgarian star was a part of the same team core during their whole endeavour in competitive Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. Joining forces with E-Frag.net, the squad was famous for causing various of upsets against the top tier competition, admittedly in best of one games.

Before the game got any big, the Bulgarians were struggling to find form, more than often losing to their regional rivals iNation and EnTiTy at events in Serbia. But the roster decided to stick together and invest a lot of hours in their development, eventually managing to breach into top 15 teams in the world at a few occasions.

Although he was not the part of the biggest VAC ban wave, his case was somewhat of a special one, since dream3r’s account was claimed hacked months before the ban even happened. Valve kept the status quo on the matter, even though LDLC White member Matthieu “matHEND” Roquigny had his ban lifted after providing substantial evidence of a hacked account.

Ganev kept competing at all events during the years besides the major ones, where he was substituted by Nikolai “pNshr” Paunin in their attempts to qualify.

3. Gordon “Sf” Giry

The second name from the French scene that was struck with getting banned by Valve Anti-cheat was Epsilon's Sf. His first notable results came in the early days of CS:GO where he got noticed in competing at RaidCall EMS One events. Even though he was surrounded with star players, his role at the time was mainly being a stable support rifler, opening space for the big names like kennyS and apEX.

Giry kept attending events after his ban

With his most prestigious achievements being at Dreamhack Valencia and ESL One Cologne in 2014 with Clan Mystik, Giry was left empty handed following the French shuffle, eventually ending up signing with Team Epsilon. Only a few weeks prior to Dreamhack Winter 2014 Major, the news of Sf's VAC ban resulted in Epsilon being disqualified, which soured the excitement before the biggest Counter Strike event ever.

Giry kept competing at smaller French events in various mixed teams, even winning the last edition of InsaLan playing for a squad called Royalty.

In a recent interview with flickshot.fr, he did not completely rule out a possibility of a comeback:

“I've been able to play a few LANs with mixes during the last two years. But indeed, competing (with a team) or even just the environment and the vibes that you get from it, I miss it all terribly. Even if I never counted on getting unbanned, as that seemed unlikely. But it wouldn't sadden me to return to the scene.”

4. Anil “cLy” Gulec

The former Counter Strike 1.6 and CS:GO professional had a long and prominent career with organizations like mTw, mousesports and PlanetKey Dynamics before getting banned. Even though he was widely known for changing rosters quite often, cLy was famous for being a great in-game tactician and leading his teams to top placings.

cLy led a team with shox, GuardiaN and ANGE1

Many will forget his venture with TCM Gaming, where he gathered names like Richard “shox” Papillon, Ladislav “GuardiaN” Kovacs and Kirill “ANGE1” Karasiow, taking them to a top finish at Radeon Offensive tournament. He stole the title away from the Danish side of Western Wolves, who were considered a top three team in the world at the time, right next to NiP and VeryGames. Unfortunately for Gulec, that spell didn't last for too long, with Papillon signing for VG not too long after that.

Gulec’s ban occurred in the latter part of his career, while he was playing for PlanetKey Dynamics. With a mixed team under his helm, they managed to win ESL Pro Series Germany in 2014 over favoured mousesports team. Gulec claimed that his ban was a result of a randomly downloaded hack in a matchmaking game, which didn't reduce the disgust within the scene during that period.

5. Joel “emilio” Mako

Mako was another player that has been known in the scene since CS:GO was launched, competing for teams like Absolute Legends, SK Gaming and Lemondogs. During his career, he competed with the big names like Markus “pronax” Wallsten and Maikel “Maikelele” Bill, players who ended up playing major finals, even winning them (in Wallsten’s case).

The fun part lies in the fact that his ban happened during a professional match at Fragbite Masters, between Team Property and HellRaisers. The ban wave was jokingly called The VACcening, considering how many names went down for using forbidden software.

Emilio was banned live during Fragbite Masters qualifiers

Valve anti-cheat is famous for delivering bans in waves and after denying that his ban was a legitimate one, he eventually came to his senses and admitted to cheating in a pug game with a friend. It didn’t take too long for him to get removed from the active squad, irreparably damaging the Team Property brand.

Honourable mentions

Nichlas “Nille” Busk

Former Anexis Esports and Western Wolves star player received a VAC ban in mid-2014, not too long after his team went to achieve podium finishes at MadCatz Vienna and Copenhagen Games, where his teams lost only to Ninjas in Pyjamas on both occasions. Busk played under both Lukas “gla1ve” Rossander and Matthias “MSL” Lauridsen at the time, who later became in-game leaders in best Danish teams - Astralis and North.

Julien “AREA” Dubois

Often called “The-new-ScreaM”, Dubois was mostly known for his amazing raw aim, becoming a star in many frag movies at the time. While he was competing for team BuyKey, he even turned down an offer from Team LDLC to join forces with players like Happy, apEX and Maniac. His decision to go inactive in early 2013 was followed with a VAC ban being added to his account.

Simon “smn” Beck

One of the most obvious cheat usages was displayed by the former ALTERNATE aTTaX member - smn. Usually known as a mediocre player in the german scene, Beck had a brief period of brilliance, performance wise, which was followed with an inital ESEA client ban, that translated into a VAC ban.

The retrospective

The decision only applies to players who received a VAC ban on their record, while match-fixing bans will stay enforced for the time being. Almost every figure in the scene commented on the matter with disgust, not being able to comprehend why the organizers would decide to revise the bans. ESL later released a clarification that the decision is still open for discussion and that they will be consulting with players and organizations on whether the rule is suitable for competitive play. It is still unknown why the organizers haven’t followed the same process before even rushing into the controversial decision.

by Toni “anakintm” Milicevic, featured writer for GG.bet. You can reach him on twitter.com/anak1ntm