Mentioned in this article Games: League of Legends

Co-authored by Thiemo Bräutigam

The first week of the CBLoL 2016, the Brazilian equivalent of the LCS, starts this Saturday. Despite the transfer window being closed over a month ago, one team’s attempt to exploit flaws in Riot’s rules has led to a last minute emergency. INTZ, owner of two teams qualified for the CBLoL, were supposed to sell one of their teams in order to respect Riot’s ownership rules. Foolishly they sold it to close relatives. Riot punished those in charge and forced them to sell again.

This has all been a drama, one could say novela, that has kept Brazilian fans on their toes, and which would be versatile material for a crime novel. Here is what we know so far.

Exposition: Trying hard not to sell

The second that INTZ Red won its qualifier and claimed a spot in the Brazilian league, Lucas Simon Almeida and Rogério Rodrigues de Almeida knew they’d be forced to sell. They must have been torn by the dilemma this success brought. Winning meant losing at the same time. All their efforts and hard work, and a lot of money too, would go to naught—it looked like they would lose almost everything in an instant.

They needed a plan to somehow keep their hands on INTZ Red, the sister team of INTZ that they managed to qualify to the CBLoL. But how? Since Riot Games had changed the rules of ownership, they weren’t allowed to have two teams in the league. Selling a League of Legends roster in Brazil wasn’t really worth it though, unless.. they just pretended to sell.

Rising action: Who am I kidding?

INTZ’ gaming house, located in the center of Brazil’s megalopolis of São Paulo, is a multi-storied building of which the gaming organization claims two floors. In the few weeks of the off-season it must have been like a rat’s nest. People must have come and gone. There must have been player tryouts, potential buyers showing up, dealing with sponsors’ uncertainty, and starving off blatant fans and journalists who sniffed around.

But that was only true for the fans and journalists part. Underneath it all, Lucas and Rogério were trying hard not to sell. And it worked out—at least, it appeared to. In a last minute deal, INTZ Red was sold and rebranded to Red Canids. The buyers were rumoured to be a pair of investors who remained anonymous. Inquiries to clarify their identity were left unanswered. Silence on the matter lasted for the rest of the offseason.

Climax: The die is cast.

Even Riot Games Brazil kept surprisingly silent on the matter. But then, a group of journalists found documents surrounding the shady transaction. On Jan. 7th, myCNB leaked the registration document that the involved parties filed with the Board of Trade of the State of São Paulo.

The new owners of the “Red Canids E-Sports Club Ltda.”—as the company was officially titled—were no others but Dinara Guzairova, the girlfriend of Lucas Simon Almeida, and Luan Rodrigo Florencio de Almeida, son of Rogério Rodrigues de Almeida. But there was more to it than that. The entire management staff of INTZ Red remained the same under the banner of Red Canids.

This leak incised fans worldwide. What Lucas and Rogério had planned to be a coup de main turned into a picture of misery. It wasn’t helping matters that one day later, on Jan. 8th, Omelete–a Brazilian lifestyle magazine with a dedicated esports section–leaked a screenshot that suggested that Riot Brazil not only had been informed about the shady business practice, but had been backhandedly involved in the deal. “We made a plan with Riot and won’t sell the team,” Simon assured his colleagues from INTZ Red’s marketing staff according to the conversation. Brazil’s League of Legends community boiled over with anger.

Falling action: The disillusion

Regardless of Riot’s prompt denial of any kind of deal, five of the eight competing teams qualified for the CBLoL collectively threatened to go on strike for the upcoming spring split 2016. If the situation “hasn’t been reviewed, clarified and punished, we have no interest in playing,” explained Alexandre “Gaules” Borba, owner of G3X, according to myCNB.

There were at least two possibilities how the transaction really went. Either Riot Games Brazil was indeed fully conscious of the situation, which would be a fully fledged scandal, or—far more likely—it is the story of two owners finding a flaw in Riot’s rules and trying to play around it, and lying to employees that Riot was on board. Riot Brazil’s senior esports manager Fábio Massuda admitted, surprisingly outspoken, that it was a tremendous mistake to allow Red Canids’ inscription without checking the details of its official registration.

[perfectpullquote align=”right” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]Riot is judge, jury and executioner.[/perfectpullquote]

Riot, not for the first time, resolved the issue ex post facto. It introduced a retrospective rule that changed the legal consequences of such an act. While it wasn’t explicitly forbidden to sell the team to relatives at the time of the deal, Riot determined that INTZ’ operation was “against the spirit of the [newly introduced] rule.” Once more, Riot showed that it is the judge, jury and executioner in one person—though in this case, who could blame them.

Catastrophe: All lies in ruins

Lucas Almeida Simon, Rogério Rodrigues de Almeida, and others involved received a one-year ban from Riot events and were forced to sell (or give away) one of their team’s spots before today Jan. 15th. In addition to this punishment, the organization won’t receive any financial rewards for participating in the first split of 2016. Instead, the money will directly go into the pockets of INTZ’s players, as Riot sees no evidence of them being involved. In case the team fails to sell one of their spots, it will be forfeit. Affected players will then become free agents.

In total, INTZ has lost the awards for the first split (which will be given directly to players instead) and lost the newly incorporated image rights. In addition, to “reduce the impact on the players,” Riot added a special clause stating that, in case INTZ fails to sell, the current roster would be allowed to play for the team the slot is ceded to, at least until the end of January.

To date, no public update on the situation was made. The only hint given is a mysterious facebook post, posted yesterday, on Red Canids’ account stating:

“#REDHunters, get ready, news today already. [on the image] Resolved #GoRed”

However, myCNB leaked the name Felippe Corradini as the allegedly buyer. Corradini is owner of the Brasil Mega Arena, one of the most prominent esports events in Brazil. Upon request, Corradini “unfortunately can’t confirm anything.” Given that, Corradini is not denying either, which may be close to a confirmation.

On Riot’s part, Philipe “PH Suman” Monteiro, esports manager at Riot Games Brazil, explains that as “their deadline is today. We will get a definition in a couple of hours and probably have a message posted later today.”

Only an unbreakable silence is left on the side of INTZ, thus it remains to be seen if myCNB is correct in naming Corradini. In the past, however, myCNB’s calls have been more right than wrong. It reported the poaching incident between PaiN Gaming and INTZ, for example, an event that led to one of today’s most beloved memes in the Brazilian scene. Back then, the now-convicted Rogerio de Almeida called Riot for “respect and seriousness.”

It doesn’t come as a surprise that the sum of the transaction hasn’t been revealed. However, it’s not hard to imagine that it won’t be very much. Being forced to give away the spot for free in the worst case isn’t the best selling point.

After all, Brazilian League of Legends looks more and more like an absurd version of the Game of Thrones, where mighty family clans strive to conquer the realm. As proven in this case, CBLoL looks like a closed ecosystem where family prevails and outsiders are not welcome. In the end, investors need to make sure their investments are being used satisfyingly. Right now, Brazil is doing nothing but slowing its own development. Little tricks and conspiracies might get you an edge for a while, but they won’t pay off in the long term.