After consultation with BasetradeTV, we have decided to show solidarity with their event and our shared sponsor Ting by temporarily blacklisting the player Solar from SHOUTcraft Kings for a period of 2 months. This is the result of Solar failing to play his scheduled match in the KR Group of the Ting Open Season 3 tournament, thereby causing the entire groups competition to fail to take place and handing a #1 playoff seed to aLive without contest. In doing so he also dropped out of the event disrupting the RO8 and causing that spot to go to a player who had gone 0-2 in their group during stage 1 and hadn't even qualified for stage 2 let alone the RO8. These actions have essentially turned the RO8 into something of a farce where some players had to work extremely hard to reach it while others received spots without winning a match. This damages the overall integrity of the event and disrupts the broadcast schedule for Basetrade by ensuring that an entire groups competition was cancelled. While it is worth noting that both herO and ByuN forfeited this group as well, they did so well in advance and gave proper notice to the organizer along with valid reasons. Solar pulled out less than an hour before the broadcast from a seeding match that would have guaranteed him a spot in the RO8 regardless of its result, which makes the decision even more puzzling. However, his motivation for doing so is irrelevant to the matter at hand.



Players no-showing events without appropriate notice is becoming an increasing problem in a scene which is ever more reliant on online tournaments to maintain the health of the ecosystem. Those tournaments are supported by sponsors who rightfully demand broadcast time in return for their sponsorship and disrupted or cancelled broadcasts do direct harm to those sponsors and the integrity of the scene. It sends a very poor message to the professional player scene when top talent within Starcraft 2 is seen to not be taking these events seriously and as a result it is important in our mind to send a message in opposition to this behavior. No-shows and forfeits without notice or good reason have disrupted several Kings events as well as past SHOUTcraft tournaments. Tournament organizers and pro-players must work together and cooperate in a professional manner to ensure the survival of the Starcraft 2 eSports scene and behavior such as this cannot be allowed to continue without consequence. We have absolutely no doubts in Solars ability as a player. As one of the top scoring players in SHOUTcraft Kings and a popular figure within the scene he is a preferred invite to our event. We have not had problems with Solar in the past and it is not at all pleasant to use Solar as an example. We take no pleasure what-so-ever in doing so however a line must be drawn and professionalism strongly encouraged. We must all work together to keep a shrinking scene strong and we must demonstrate to the sponsors that are willing to continue to invest in it that we will look out for their business interests. Sponsors, organizers and pro-players are all needed to ensure a healthy scene. Removal of any one of them will cause its collapse and to prevent that from happening we sometimes have to make tough decisions that we don't like. This is one of them.



We'd like to make it clear to all professional gamers participating in our events that we have no issue with forfeits as long as they are given with sufficient notice and a good reason, allowing us time to find a replacement. Please respect the hard work and sacrifice that is put into organizing and running these events, just as we respect the value that professional players bring to them and the hard work they put in to maintain their level of competition.