BY AMIT BARAN ROY | Earlier in Jan 2015, the reports of match-fixing regarding the between two of America’s top CS teams, iBUYPOWER and NetcodeGuides.com, was confirmed by Valve. The match took place on August 21, 2014, when the hot favorites iBUYPOWER, lost 16-4 owning to some strange and careless behavior by the team. The game which was a part of the CEVO Professional Season 5, saw some really weird gameplay by the team, going for knife kills in important situations. These reports were put to the notice of Valve, who strongly reacted to the fairplay and integrity of the game. Indefinite ban was issued to the convicted players after much evidence came to light. The following 7 players were restricted participation from any of the Valve sponsored events.

Duc “cud” Pham

Derek “dboorn” Boorn

Casey Foster

Sam “Dazed” Marine

Braxton “swag” Pierce

Keven “AZK” Larivière

Joshua “Steel” Nissan

To follow up on the ban, Valve made the that, in order to protect the integrity and trust of the fans in the game, it is necessary to issue permanent ban on the convicted players, and hence, make the CS community a better place. They further stated that:-

Back in January and early February 2015 we took action after we discovered that a small number of professional CS:GO players were engaged in match-fixing. Our decision was to ban these players indefinitely from involvement in Valve-sponsored events. To clarify, the bans for these players are permanent, and players proven to have taken part in match-fixing will be permanently banned.

As the scene grows, it’s an unfortunate reality that some individuals will seek opportunities to take advantage of their fans. We will continue to take whatever action we think is necessary to protect the entertainment value created by professional Counter-Strike, including, on occasion, terminating our relationship with individuals who have demonstrated a willingness to exploit their fans’ faith in the integrity of the sport.

For now, the announcement is limited towards all the valve-sponsored events. Theoritically it means, these players can participate in other competitions, but, possibilities are that it can extend beyond that. This announcement should definitely lift the gaming spirits of the entire Counter Strike community, as well as other gaming communities too.

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