Alex Leckie-Zaharic

April 5, 2020

Controversy couldn’t have cut its entry into the Rocket League Oceanic Championship any more finely, as Team Esper allegedly threw the deciding game in the final series of the regular season to send opponents Fury into playoffs at the expense of rival team Renegades.

‍



Conceding four goals in the opening minute-and-a-half is a nightmare for any Rocket League player, yet Esper showed no qualms yielding both the early kickoffs and seemingly making no effort to protect their goal. The casters of the match, Matt “Smite” Ross and Stephen “Watson” Watson noted early that Esper mustn't have wanted Renegades to advance to playoffs, but held off judgement on a potential throw.

‍



That was until, however, team captain Aiden “delusioN” Hendry drove the ball into his own net at which point the casters agreed something was going on behind the scenes. Fury didn’t hesitate to capitalise, scoring those four early then following up with another two to put them as well as a spot in the playoffs well beyond anyone’s reach. The game ended 6-3 to Fury, advancing them to the playoffs while Esper now languished in sixth whilst mired in controversy.

‍



However, those rankings weren’t set in stone earlier in the day. Going into the game both Esper and Fury were eligible to advance to the playoffs. It fell apart for Esper, however, as they required a 3-0 or a 3-1 victory to advance. Their 2-0 lead put them in great stead, but they conceded two games as Fury hunted for a reverse sweep and knocked out their opponents in the process.



This suggests the alleged throw was a spur-of-the-moment decision, as the only bonus for winning the final game and the series was to advance their rivals, Renegades, into the playoffs.

‍



Shortly prior to the final game, Esper team founder Focus was seen in Twitch chat cheering on Fury, raising the question whether this was an org effort or a decision made by the individual players going into the final game.

‍



Wherever that decision stemmed from, just past 2pm AEST/4pm NZST this afternoon, Team Esper posted the following tweet, farewelling their Rocket League squad amidst the rapidly unfolding scandal.





Official announcement from Team Esper via Twitter following controversy.





There is no word from league managers Lets.Play Live on a potential penalty for the alleged throw, but with the Oceanic scene already baying for the blood of the former Team Esper roster, a decision is sure to be imminent.

‍

Game 5 VOD: click here

‍

This story is currently developing and HTT will keep you all updated as we get more information, so please stay connected to our Twitter, @HTT_News

‍

Updates:

‍

[06/04/2020 - 1:00PM AEDT] In a statement this morning from Amy Potter, LPL’s Head of Platform and Leagues, the organisation announced that “we are investigating the situation thoroughly alongside our partners for the Oceanic Championship at Psyonix



LPL takes the integrity of matches extremely seriously and any sort of intentional match throwing is unacceptable in our leagues. We are working on fully understanding the situation at hand, checking game logs and assessing all the information”‍

[06/04/2020 - 1:00PM AEDT] In addition to this, SSteve, one of the ex-Esper players, has announced that yesterday he decided he was no longer part of the roster. *STATEMENT TO FOLLOW*







Credits: