MLG Disqualifies Top Two League of Legends Teams

[Greg Tito]

MLG Disqualifies Top Two League of Legends Teams

The two teams planned to split the prize money.

Competitive gaming is growing apace, with professional tournaments in console shooters like Halo Reach and PC strategy games like StarCraft II proliferating across the world, but it seems that pro gaming is just as vulnerable to cheating as physical sports are. Major League Gaming discovered the final two League of Legends teams left in the Summer Championship tournament this weekend in Raleigh, NC were "colluding" to split the final prize money - that is, one team would let the other win and after the event split the cash 50-50. Instead, the two teams - Curse NA and Team Dignitas - will not win any prizes, will not earn Circuit points from LoL Riot Games, and be known forever as jerks.

MLG released a statement last night outlining the decision:

MLG regrets to announce that we will not be awarding 1st or 2nd Place finishes for the Summer Championship League of Legends Event. We have determined that there was collusion between the two final teams, Curse NA and Team Dignitas. This is in clear violation of both the letter and spirit of MLG's Official Pro Circuit Conduct Rules: 'competitors may not intentionally Forfeit a Game or conspire to manipulate Rankings or Brackets.'

As such, both teams have been disqualified, and no placements or prize money will be awarded.

As I said, physical sports have their fair share of players abusing the sense of fair play for personal gain. From the Black Sox of 1918 throwing the World Series to make gamblers money, to the recent doping mess in cycling and the London Olympics badminton teams colluding to lose matches, it's clear there will always be cheaters and the chance at foul play. The only thing to do is to act as MLG has: acknowledge the wrongdoing, serve a severe but fair punishment, and move on.

Now that MLG is starting to have its own cheating scandals, does that legitimize competitive videogaming? Can we get StarCraft II tournaments on ESPN now?

Source: MLG [http://www.majorleaguegaming.com/news/an-important-message-regarding-mlg-summer-championship-league-of-legends/]

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[Atmos Duality]

Well, that certainly didn't take long.
Scarcely two years into the sponsored pro-scene and we already have our first major throw.

 

[cidbahamut]

So it wouldn't have been a problem if they'd just planned to play for real but split the money no matter which team won?

I don't understand sports at all.

 

[NightHawk21]

Looks like their inhibitors failed to respawn.

Or I guess you could say the MLG cops got a DECA-kill.

 

[scotth266]

I was wondering if I shoulda sent this to one of you guys last night - the League forums were in an absolute uproar, and the Escapist has covered League news before, but then I was like "meh, everyone's probably asleep anyway" (it was 10 EST).

One of the things you didn't mention was that the teams made the first match of the finals an ARAM (all random all mid) game, which is essentially a "joke" mode that's gained popularity in League and might become a competitive mode in the future. This lead to theories that the teams were suspended for the ARAM, though MLG says it was for colluding on who was going to win.

Anyway, here's some videos about the incident:



Basically Curse Gaming apologized for doing the ARAM, saying that it wasn't professional, though they dispute the allegations of match-fixing.

MLG has been unclear as to whether or not the "collusion" charges are based on the fact that the two teams agreed to split the pot, which has lead to ANOTHER debate over whether or not pot-splitting should be allowed.

Essentially, things are crazy.

 

[Kinguendo]

So it wouldn't have been a problem if they'd just planned to play for real but split the money no matter which team won?

I don't understand sports at all.

IF after 1 team legitimately won and then decided the other guys played well and wanted to split their prize money, then that would have been fine. However, deciding who would win beforehand taking the competition OUT of the competition so both could get money by the end of it IS wrong... how is that so difficult to understand?

 

[Slycne]

Yeah, I was watching the live stream while this happened. As amusing as watching the announcers try to react to the ARAM, I got the impression something like this was going on behind the scenes.

 

[Caliostro]

Honestly I thought the ARAM was really funny and a nice surprise. The matches after were actually pretty fun too.

As for the allegations of "pot splitting"... I want evidence. MLG says they did, they say they didn't. Both have reasons to lie. MLG is making the accusation so I want evidence.

Honestly, as of right now, I'm leaning towards the theory that Curse and Dignitas agreed to do a first match ARAM dicking around. MLG got butthurt ("NOT TAKING E-SPORTS SERIOUSLY!!!111") and used this as an argument of "collusion".

Then again, if they provide whatever evidence they have to make this decision and it is satisfactory, I wouldn't exactly put it past gaming teams to cheat.

 

[Orwellian37]

I still think this is getting blown out of the water. The teams admitted that the ARAM was a bad idea and they shouldn't have done it. Riot says they had planned to fix the outcome. MLG says they planned to split the money and everyone knew, but they wanted to investigate further to be certain. Dignitas has said nothing else. Curse says the other accusations (collusion, splitting the money, fixing the matches) are false.

The way I see it, the outcome wasn't fixed. Curse won the series 3-2 after losing the ARAM and the first real game. The circuit points awarded after a tournament that go towards seeding for the regional tournament meant nothing for Curse, they already secured the 4th seed and couldn't move any higher. Dignitas could have earned the 2nd seed if they had won. They didn't win, and remain the 3rd seed. I'm certain I'd feel different about this if Dignitas had won in a 3-0 where neither team tried.

As for the money sharing, I have no idea yet. Curse says it's false, MLG says it's true. In the meantime, here's a video from a guy explaining the whole thing better than I can. It's 15 minutes long, but worth it if you have the time.


Edit: fixed the format. Thanks, Formica Archonis.

 

[Jandau]

Considering most of Curse are douchebags (seriously, saintvicious trolls constantly on his stream and is a jackass), it wouldn't suprise me if it were true.

Now all I'm waiting for is the first e-sports doping scandal. Not quite sure how it would be done (cocaine? amphetamines?), but I'm sure someone will think of something...

 

[Pain Is Inevitable]

I was watching the championship while this happened, and while the first game was really silly and over the top, the rest of the games played out normally and at no point did it seem like either team wasn't playing the game seriously with the intention of winning. Oh well, they broke or at least bent the rules and MLG decided to punish them very harshly for it to set an example.

 

[Shinsei-J]

If they were throwing the match, they're jerks.
If they decided to pot split so that they could have an unconventional game to please fans, you're cool, just idiots.

 

[Zachery Gaskins]

"If you took away the [insert juvenile behavior here], it'd just be Starcraft." - some douchebag

 

[crepesack]

From what I understand. There was no match fixing. They just jokingly said they would split the pot between the two teams. MLG didn't like the idea so they threw a bunch of false allegations at them.

 

[Slycne]

The way I see it, the outcome wasn't fixed. Curse won the series 3-2 after losing the ARAM and the first real game. The circuit points awarded after a tournament that go towards seeding for the regional tournament meant nothing for Curse, they already secured the 4th seed and couldn't move any higher. Dignitas could have earned the 2nd seed if they had won. They didn't win, and remain the 3rd seed. I'm certain I'd feel different about this if Dignitas had won in a 3-0 where neither team tried.

I don't remember the specifics, but I recall hearing something that certain outcomes would assure that Curse or Dignatas wouldn't potentially have to face heaving hitting teams like CLG or TSM until the finals. So there's more to consider than just being there.

 

[Terrible Opinions]

"If you took away the [insert juvenile behavior here], it'd just be Starcraft." - some douchebag

Hell, they're just trying to catch up. Starcraft went through its big match-fixing scandal years ago. Got one of the greatest players ever banned for life.

 

[Dahaka27]

I don't really think the problem was the fact they were gonna split the prize money was the issue. Its more to do with the fact they would have manipulated the Pro Circuit points system that riot does. Thats a bigger problem, meaning that match fixing and/or boosting would be a bigger problem in the future.

Tbh the harsh punishment was warranted due to the fact that if they let them off with a light warning it would only become a bigger problem in the future as I said.

Also honestly, since esports is really only getting started it best to keep corruption out of it for as long as we can. Just look at the boss of FIFA.....

 

[Formica Archonis]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Ud88fyLwc4

Not a spoiler, but I can't format.

Basically, put youtube=(gibberish after "v=" in URL) in square brackets. Hit quote on this post and you can see how I did it.

 

[Legion]

So it wouldn't have been a problem if they'd just planned to play for real but split the money no matter which team won?

I don't understand sports at all.

Those were my thoughts too. The only situation I can see this really being an issue (between the final two teams that is) are if bets were placed.

That said, I don't see why they didn't both just try and win and then agree to split it like you suggested anyway. They can't argue with what they do with their prize money once they have it.

Considering most of Curse are douchebags (seriously, saintvicious trolls constantly on his stream and is a jackass), it wouldn't suprise me if it were true.

Now all I'm waiting for is the first e-sports doping scandal. Not quite sure how it would be done (cocaine? amphetamines?), but I'm sure someone will think of something...

Maybe a rigged controller or computer set up.