ESIC hands 12-month bans to ESL Legends of Runeterra players

Le Hiep, DiaComSuon, and Cuticini will not be able to take part in professional esports events or competitions until 16 June next year as a result of their actions during the ESL Mobile Open Legends of Runeterra (Ladder 2) tournament on 16 June this year.

ESIC opened an investigation in response to a report from ESL Asia relating to the abnormal progression of particular participants in the event. The probe focused on five accounts, with three operated by one individual, while the remaining two individuals held an account each.

During the investigation, ESIC found that the three individuals had colluded to cheat in the ladder-based tournament by engaging in so-called “boosting behaviour”. Boosting referes to high-skilled competitors accessing lower-skilled players’ accounts for the direct purpose of increasing the rank of the account, for monetary gain.

Reviewing the case, ESIC ruled the three individuals breached Article 2.4.4 of the Code of Conduct, which related to cheating or attempting to cheat to win a game or match.

ESIC said this constituted a Level 4 offence and, as such, each offending participant has been provided with a Notice of Charge detailing their offence and their sanction in the form of a 12-month ban.

The bans will apply to events run by all ESIC members including ESL, DreamHack, WePlay, BLAST, LVP and Eden, while ESIC also requested all non- member tournament organisers to honour the bans.

“ESIC is centrally focused on protecting the integrity of the esports landscape,” ESIC said. “ESIC believes that an effective integrity framework assesses the veracity of competitive integrity on all levels of esports competition.

“This comes from ESIC’s firm belief that the competitive integrity of esports is of central importance to the maintenance of its commercial longevity and viability.”