A month-long investigation by the ESIC has led to a multi-year ban for one of Counter-Strike’s most decorated coaches.
Former player and coach Nicolai “HUNDEN” Petersen has been slapped with a two-year suspension from competitive Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. The ban comes after allegations of sharing Heroic’s strategies with other teams. HUNDEN has since issued statements claiming that he never got to testify in his own defense.
The scandal first came to light when Heroic’s staff publicly accused HUNDEN of sharing the team’s strategies with their opponents. According to both HUNDEN and the ESIC, he shared a Google Drive link with another top CSGO coach that contained anti-strategies developed by Heroic’s opponents. The investigation concluded that that the Google Drive link had never been accessed, but the breach still posed a strategic threat to Heroic’s CSGO team.
Heroic immediately discharged its coach and reported him to Danish authorities and the Esports Integrity Commission. The ESIC launched an investigation to determine if HUNDEN’s actions breached their guidelines for integrity. The ESIC determined this was deserving of a two-year ban from competitive play.
The Heroic organization promptly released a public statement agreeing with the ESIC’s decision. HUNDEN himself still maintains his innocence, claiming to have only shared “anti-strategies” that Heroic’s opponents had developed.
Did HUNDEN actually share Heroic’s strategy book?
Despite Heroic’s narrative that HUNDEN leaked the team’s strategy book, the ESIC confirmed in their report that he did not actually share Heroic’s tactics ahead of IEM Cologne 2021. The Google Drive link led to information on other teams that Heroic had played against in the past. Heroic’s intended strategies were never leaked by HUNDEN or anyone else.
Regardless of what he shared and whether it was accessed, the ESIC points out that HUNDEN shared the information in hopes of endearing himself to another organization in hopes of obtaining employment. This strongly implies that HUNDEN leaked the information to Astralis. Coach Danny “zonic” Sørensen has announced his intention to leave the prestigious organization. While this incident did not impact Heroic’s performance at IEM Cologne, it still breached the ESIC’s protocol for integrity and fair play in esports.
