CSGO coaches deny using coaching bug after cheating punishments

Fariha Bhatti Published 29/09/2020

The Esports Integrity Commission’s sanctioning of 34 coaches has caused total mayhem in the world of Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. While there are coaches like Nicholas “guerri” Nogueira who have respected the decision and accepted their punishment, some coaches are arguing the ruling.

FaZe Clan’s Robert “RobbaN” Dahlström, BOOM Esports’ Alessandro “Apoka” Marcucci, and forZe’s Sergey “lmbt” Bezhanovhave are among those impacted and the three coaches have come forward and pushed back against ESIC’s ban.

The infamous map bug allowed the coaches to have an overview of the map, enabling them to monitor the movement of opponents. The glitch could easily be fixed with a server restart. However, it could also be triggered on purpose to gain an edge over the enemy team. The bug has been resolved, but the drama continues.

ESIC’s verdict has shaken the CSGO world yet again with 37 coaches coming under the ban hammer. RobbaN, Apoka, lmbt were also part of the list revealed by the esports watch dogs.

RobbaN, LMBT, and Apoka refuse all allegations

FaZe’s coach RobbaN, who has been issued a sentence of 5.5 months, said that he decided to mute his mic and remain AFK for the rest of the game as soon as he realized that there was a glitch. The coach said that intentionally using the bug to gain an advantage is cheating and he had no intent of doing so. The coach reported the bug to the admin when it was triggered the second time.

forZe’s coach lmbt’s statement came shortly after RobbaN’s Tweet. The coach refused to accept the punishment, claiming that he reported the bug to ESIC as soon as the investigation began. LMBT denied using the bug as well, saying that he was inactive on PC. lmbt reprimanded ESIC for not showing the evidence in a professional way and demanded to see the proof himself.

“I never cheated or abused the bug, every admin and TO knows that I was always trying to improve the rulebooks of any events and was coming to them beforehand if something was wrong or undefined there,” lmbt said.

Apoka also denied all allegations although he stepped down from his role as BOOM’s coach. He went ahead and thanked ESIC for their work in the bug exploit fiasco.

“I’m deeply saddened by this but not because of my conscience, because I’m 100% sure that I NEVER USED nothing to gain advantage,” said Apoka.

The coach said that he was away from his PC for the entire match. Apoka recorded a few rounds for his vlogs which he’s using as evidence to prove his innocence.

The ESIC has made some amendments to its preliminary punishments for coaches caught cheating, and this trio is likely hoping that they can receive the same treatment.

Fariha Bhatti

About Fariha Bhatti

Fariha Bhatti is a long-time gaming writer who loves competitive FPS games and slots with particularly fun themes. She got her start playing classic games developed by SNK, from legendary fighting game series The King of Fighters to challenging platform franchise Metal Slug. She now spends most of her time playing Valorant and Counter-Strike 2 while working her way through new slot releases to find her next favorite. Fariha has been published at PCGamesN, TalkEsport and ONE Esports.

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