Female professional Valorant player Sophia “Slaze” Ramirez, who recently got suspended for boosting, has claimed someone on Riot Games’ anti-cheat team is conspiring against her due to personal grudges.
Riot Games has previously taken strict actions against cheaters, account boosters, and bad actors in general, regardless of their popularity in the esports scene. Team Polaris’ Slaze has landed in hot water for account boosting this time around, but she’s resisting the claims.
The pro player has come forward with her side of the story, alleging that someone at Riot Games is abusing powers to get back at her.
“It [suspension] stems from someone not liking me and reporting me, and they have friends at Riot that can get me banned. Someone in the anti-cheat of Riot has targeted me, and since they have the power, they’re abusing it,”
Slaze said.
Slaze was earlier suspended by Riot Games for account boosting. Soon after the official verdict, the pro player was also dropped from her team Polaris, ahead of VCT: Game Changers.
However, Slaze quickly turned down the boosting charges in a TwitLonger, accusing someone at the anti-cheat department of conspiring against her. In her statement, Slaze explained that anti-cheat’s involvement in boosting is suspicious since both are entirely different things, implying power abuse against her.
Riot Games responds to Slaze’s claims
Soon after her statement, Riot Games revealed that Slaze was involved in queuing with cheaters on more than one occasion, explaining the involvement of the anti-cheat department. The developer clarified that she had played alongside the same banned players multiple times, even after knowing about the bans.
“Slaze was found to have repeatedly queued together into competitive with cheaters. In multiple instances, the cheater was banned mid-game, logged in to a new account and proceeded to requeue with Slaze, even after she had received a notification of the cheater detection,” Riot Games said in a statement.
It’s worth noting that Slaze had hit Radiant rank, the highest in Valorant, by queuing with cheaters for 28 days. This makes up
77% of her ELO
gained from playing with cheaters. The pro player also landed on one of the best North American female Valorant rosters without her team knowing about her foul play.
The community had previously come out for her support, but after Riot’s recent revelation, many think she got off the hook with a short suspension.
For the violation of rule 7.5, Slaze won’t be allowed to partake in any Riot-backed tournaments for three months. While she has been dropped from her team, Slaze still refuses to take the rap for charges levied against her. Her team is sticking with its decision and has already found a replacement to continue their journey in VCT: Game Changers.
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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