j3kie and SENSEi leave Akuma after bombing out of StarLadder RMR

Evgeniyy “j3kie” Sergachev and Dmitriy “SENSEi” Shvorak have both removed themselves from Akuma’s Counter-Strike: Global Offensive roster after a disappointing result at the StarLadder Regional Major Rankings event.

j3kie revealed the news with a social media post of his stream and a message that roughly translates to “Stream. I am searching for a new team.” SENSEi removed any mention of Akuma from his personal profiles. While not official statements, both players definitely appear to be off Akuma’s CSGO roster.

The team breakdown was spurred by a disappointing eighth-place finish at the StarLadder RMR. Akuma lost every match in the round-robin group stage with only one map victory in overtime against Nemiga. The squad earned $2,500 and zero RMR points. 

Both departures were announced mid-tournament, though the two players continued to play their remaining matches. This leaves Akuma with a three-man roster with no easy way to fill in the gaps. The controversial squad will need to regroup in order to continue competing in Regional Major Rankings events.

The departure of two players will also greatly impact Akuma’s standings in the CIS Regional Major Ranking. Akuma already lost out on 20% of its earned points due to j3kie’s substitution for Evgeny “fenvicious” Mitsik. Losing two of their permanent players will cost Akuma a whopping two-fifths of their currently accumulated RMR points. They currently stand in fifth place with 1120 RMR points, but reductions will put Akuma in an uncomfortable eighth place with only 672 points. 

Did Akuma cheat in CSGO?

j3kie and SENSEi’s resigning may be related to a series of upsets over Natus Vincere and Virtus.pro at the EPIC League CIS RMR. A virtually unknown stack taking down CIS legends was surprising and the team was immediately accused of hacking. Every other team who competed at EPIC League signed and released an open letter asking Valve and the Esports Integrity Commission to investigate Akuma for cheating. In the letter, the elite CIS CSGO community suggested that third-party data was being transmitted to Akuma to reveal the positions of enemy players.

Natus Vincere’s superstar AWPer Oleksandr “s1mple” Kostyliev then revealed through social media that EPIC League lacked many standard security features such as recorded team communications and point-of-view replays. These tools are extremely important in determining whether a team cheated or not.

As of right now, the five players on Akuma have not been found guilty of cheating in any way. That hasn’t stopped players and fans from accepting the narrative that they did cheat, however. If Valve or the ESIC is currently investigating Akuma’s players, CSGO fans probably won’t hear about it until the investigation concludes.