Curse and Dignitas disqualified due to collusion
eSports Central
It is MLG Championship Sunday in Raleigh, NC. A day where champions are crowned and remembered. So why would today be any different.
First off we had our semi-finals matches. Orbit had slugged their way through the loser's bracket to get a chance to face off again with Team Curse. If Orbit was able to win, they solidified their spot in the North American finals next weekend at PAX Prime in Seattle, Washington. The first two games went very much in Orbit's favor with the Nien and Nubbypoohbear carrying them to victory with a combined: 23/6/35 over the two games. The match went to the second best of 3 since Curse was coming from the winners bracket.
In the first game of the second match, Curse banned
Zyra and 
Shen; two champions that gave them fits in the first match. Curse went on to take game 1 with very strong play on 
Maokai from SaintVicious that allowed Cop and Nyjacky to snowball out of control. On to game 2 and Orbit turn it around in order to survive. Yazuki on 
Malphite and Hai on Shen played their tank and initiation roles to perfection while Nien on 
Ezreal was able to survive and shutdown Westrice's 
Akali. So the match goes to a deciding 3rd game to decide who would have a place in the Grand Finals. Curse comes out with determination and totally take Orbit out of the game. The performance by Cop was truly legendary as he went 9/0/9 in a game that had a lot on the line. The hooks from Elementz's 
Blitzcrank were beneficial in taking Nien out of the game and securing the victory.
In the other semifinal we had Team Dynamic take the first best of 3, 2-0. In both games Team Dynamic did a good job of shutting down the carries for Team Dignitas. In the second game, ZionSpartan on
Rumble dominated the top lane going 11/3/3 and almost double the gold earned than Crumbzz on 
Yorick. However, just like the Orbit/Curse match, the second series would tell a different story. The first game in the second best of 3 went really long, almost an hour, and saw Scarra, imaqtpie, and Zig get over 400 farm. The game was taken by Dignitas after a long struggle with many baron fights. The second game didn't fair any better for Team Dynamic as Crumbzz got incredibly fed on 
Jax and the bottom lane for TD was shut down by Dignitas.
Team Curse moved on to fight Team Dignitas in the finals, or so we thought.
The fans at home and in the audience thought they were going to see two teams that have been struggling to win a 1st place at a major LAN for over a year go out and finaly bring home that trophy. They thought they would see ten fierce competitors play their hearts out to bring home the prize. We all thought that Dignitas would feel the need to win in order to get 2nd place in the Challenger Circuit standings and play Team Legion instead of Team Dynamic at PAX. We didn't get that.
The teams colluded.
They struck a deal to split the prize money and to not have a serious finals.
The first game was an All Random All Mid game which brought out a lot of different opinions from the League of Legends twitterverse. Some fans loved it, some hated it and called it unprofessional. Fellow professional players like Snoopeh, Xpecial, Chaox, and Dyrus decided to publicly come out against it.
The rest of the series played out with Team Dignitas keeping the 1-0 lead. Dignitas went on to win the 2nd game but Curse was able to rattle off three straight wins to win the championship. Or so they thought.
Shortly after the end of the event, Major League Gaming issued a release:
Just for clarification, Riot's rules on Unsportsmanlike Conduct are:
Intentionally allowing an opponent to win a game.
The storm started. The League of Legends sub-reddit and the League of Legends forums exploded condemning MLG and Riot on their decision. Talking about how the games were fun and that the players were obviously having fun. MLG continued to issue statements on twitter.
MLG's EVP of Operations clearly explains that it was not about the All Random All Mid game but about the collusion. The event does not come without precedence since, in the past, MLG had banned Super Smash Bros players for colluding.
Lee Chen weighs in on the disqualification:
Finally, MLG issues another statement through Twitter that they will award the entire prize pool and it will be in the order of 3, 4, 5, and 6.
All in all, it was a messy day for League of Legends eSports. The competition was made a mockery of by playing a game mode that isn't competitive in the grand finals of a Challenger Circuit tournament. Add on to that the collusion and it is leaving a bitter taste in a lot of people's mouth. As for the people condemning MLG and Riot over this decision, ask yourself: Do you want entertainment or do you want to watch high level competition?
Please share your opinion below or with us onTwitter.
First off we had our semi-finals matches. Orbit had slugged their way through the loser's bracket to get a chance to face off again with Team Curse. If Orbit was able to win, they solidified their spot in the North American finals next weekend at PAX Prime in Seattle, Washington. The first two games went very much in Orbit's favor with the Nien and Nubbypoohbear carrying them to victory with a combined: 23/6/35 over the two games. The match went to the second best of 3 since Curse was coming from the winners bracket.
In the first game of the second match, Curse banned
Zyra and Shen; two champions that gave them fits in the first match. Curse went on to take game 1 with very strong play on Maokai from SaintVicious that allowed Cop and Nyjacky to snowball out of control. On to game 2 and Orbit turn it around in order to survive. Yazuki on Malphite and Hai on Shen played their tank and initiation roles to perfection while Nien on Ezreal was able to survive and shutdown Westrice's Akali. So the match goes to a deciding 3rd game to decide who would have a place in the Grand Finals. Curse comes out with determination and totally take Orbit out of the game. The performance by Cop was truly legendary as he went 9/0/9 in a game that had a lot on the line. The hooks from Elementz's Blitzcrank were beneficial in taking Nien out of the game and securing the victory.In the other semifinal we had Team Dynamic take the first best of 3, 2-0. In both games Team Dynamic did a good job of shutting down the carries for Team Dignitas. In the second game, ZionSpartan on
Rumble dominated the top lane going 11/3/3 and almost double the gold earned than Crumbzz on Yorick. However, just like the Orbit/Curse match, the second series would tell a different story. The first game in the second best of 3 went really long, almost an hour, and saw Scarra, imaqtpie, and Zig get over 400 farm. The game was taken by Dignitas after a long struggle with many baron fights. The second game didn't fair any better for Team Dynamic as Crumbzz got incredibly fed on Jax and the bottom lane for TD was shut down by Dignitas.Team Curse moved on to fight Team Dignitas in the finals, or so we thought.
The fans at home and in the audience thought they were going to see two teams that have been struggling to win a 1st place at a major LAN for over a year go out and finaly bring home that trophy. They thought they would see ten fierce competitors play their hearts out to bring home the prize. We all thought that Dignitas would feel the need to win in order to get 2nd place in the Challenger Circuit standings and play Team Legion instead of Team Dynamic at PAX. We didn't get that.
The teams colluded.
They struck a deal to split the prize money and to not have a serious finals.
The first game was an All Random All Mid game which brought out a lot of different opinions from the League of Legends twitterverse. Some fans loved it, some hated it and called it unprofessional. Fellow professional players like Snoopeh, Xpecial, Chaox, and Dyrus decided to publicly come out against it.
The rest of the series played out with Team Dignitas keeping the 1-0 lead. Dignitas went on to win the 2nd game but Curse was able to rattle off three straight wins to win the championship. Or so they thought.
Shortly after the end of the event, Major League Gaming issued a release:
MLG regrets to announce that we will not be awarding 1st or 2nd Place finishes for the Summer Championship League of Legends Event. We have determined that there was collusion between the two final teams, Curse NA and Team Dignitas. This is in clear violation of both the letter and spirit of MLG's Official Pro Circuit Conduct Rules: "competitors may not intentionally Forfeit a Game or conspire to manipulate Rankings or Brackets." As such, both teams have been disqualified, and no placements or prize money will be awarded.
Riot has agreed with this decision and, in accordance with their Season 2 rules on Unsportsmanlike Conduct, will not be awarding Circuit points to either team.
The 3rd and 4th Place teams will receive the prize money and Circuit Points they have earned, and all other results stand. No 1st or 2nd Place will be awarded for this event.
Source: Major League Gaming
Just for clarification, Riot's rules on Unsportsmanlike Conduct are:
Intentionally allowing an opponent to win a game.
Unsportsmanlike or disruptive behavior such as inappropriate and/or unprofessional actions directed towards another player or tournament official.
...
Upon discovery of any player committing any violations regarded as unfair play, the offending player, at the sole discretion of the tournament director or a group of referees, may receive a warning, a forfeit loss, disqualified from the tournament. Prize money may also be deducted as a % of the offending teams at the sole discretion of the Tournament Director in accordance with any policies that are already existing.
During the course of the event, the tournament director or group of referees may determine other actions to embody unfair play.
At the discretion of the tournament director to modify any of the rules above to ensure fair play between teams in a tournament. The rules are most likely to be amended in the following cases:
- If a different patch/version release is used and modifications to the rules are necessary to ensure fair play.
- If players are suspected or proven to be engaging in unfair play or collusion to fix the results of a game.
- If changes to game settings and/or operations guidelines are necessary due to differences between online and offline tournaments.
- If there are substantial delays to a tournament that would prevent it from concluding in a timely fashion as required by a live venue.
Source: Riot's Season 2 Official Rules
The storm started. The League of Legends sub-reddit and the League of Legends forums exploded condemning MLG and Riot on their decision. Talking about how the games were fun and that the players were obviously having fun. MLG continued to issue statements on twitter.
MLG's EVP of Operations clearly explains that it was not about the All Random All Mid game but about the collusion. The event does not come without precedence since, in the past, MLG had banned Super Smash Bros players for colluding.
Lee Chen weighs in on the disqualification:
Finally, MLG issues another statement through Twitter that they will award the entire prize pool and it will be in the order of 3, 4, 5, and 6.
All in all, it was a messy day for League of Legends eSports. The competition was made a mockery of by playing a game mode that isn't competitive in the grand finals of a Challenger Circuit tournament. Add on to that the collusion and it is leaving a bitter taste in a lot of people's mouth. As for the people condemning MLG and Riot over this decision, ask yourself: Do you want entertainment or do you want to watch high level competition?
Please share your opinion below or with us onTwitter.
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Wow, this is dumb. In a lot of professional gaming communities, "collusion" as defined by Riots actions, is allowed. Prize Splitting, which is apparently colluding, is a common factor. You play for the points, you play for the trophy and the glory. When you have that much money on the line, and you are friends with your opponent, it sucks when one team has to walk away with more money than the other, and it also sucks when you are playing for money and the difference between winning and losing is a large amount... you prize split to ensure both teams get equal compensation, and then you play it out anyway... |
 sarkhon Unremarkable (3) Posts: 3 Joined: 2012-08-26 |
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sarkhon wrote:
Wow, this is dumb. In a lot of professional gaming communities, "collusion" as defined by Riots actions, is allowed. Prize Splitting, which is apparently colluding, is a common factor. You play for the points, you play for the trophy and the glory. When you have that much money on the line, and you are friends with your opponent, it sucks when one team has to walk away with more money than the other, and it also sucks when you are playing for money and the difference between winning and losing is a large amount... you prize split to ensure both teams get equal compensation, and then you play it out anyway... Curse wanted to beat Digitas to ensure that next week at Regions Dignitas has to play a tougher team. They didn't need the qualifier points because they were locked into their position, so they only thing that either team was playing for was "money" and dignitas trying to get a better position for next week. Splitting the money meant that now they are playing to see where Dignitas is going to start next week... the DQ for prize splitting is absolutely ludicrous because they still played it out. The ARAM was dumb, I agree, but if that's not why they are being punished, then there is nothing wrong with their actions. If you "throw" a game on purpose, and have something to gain from that, then by all means, punish. However, that is not the case... there was something to be gained by the team that LOST if they had won, so it cannot be considered collusion. Just prize splitting... Seriously, as far as gaming goes, ESports needs to look to Wizards of the Coast and Starcity Games and the Magic Community to show just how big these things can get, and I can promise you from experience, Prize Splitting is NOT frowned upon, nor is it a DQ'able offense... Those two tournament organizers are bigger than MLG is, and if MLG and Riot really want to be leading the charge for ESports, then they should look how those two companies run their National and Internationally renowned events. I can certainly agree with your opinion and I can see where you're coming from, but I don't think this is just about prize splitting. If Dig and Crs had played out the games and then later decided to split what prize money they had earned, it would've been out of Riot and MLG's hands and whether there was a problem with it or not, nothing could have been done about it. However they didn't discuss this between the teams privately (or so i've heard) and essentially agreed to split the money, then proceeded to go out and not only not play to the best of their abilities, but essentially not play at all. In a prize split, you are guaranteed the same amount of money as the opponent, and as you said, there was no real reason for DiG or Crs to try and win. I'm not really sure about this since I'm not a part of Riot or Esports or anything like that but I would assume they viewed it like this and felt they weren't giving the fans the kind of entertainment that Riot and Esports have become known for.   Dominion 101 Coming Soon! | Would appreciate some rep if I helped you. |
 Nighthawk <Veteran> Distinguished (577) Posts: 8569 Joined: 2010-12-07 IGN: Eo Ut Mortus on NA on NA View My Blog |
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sarkhon wrote:
Seriously, as far as gaming goes, ESports needs to look to Wizards of the Coast and Starcity Games and the Magic Community to show just how big these things can get, and I can promise you from experience, Prize Splitting is NOT frowned upon, nor is it a DQ'able offense... Those two tournament organizers are bigger than MLG is, and if MLG and Riot really want to be leading the charge for ESports, then they should look how those two companies run their National and Internationally renowned events. Recommend you read the DCI rulebook again regarding it. Prize-splitting is allowed IF AND ONLY IF one of the players (teams in this case) drops out of the tournament and the match is not played. Players (teams) are not allowed to agree to a concession or an intentional draw, and would only be allowed " as long as any such sharing does not occur in exchange for any game or match result or the dropping of a player from the tournament". http://www.wizards.com/ContentResources/Wizards/WPN/Main/Documents/Magic_The_Gathering_Tournament_Rules_PDF3.pdf ... 5.2, page 22 If this was a M:TG tournament, Curse/Dignitas would still have been disqualified for collusion/bribery. |
 G2Wolf Posts: 3 Joined: 2012-08-26 |
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Quoted:
Recommend you read the DCI rulebook again regarding it. Prize-splitting is allowed IF AND ONLY IF one of the players (teams in this case) drops out of the tournament and the match is not played. Players (teams) are not allowed to agree to a concession or an intentional draw, and would only be allowed " as long as any such sharing does not occur in exchange for any game or match result or the dropping of a player from the tournament". http://www.wizards.com/ContentResources/Wizards/WPN/Main/Documents/Magic_The_Gathering_Tournament_Rules_PDF3.pdf ... 5.2, page 22 If this was a M:TG tournament, Curse/Dignitas would still have been disqualified for collusion/bribery. I get that MLG wants to be viewed as professional gaming; But do they seriously need to force teams to drop just because they wanted to share the pot? I'd love to see pro teams play one last game, no matter how absurd they play. From a money standpoint both teams have already won, If they want to play one last match to see who's name goes where, let them. If they want to play a celebratory game for the fans, let them. If they decided they both enjoyed the spot they got to and wanted to blow off some stress, LET THEM Switching topics I'd feel bad for all the fans who wanted an epic conclusion but got two buds shaking hands at the end instead. But that's kind of up to the teams to decide. You wanted to see these teams play and they did. They played how they wanted to play without either side laying down for the other. Was it disappointing? A little. Was it fun to watch? In my opinion yes. I still enjoyed watching them go at it. The whole point is you're watching a game of League/team curse/team diginitas. If you didn't like it I'm sure there were plenty of other things you could have done or watched. I'm sure you could have played your own epic game of league and got the highlights later. You could have been watching other games or movies or streams that you enjoy. The only ones who may have been royally screwed over were the people who actually attended the event. But couldn't they have understood what was going on and just enjoyed it for what it was? friends playing league with friends. If you can't enjoy that then i think you should rethink what it means to play games. |
 Raikoh42 Posts: 1 Joined: 2012-05-18 |
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Heavy stuff.          
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 jhoijhoi <MOBAFire Mother> Renowned (1608) 
Posts: 10006 Joined: 2011-03-20 IGN: jhoijhoi on NA View My Blog |
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G2Wolf wrote:
Recommend you read the DCI rulebook again regarding it. Prize-splitting is allowed IF AND ONLY IF one of the players (teams in this case) drops out of the tournament and the match is not played. Players (teams) are not allowed to agree to a concession or an intentional draw, and would only be allowed " as long as any such sharing does not occur in exchange for any game or match result or the dropping of a player from the tournament". http://www.wizards.com/ContentResources/Wizards/WPN/Main/Documents/Magic_The_Gathering_Tournament_Rules_PDF3.pdf ... 5.2, page 22 If this was a M:TG tournament, Curse/Dignitas would still have been disqualified for collusion/bribery. No they would not have you skipped the entire first portion of the paragraph. "Players are allowed to share prizes they have not yet received in the current tournament as they wish and may agree as such before or during their match, as long as any such sharing does not occur in exchange for any game or match result or the dropping of a player from the tournament." They agreed to play the match out so nothing was given in exchange for a prize split. The only thing they agreed to was a prize split and that is it. They can't point to a game that any team threw they are just punishing them for a prize split. All they decided to do was split the prize and play for fun....how is that collusion? |
 tipsygiggle Posts: 1 Joined: 2012-08-27 |
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This is kind of funny to be honest, but yeah what they did was wrong and unprofessional.  |
 Death Wishez Posts: 7 Joined: 2012-07-19 IGN: TooJacked on NA |
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Man... Rather disappointed in reading this : /. If you guys know i'm a big SC2 and SC:Broodwar fan and this reminds of a HUGEEE thing way back with this kind of thing. It involved at least 16 players TOP pro, like OMG PRO PLAYERS who match fixed games... In the top tourneys... I was rather shocked when they realsed the info... Go check out team liquid on the article they did, but i'm very sad that Curse and Dignatas, did this... Really brings shame to LoL. |
 Arcana3 <Video Contributor> Prominent (102) Posts: 1382 Joined: 2011-08-22 IGN: Arcana3 on NA View My Blog |
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I think what stunned me the most was that they did it in full view, or earshot, of a few hundred people. This does tell me they didn't think they were doing anything wrong and that someone should have mentioned that it might be a violation of the rules. I await a full story on this because the details are fuzzy at best. I enjoyed the ARAM and if that's the only reason they're being punished then shame on MLG and Riot. If not, then they got what they deserved. |
 Capncowbell Posts: 15 Joined: 2012-03-01 |
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Even in chess is allowed this sort of tactics. |
 Nane Posts: 2 Joined: 2012-04-01 |
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