Controversy Surrounds SK Gaming’s Win in ESL Cologne
SK Gaming emerged as the winners of ESL Cologne, defeating Cloud9 in a best-of-five series. However, their victory has been marred by controversy.
In the second half of the second map, Train, the Brazilians called for a technical timeout, causing a pause in the game. The stream then went to a commercial break before the action resumed at 10-10. Neither ESL nor the casters provided any explanation for the sudden interruption during the break.
Related: SK Gaming secures second consecutive ESL Cologne title by sweeping Cloud9
Unknown to the viewers, SK Gaming was using their technical timeout illegally to discuss strategies in their team chat, instead of utilizing a tactical timeout. The camera angle during the technical timeout revealed the entire SK lineup typing messages to each other in the in-game team chat.
An ESL employee confirmed that talking or chatting during a technical pause is not allowed according to the rules. The admin quickly detected this violation and instructed the team to stop immediately. As a consequence, the team will receive a penalty, resulting in a deduction from their prize money.
The deducted prize money from SK will be distributed among the other 15 teams based on a percentage of the total prize money earned, as stated by Graham Pitt, the former head referee for ESL.
Despite losing some of their championship prize money, SK Gaming remains the top team in Counter-Strike at the moment.
SK Gaming, ESL Cologne, controversy, technical timeout, Cloud9, best-of-five series, violation, prize money deduction, Counter-Strike