The situation with the investigation into the use of the “trainer bug” received new development. ESIC has decided to ban 37 coaches of top teams for gaining an advantage during matches by observing the opponent's actions.
This cheat was first discussed after Heroic’s victory at ESL One Cologne. The unexpected success of the team, which had not previously demonstrated such successful results, aroused suspicion, and the coach of Heroic HUNDEN was the first to be accused of cheating. ESIC then began collecting information about the bug that was being used to gain an unfair advantage and analyzing existing records of past games. In recent weeks, several coaches have admitted to this violation, hoping that this will give them a chance to reduce their punishment.
On September 28, ESIC announced that 20% of available game recordings had been examined, and 37 coaches should be punished based on the results of this analysis. The final report of the investigation is scheduled to be published in October.
Teams react to this information in different ways. Some managers decide to terminate the services of erring coaches, while others decide to give them a second chance. For example, OG will continue to collaborate with Casper “Casper” Due after the few months of the ban have expired. The longest ban was given to Alexander "zoneR" Bogatyrev (36 months), Allan "Rejin" Petersen (19.8 months) and Slaava "Twista" Resenen (15.75 months).
