Warzone drama erupts as pro accused of hacking in $100K tourney

Theo Salaun
call of duty warzone clown money

The Call of Duty: Warzone community devolved into chaos as a pro was accused of hacking during a $100,000 tournament qualifier. With one particularly suspicious clip circulating, players and fans alike are debating Shifty’s legitimacy.

Over the past several weeks, a Warzone competitor named ‘Shifty’ has been accused multiple times of hacking. Most prominently, former Call of Duty League pro and current ROKKR streamer Rasim ‘Blazt’ Ogresevic has led the accusatory charge.

On March 8, those allegations came to a very public peak – as a number of pros joined Blazt in claiming that Shifty was cheating during the $100,000 Caldera Challenge Qualifiers.

With about $15,000 up for grabs during this leg of the qualifiers and $100,000 overall, the stakes were obviously high. As such, Blazt’s latest evidence – a clip of a suspicious kill – was widely discussed.

Warzone pro accused of cheating in $100K tournament

In Blazt’s clip, you can see Shifty’s crosshair abruptly latch onto an enemy from long range, at which point he beamed the enemy with pinpoint accuracy. Blazt’s reaction to this seven-second example was simple: “HOW ON EARTH IS THIS HUMAN ON A CONTROLLER??????”

Shifty didn’t end up winning the event, but he did place third (in the prize pool) and put up the highest K/D in the tournament: 13.32 (per InTheZone). With those results, Blazt wasn’t the only one accusing the streamer of cheating – as top-10 Warzone earner, Edy ‘Newbz’ Juan, also agreed that there was a ‘cheater in the tourney.’

Others weren’t so convinced, though. Warzone’s top all-time earner and a fellow former CDL pro himself, Thomas ‘Tommey’ Trewren was one of several who argued that the clip wasn’t definitive proof.

Warzone ‘hacker clip’ caused by skipped frames?

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As Tommey explained, this clip wasn’t “sus” because of a “frames skip, meaning he dropped a few in OBS.” Elaborating, he pointed out that the Cluster Strike on Shifty’s minimap essentially teleported – proving that the lock-on moment could have looked weirder due to a streaming issue.

While others have countered that frame skips can be caused by hacks, Blazt actually has a different way to resolve the debate.

In a series of leaked DMs, the former pro suggested that the only way for Shifty to prove himself innocent is to “play on my $6,000 computer and buy him a brand-new controller.” Thus far, although Shifty has begun using monitor cams akin to MuTeX’s setup, he has not acknowledged Blazt’s offer publicly.

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About The Author

Théo is a former writer at Dexerto based in New York and built on competition. Formerly an editor for Bleacher Report and philosophy student at McGill, he fell in love with Overwatch and Call of Duty — leading him to focus on esports for Dex.