Controversy at ESL One Cologne Qualifier Following the Most Blatant Example of Crowd Cheating in History

Ross Deason

EPICENTER’s Dimitri has shared an image from the GG.BET Majestic tournament in Moscow, showing a member of the crowd holding up signs and trying to alter the outcome of a match.

The $25,000 tournament is also a qualifier for ESL One Cologne 2018, making it a crucial one for the teams in attendance: AVANGAR, Spirit, ALTERNATE aTTaX, and ENCE.

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Unfortunately for the Kazakh team of AVANGAR and the Germans of ALTERNATE aTTaX, their tournament runs have already come to an end following some disappointing results.

However, one major controversy involving ALTERNATE aTTaX has still come to light as EPICENTER’s Dimitri has shared a number of images showing a member of the crowd holding up signs during their match against Spirit.

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The hometown favorites, Spirit, defeated ALTERNATE aTTaX 2-0 despite the crowd member repeatedly holding up a sign showing “A” or “B” for the German team to see.

Dimitri, and a German commentator named Zescht, both stated that the tournament admins and officials did nothing to prevent the cheating fan from going about his business. However, Stepan Shulga later refuted these claims, saying that the individual was removed promptly and had no impact on the game.

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According to a later Tweet from Zescht, the ALTERNATE aTTaX manager says that the players never saw the member of the crowd who was trying to affect the outcome of the match.

And, as Zescht points out, that would make sense considering the fact that they lost the game even with the unsolicited outside assistance. There is also no evidence of the individual being in any way associated with the German team.

The GG.BET Grand Final will see Spirit take on the Aleksi ‘allu’ Jalli’s Finnish ENCE roster. Both teams will surely be hoping that the trouble maker is no longer a part of the crowd.

About The Author

Ross is a former Dexerto writer and editor. Ross joined Dexerto in 2017 as a CSGO and Call of Duty writer after completing his History degree. He later became the Acting Head of Editorial at Dexerto but failed in his mission to become a Counter-Strike pro. Maybe it's time to retire and give Valorant a try.