We can guarantee that this is still the tip of the iceberg as the fallout continues to tumble from a spectator bug that allowed coaches to gain advantageous views of maps in progress, giving them the ability to inform their team where the enemy team was.
In a title such as Counter-Strike, which is high-stakes chess mixed in with hairy aim-duels and a mild plethora of explosions, gaining unfair intelligence of the enemy positions is considered to be ‘cheating’.
This all seems pointless to point out, but many are still struggling with why ESIC has launched a full-scale investigation encompassing 25,000 matches in total and handing out massive penalties for anyone proven to have used the bug.
ENCE is the latest team to appear to be affected, at least publically, for now.
In a statement publically released today, ENCE has suspended Slaava ‘Twista’ Räsänen for taking part of the bug (and using it to feed information to the team) way back in 2017; ESIC wasn’t kidding when they announced that anyone who used the bug will eventually be found out.
As of today, we have suspended our CS:GO Head Coach @TwistaCSGO. This week he has notified us of a coaching bug incident back in 2017. After consulting ESIC to investigate the matter, we have decided to suspend him from his duties until further notice.https://t.co/MUKbTXkawN
— ENCE (@ENCE) September 11, 2020
It’s worth noting that this suspension does not come from ESIC, however; this is ENCE taking the initiative to suspend the coach that they similarly noticed has done a ‘stellar job’ in coaching the team over the years.
They also note that they take competitive integrity extremely seriously, and have thus suspended ‘Twista’ from his duties ‘until further notice’.
For the sake of clarity, ESIC did not discover the exploit used: ‘Twista’ himself came to the organization of ENCE and confirmed he used it in 2017; ENCE then took this information to ESIC that stated that ‘Twista’ can continue his work as head coach until the investigation has been completed.
ENCE has taken this suspension of Räsänen entirely on themselves, as a note of their competitive integrity in spite of how well ‘Twista’ has done as a coach.
Considering the bans and suspensions that have already been handed out, with their length of time up to two years, it’s likely that Slaava Räsänen will rejoin the roster, and his time for coaching has come to an untimely end; ESIC may be lighter with the punishment, but this is ultimately speculation until ESIC make their decisions and findings public in October.
ENCE concluded their statement with informing the public that they will not comment further on the suspensions of Räsänen until ESIC makes their findings public knowledge.