The match-fixing scandal that has, or is, plaguing Counter-Strike: Global Offensive is likely coming to a head, regardless of whether those indicted by ESIC in the scandal are ready to face the proverbial music.

Advertisement

Yet figuring out precisely who is being rumored to have match-fixed is an extremely difficult (and legally dangerous) territory.

First, match-fixing in and of itself is difficult to prove: teams must come together to decide to partake in this, and enough players on the team that is supposed to lose need to agree to purposefully throw. To manage all of this without raising a few alarms is difficult enough.

For the administrators and officials of ESIC it goes a bit deeper: did the suspected team simply fail to perform, through the various frustrations of CS where nothing seems to work right? Or did they knowingly and intentionally fail on a retake, or to gain those entry frags while holding an off-angle, to skew the scoreline in a way that makes them a profit?

The second part is that it comes dangerous legal territory to slander or otherwise accuse a player of such serious misconduct without ample evidence; this piece makes no such accusations towards any of the players that have been named, merely noting that there seem to be multiple allegations levied towards two players from the CS:GO and Valorant community: Shanks, and Poised.

Dignitas stated yesterday that they have opted not to renew either players contract as the trial with the team comes to an end, and this seems to have many members of both scenes taking notice and making some thinly veiled (and outright) accusations.

https://twitter.com/Ten78463836/status/1308275325814665217

The match that many are referencing is from ESEA MDL Season 34 NA that took place on the 9th of June, 2020, when the team blood, sweat, and tears lost to team Infinity on a Bo1 Overpass map that resulted in Infinity winning with a (14-16) scoreline. The match has been removed from Twitch, but a GOTV demo of the match can be found on the page that allows those interested to analyze the match themselves, to the best of their ability, here: https://www.hltv.org/matches/2342004/blood-sweat-and-tears-vs-infinity-esea-mdl-season-34-north-america.

The first half of the match saw BST gain 12 points as CT, then only 2 on T while Infinity managed thirteen in the second to clinch the match.

Many are alleging that there are far more than two players involved in the match-fixing scandal that has ESIC noticeably busy this month, yet clarification on who suspects whom is, of course, not currently forthcoming.

Advertisement

The ESIC is scheduled to end their investigation regarding both match-fixing and the coach spectating exploit on October 1st, finally offering to shed official light on precisely what has transspired in the past half-decade of competitive Counter-Strike. At that point, any who have been suspected will either be cleared of any wrong-doing and able to continue their esport career, or the precarious hard of cards could come tumbling down in spectacular fashion. Either way, it’s good entertainment, right?