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http://amandathoughtaboutyou.tumblr.com/post/13791592266/heartfelt-from-me-to-you
The next day was when players from Korea were to arrive. For some weird miscommunication, Clive, Verde and I waited at the airport but we only saw 4 as they were Team AZK and well, were to stay at another Team AZK member’s house. Apparently someone already picked up everyone else and brought them to Tower Inn. Clive and I brought Seltzer and Torch to a different hotel that afternoon as Gus said that someone sponsored for their stay at Picasso, along with the rooms for Tastosis then Allyn’s room was to follow the night she arrived.
Gus used the Sponsor money to pay for his own AZK Team... to come to the event as we suspected? O.o
At the end of Day 1, the staff was to have dinner. Okay food was supposedly free. So for 13 staff members, we were given Php 1000 or about $20 to split amongst ourselves – wooohooo! And Gus had the remaining cash. That was a little bit of a WTF moment for me.
Hrm so that explains why all the Staff were so upset about not having enough money for food he gave all the combined staff 20$ total to split amongst themselves
I know Gus was writing something in one the pc’s but I didn’t bother to ask what it was I did feel like there are other things to be done. He did give that “we made it” speech sometime in the afternoon. Well we also had a staff speech that day. We were only informed onsite that there wouldn’t be any compensation – so dude WTF.
Gus never payed the Staff for the event either? As suspected. Did they ever end up getting payed?
Thank you Amanda for staying strong!
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On December 06 2011 08:20 XRaDiiX wrote:http://amandathoughtaboutyou.tumblr.com/post/13791592266/heartfelt-from-me-to-youShow nested quote +The next day was when players from Korea were to arrive. For some weird miscommunication, Clive, Verde and I waited at the airport but we only saw 4 as they were Team AZK and well, were to stay at another Team AZK member’s house. Apparently someone already picked up everyone else and brought them to Tower Inn. Clive and I brought Seltzer and Torch to a different hotel that afternoon as Gus said that someone sponsored for their stay at Picasso, along with the rooms for Tastosis then Allyn’s room was to follow the night she arrived. Gus used the Sponsor money to pay for his own AZK Team... to come to the event as we suspected? O.o Show nested quote +At the end of Day 1, the staff was to have dinner. Okay food was supposedly free. So for 13 staff members, we were given Php 1000 or about $20 to split amongst ourselves – wooohooo! And Gus had the remaining cash. That was a little bit of a WTF moment for me.
Hrm so that explains why all the Staff were so upset about not having enough money for food he gave all the combined staff 20$ total to split amongst themselves Show nested quote +I know Gus was writing something in one the pc’s but I didn’t bother to ask what it was I did feel like there are other things to be done. He did give that “we made it” speech sometime in the afternoon. Well we also had a staff speech that day. We were only informed onsite that there wouldn’t be any compensation – so dude WTF. Gus never payed the Staff for the event either? As suspected. Did they ever end up getting payed? Thank you Amanda for staying strong!
I know like there are ways to eat with just $20 but... I mean they are mostly guys so like we all know how guys appetites usually are >.<V
Uhmmm well we never got paid for the work we did on those two days. I took awhile to write as I didn't want to blurb everything out (I know I kinda did ^^) point being I guess I am calm enough to actually write with the right mindset now...
Thank you for reposting my link again here. I really hope the information I wrote helped out in like clarifying what happened as I know everyone only had bits and pieces really...
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I know that most people involved in PPSL has called for the community not to blame the Philipino community for this debacle, I find it really difficult not to. This thread has so many shady elements to it.
Bribing players to join a local team using plane tickets paid for by a foreign sponser and booked under a patsy's name (no offense Amanda, I think you're awesome)? Good lord. And then rigging brackets to prevent teamkills, not paying staff, and admins lawyering up to avoid jail time instead of paying up...ugh.
Is there any competitive team in the Phillipines that is NOT AZK? Cause otherwise I think there should be a boycott until they can prove they can do better.
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On December 06 2011 12:36 kNightLite wrote:
I know that most people involved in PPSL has called for the community not to blame the Philipino community for this debacle, I find it really difficult not to. This thread has so many shady elements to it.
Bribing players to join a local team using plane tickets paid for by a foreign sponser and booked under a patsy's name (no offense Amanda, I think you're awesome)? Good lord. And then rigging brackets to prevent teamkills, not paying staff, and admins lawyering up to avoid jail time instead of paying up...ugh.
Is there any competitive team in the Phillipines that is NOT AZK? Cause otherwise I think there should be a boycott until they can prove they can do better.
Oh the ignorance.
Hint: There is.
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On December 06 2011 12:36 kNightLite wrote:
I know that most people involved in PPSL has called for the community not to blame the Philipino community for this debacle, I find it really difficult not to. This thread has so many shady elements to it.
Bribing players to join a local team using plane tickets paid for by a foreign sponser and booked under a patsy's name (no offense Amanda, I think you're awesome)? Good lord. And then rigging brackets to prevent teamkills, not paying staff, and admins lawyering up to avoid jail time instead of paying up...ugh.
Is there any competitive team in the Phillipines that is NOT AZK? Cause otherwise I think there should be a boycott until they can prove they can do better.
It's pretty much just Gus to blame for what has happened; unfortunately we should not give up on E-Sports in the Philippines just yet. It's easy to try and blame it on their culture but not everyone there is like Gus.
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On December 06 2011 12:41 Alpino wrote:Show nested quote +On December 06 2011 12:36 kNightLite wrote:
I know that most people involved in PPSL has called for the community not to blame the Philipino community for this debacle, I find it really difficult not to. This thread has so many shady elements to it.
Bribing players to join a local team using plane tickets paid for by a foreign sponser and booked under a patsy's name (no offense Amanda, I think you're awesome)? Good lord. And then rigging brackets to prevent teamkills, not paying staff, and admins lawyering up to avoid jail time instead of paying up...ugh.
Is there any competitive team in the Phillipines that is NOT AZK? Cause otherwise I think there should be a boycott until they can prove they can do better. Oh the ignorance. Hint: There is.
I agree. Such bullshit Aplino. You know Mineski (a Philippine progamer team, *cough*) hosted a great tournament just about a month before AZK and Gus hosted the PPSL. Boycotting Philippines until they can do better? You really are an ignorant man.
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Now, now, every culture and group has their own set of scumbags, it's not entirely fair to judge the whole group based on them though.
The US has had a number of serial killers, rapists, and other really horrible people but the world doesn't think that every single American is like that.
Same goes for the Philippine eSports scene. I mean of course Gus isn't a serial killer or a rapist, at the most he's an incredibly stupid con artist who fucked himself (and a few other people, metaphorically speaking) trying to steal $20k dollars. Or an incredibly incompetent tournament organizer. But that doesn't mean every Filipino gamer is mentally handicapped like him.
Let the hate fall on the right shoulders folks.
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incredibly stupid con artist who fucked himself (and a few other people, metaphorically speaking) did steal $20k dollars
*Fixed* Its hard to believe he got away with this; hopefully he gets the justice he deserves in the form of some kind of Bad Karma.
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That's the thing, Mineski as a business institution is stable. it's foundation is computer shops and franchises. anything e-sports related which Mineski handles obviously coincides with their business model. It's a good business model, that's why DOTA and other team play games proliferated more than Starcraft.
The reason why higher management of Mineski wouldn't trouble themselves in organizing a starcraft 2 event OF PPSL magnitude is because it's not generally good for the mass-computer-rental business. 'Generally"
Starcraft 2 also doesn't coincide with their Mineski Link business model. Because what it does is it enables computer cafe's to host DOTA games which creates a virtual "LAN" accessible anywhere where the third party software is installed because Starcraft 2 uses battle.net service instead.
Point being, it is true that a credible organizing committee is needed for the next e-sports event. However, saying that it should course through Mineski is something else. It's clear that the idea is from somebody uninformed.
PGF was organized alongside Raptor Entertainment (parterns from SG) with their official partners PLDT AlphaOne.
Obviously, the leg-work part came from Mineski insource/outsource employees and the heap of the floor direction came from Marlon (he was actually in the floor with Ro-ro) and they did well as far as program directing is concerned.
Because Mineski has a working business model, revolving funds isn't an issue, that's Gus's mistake, he doesn't have any revolving funds to the extent that he literally was too fucking broke, because they're experienced in handling accounting and sponsors, they've acted based upon well calculated and organized historical data which TEAM AZK, as a first timer in the business, has no experience whatsoever.
But to summarize FACTS, Mineski never left a mess up the way Team AZK (Gus) did BUT TEAM AZK was able to fly in superstars. Mineski haven't, despite of their years of experience TEAM AZK handled a COLLOSAL lineup of superstars from casters to players Mineski brought in MSI.FOX.RAIN that's the biggest superstar as far as I've experienced working with them.
Bottomline, it's not about an organization, but how the event is ORGANIZED. A reasonable amount of transparency is required. An auditor is required, an Accountant is required. Things like this run a business, and professionals like that don't get paid for free. That's where Mineski is being differentiated, they already have a good working business model. Organizing events is just another way to diversify their business model.
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On December 06 2011 12:36 kNightLite wrote:
Bribing players to join a local team using plane tickets paid for by a foreign sponser and booked under a patsy's name (no offense Amanda, I think you're awesome)? Good lord. And then rigging brackets to prevent teamkills, not paying staff, and admins lawyering up to avoid jail time instead of paying up...ugh.
Oh my, aren't you the indignant one.
First of all, my name is Sonny Go (Avoider). I'm the former writer and content manager of Team AZK. I was also the guy who sat beside TheGunrun during the event, updating the brackets in Liquipedia.
First of all, I have no personal loyalties to Mr. Gus Ledesma as I only met him two months prior to the event when I answered his call for a writer. I have no personal ill will towards Mr. Ledesma, but the way he has handled the situation is absolutely unacceptable. I wish him luck in the future excluding esports, which I'm thoroughly convinced that he should have no further involvement in. Primadog has suggested in Reddit that I write a blog as well from my perspective, and I will do so. It will posted here in TL within this week or the next.
As for "rigging the brackets", I owe the community an explanation as it was an honest mistake on my part. In the morning of November 8 (day 2 of the event), I woke up at around 7AM and checked my computer for any updates. I then saw a bracket listing in the Facebook team page. I thought that they must have already drawn lots as it was agreed upon with the Koreans. I proceeded to enter that into the Liquipedia page. I then left for the venue, which is an hour away from my house by public transportation.
When I arrived there, one of the guys who was already there asked me why that bracket was there in the page. I was then urged to remove it since it was merely a backup if the drawing of lots didn't push through. An hour or two later, the drawing of lots commenced with a Korean manager doing the honors. I was there to list down the names on paper so I can then update the Liquipedia page. That was the second one that appeared after the first one was deleted.
The disappearance of the team-kill was merely a coincidence that was quickly jumped on, unfortunately. It was my fault for not offering an explanation earlier because I was so depressed after the event, so I kept quiet for a month until now. I wish to make it up to the community through my blog entry.
TLDR: There was no rigging of the bracket or any matchfixing. It was just me being an over-diligent idiot, so I'm sorry if it caused any confusion.
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I am really happy that somehow some questions were answered. I'm extremely grateful that people took the time to read my "short story". Writing the entry was my way of not only thanking as many people as I could, but it was my way of trying to place an end to such a chapter as well.
People will always try to ride when the wagon's happy. When the wagon's in hell it becomes a whole different story as it becomes every man for himself.
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So regarding bills, it's almost a month. According to Amanda's blog, Gus should have been able to come up with the $900 to pay the hotel bills by now. (that promise to pay in 30 days thing) Not to mention the remaining $5000 of Amanda's debt (counting the $7000 from the IPSL) before 22nd of last month that Gus was supposed to have "come up" with, but the community paid for that. Still I assume that he had a way to come up with that $5000.
So that's at at least around $5900 Gus should have supposed to have by now. Any word on where that money has gone to? If it actually exists.
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On December 07 2011 17:52 rengarr wrote:
So regarding bills, it's almost a month. According to Amanda's blog, Gus should have been able to come up with the $900 to pay the hotel bills by now. (that promise to pay in 30 days thing) Not to mention the remaining $5000 of Amanda's debt (counting the $7000 from the IPSL) before 22nd of last month that Gus was supposed to have "come up" with, but the community paid for that. Still I assume that he had a way to come up with that $5000.
So that's at at least around $5900 Gus should have supposed to have by now. Any word on where that money has gone to? If it actually exists.
This might help i found it buried in the Thread
http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=283641¤tpage=53#1043
http://techkitchen.ph/2011/11/the-fall-of-philippine-e-sports/PPSL And The Fall Of Philippine E-Sports This story is about how one man brought shame to the Philippine gaming community in one single blow. The events are stated in this blog are all factual telling the tales in which how the recently concluded IGSL Pacific Qualifiers came to be and how this event brought down the country’s reputation for gaming. We will not name any names of the suppliers and participants of this event, except for the one who orchastrated it all. This started on May of 2011, when a gamer named TeamAZM WitchDoc or also known as Augustus “Gus” Ledesma approached several IT brands with a dream of uplifting the Philippine gaming community and truly placing the country in the radar of world gaming championships. It sounded like a great plan since no single gaming event could match the scale of the locally discontinued World Cyber Gaming Tournaments normally held by TV giant, Samsung. Most local Philippine events are held by PC stores, or component brands and lacked the class or organization to truly represent the country’s best gamers. The vision that this man had convinced several IT component manufacturers to join in for the event, which was aptly named Philippine Pro Starcraft League. After several meetings, cost estimates and presentations, by June the event support for the PPSL was finally approved. The tournament was supposed to be held on the first week of October. Ledesma promised ad placements, event marketing, online and offline announcements to promote the event. (Take note that the tournament was still called PPSL and not IGSL Pacific Qualifiers. By this time, IGSL didn’t get involved yet in the event.) Two months came to pass, no one heard from Ledesma. By August, the only thing that the sponsors saw was the poster and jacket design. No word yet on how the event will happen, or what was needed for it. The sponsors were expecting the poster to be out in the gaming community and the IT industry by this time. It was imperative that the brands supporting the event would be broadcasted properly. Upon closer inspection, the posters were never printed, nor distributed to the IT industry as promised by Ledesma. In one of the last email conversations that the sponsors had with Ledesma, his team mentioned “PPSL will change the way how the world will view Philippine gaming”. By the end of August, nothing turly substantial or major was presented. This earned the distrust of the sponsors, but because of their commitment to the event still decided to push thru with it. A marketing plan came from Ledesma and his marketing manager outlinining the following: Hype video for the PPSL’s sponsor for viral marketing. Flyers to be handed out in strategic locations around Metro Manila. PPSL Will be giving out free goodies through their online promotions in Facebook. Updating all our partner websites with new details concerning the PPSL None of the promised marketing plans were followed except for a few exposures from HWM and Philippine Star. This wasn’t the fault of Ledesma’s PR agency, but Ledesma who took so long to approve the PR that was needed by the event. Admists the shadiness of the organizer’s character, the partners already signed the contract on the event, so there was no backing out. It was reported that Ledesma asked for a substantial amount of money to make the event happen (event cost and the prize money), in which the combined effort of the partners was easily attainable. This is where things started to slope down. Eventhough that the partners paid already half for the event, Ledesma kept hammering the sponsors for more money. He asked an additional 16 computer units for which he didn’t explain why he needed more (the reality will be revealed later on) in which the partners did not agree anymore since the contract was already inked months before. He threathened that we would ask IT brands for marketing support if what he wanted couldn’t be given. Sadly, to his dismay, the contract in which he signed had an exclusivity clause in it so competing brands cannot participate in the event even if Ledesma wanted them to. As the event date drew near, the partners received an email moving the event from October to November. This was to increase the visibility of the promotions that the PPSL needed and give more time for Ledesma to fine tune everything that was needed for the event. The final dates were set on November 7-8, 2011, almost simultaneous to the Pinoy Gaming Festival 2.0 that another gaming group called Mineski was planning. This was relayed to Ledesma, which reportedly said: Mineski is for squatters, no one will go to that event Around October, Ledesma flew the United States with his team without the knowledge of the partners. This was to ask for the official and financial support of IGN. By accepting IGN support, the event was now officially IGSL Pacific Qualifiers. This made the partners feel a tad queesy, since Ledesma held a significant amount of money and flew to Las Vegas with three other people. It gave the impression that he used the partner’s money to fund the trip. Fast forward to November 7. The partners were setting up in Glorietta already as early as 12AM. All the requirements for the event was completed by 7AM and everything was already a green light. Whatever technical glitches on hardware was easily resolved by the partners team. When the players complained about how slow the PC’s were running, the units were immediately upgraded a few hours later. The main technical problem didn’t come from the hardware, but rather on the crawling internet connection that Globe Telecom provided. From 6750 to Glorietta, Globe provided a point to point 3Mbps connection to cater to 32 computer units. Anyone knows that a point to point 3Mbps connection cannot accommodate 32 players playing. This was the bandwidth that Ledesma asked from Globe hence the slow down in the games as well as in the broadcasts. The players had to split into groups, playing across Makati in different internet cafes. Some were left in Glorietta, the rest awaiting what will happen to them. The internet speed remained the same even during the second day. Although there were a lot of spectators and walk-in during the event which made the partners happy, Ledesma seemed uncontent. He was seen hammering the partners for additional for financial support even to the minutes before the prize awarding. It was even reported that the event marshalls and volunteers were not even paid their promised wages. The main technical problem didn’t come from the hardware, but rather on the crawling internet connection that Globe Telecom provided. From 6750 to Glorietta, Globe provided a point to point 3Mbps connection to cater to 32 computer units. As for the allegations regarding the players who were supposed to be flown in from abroad or even locally, we cannot comment on it. You’d have to read the links that are listed below if you want more information regarding that aspect of the tournament. As for the Heroes of Newerth side, when the partners pieced it all together, that was actually the reason why Ledesma was severely pushing the addition of 16 units for the tournament. Apparently, Ledesma was given a additional 2000USD to be used for prizes for the HON tournament which he promised to be simultaneous with the IPSL Tournament. http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=283925¤tpage=Allhttp://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=284234¤tpage=Allhttp://www.gameops.net/2011/11/scandal-at-philippine-pro-starcraft.htmlhttp://www.sc2sea.com/printthread.php?t=2699http://www.teamliquid.net/blogs/viewblog.php?topic_id=283600http://wunder.me/derek-dox-reball-speaks-out-on-ipl4-pacific-qualifiers/What seemed to be the main problem with Ledesma as far as the partners are concerned is his inability to present a concrete breakdown of expenses and the promised marketing mileage was not attained. Where were the team jackets and lanyards that the partners paid for? What happened to the big posters in the venue as well as the TV coverage? What happened to all the money? It made the partners feel that they were duped by a single entity the same way the rest of the international and local gaming communities. Truly, no single person has made such an impact in the gaming industry that it be making waves around the whole Philippines and international scene. Sadly, instead of putting the Philippines in the international map in a positive way, one man was able to turn the world disgusted at the Philippines on how this international competition happened.
If its true Gus blew the Sponsor money for the tournament on flying his team AZK members to the PPSL tournament in place of players who actually qualified in the qualifiers (Gus intended to replace them all along with his own team members correct me if i'm wrong)
Also apparently he went and partied in Las Vegas with the Sponsor money; or at-least that's suspected, that he may have done that.
Also apparently the money he went to IPL3 Finals with was the Sponsor money too to fund his own team to go there? IDK
What it all boils down to is basically Gus mis-used the Sponsor money for his own escapades/benefit; the money was supposed to be used as funds for the Tournament; turns out he was using it on other things he wasn't supposed to.
So the community ends up paying for his Con-Artist Scheme its actually disgraceful hopefully Mineski can run the next Philippines Tournament and Gus is never heard from again
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Oh what he spent the money on beforehand isn't really what I'm asking about.
But if say there wasn't a fundraiser or TGR never paid those hotel bills, Gus should have $5900 ready by now or two people would be in serious legal shit by now. Which just begs the question where is that $5900 that should have went to paying Clive and Amanda's debts? Or was Gus actually going to let people go to jail?
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On December 07 2011 19:26 rengarr wrote:
Oh what he spent the money on beforehand isn't really what I'm asking about.
But if say there wasn't a fundraiser or TGR never paid those hotel bills, Gus should have $5900 ready by now or two people would be in serious legal shit by now. Which just begs the question where is that $5900 that should have went to paying Clive and Amanda's debts? Or was Gus actually going to let people go to jail?
There was a fundraiser and yes that means that there could have been serious legal trouble.
The fund raiser announcement was posted on the Team Liquid wall last Nov 15,2011 by Alex from IGN, 2 hours before the fundraiser happened. http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=285511 The main objective of the fund raiser was to raise at least $ 5000 in addition to the $7000 IGN already had as stipulated in the contract to completely pay-off all the tickets. If any amount is earned beyond the $5000, it directly goes to the unpaid parties such as casters, talents, staff etc. I followed the thread and it was closed as soon as $ 5000 was raised. Tried to post as many thank you’s on it but during the middle of the event, I had to do go to the Bureau of Immigration to do work-related things.
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Yeah kinda know about the fundraiser since I donated some cash as well.
Was just wondering what was Gus's plan if no one bailed out the victims of the PPSL that were facing serious debt, since the deadline for Amanda was Nov. 22 and Clive would have had to pay the $900 in hotel bills on the 9th of this month (according to Amanda's blog) So if things didn't turn out the way they did, Gus should have had $5900 ready by now.
So since both Amanda and Clive don't have any debt anymore, where's that spare $5900 that Gus should have? And where is it going? Or was he never really going to pay off their debts before the deadlines passed?
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There is also multiple employees casters/staff who have not been paid yet. If what i'm understanding is true.
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On December 07 2011 20:31 rengarr wrote:
Yeah kinda know about the fundraiser since I donated some cash as well.
Was just wondering what was Gus's plan if no one bailed out the victims of the PPSL that were facing serious debt, since the deadline for Amanda was Nov. 22 and Clive would have had to pay the $900 in hotel bills on the 9th of this month (according to Amanda's blog) So if things didn't turn out the way they did, Gus should have had $5900 ready by now.
So since both Amanda and Clive don't have any debt anymore, where's that spare $5900 that Gus should have? And where is it going? Or was he never really going to pay off their debts before the deadlines passed?
Pretty sure, Gus could have never paid them off.
Also pretty sure, he didnt steal any money.
You don't get all the sponsor money before the event. The gross part is paid after. So when Gus got the first installment he blew it very fast and on things it wasnt supposed for (his team).
Then he had no money left to pay for the flight of some people and other important things. Because of how the event went, the rest of the sponsor money was held back. So Gus couldnt pay anybody.
IPL said that they will try to collect the sponsor money and use it to pay part of the debts. (it wouldnt be enough to cover everything)
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That part about separate payments just made me think of something else.
Amanda's blog mentioned Gus paying the bills at another hotel. Who's name were those bills under? lHis? I wonder if he used whatever money was left to pay off bills in his name first.
It'd be utterly disgusting if Gus actually had the money to get Amanda and Clive out of debt but used it to keep his own ass out of jail.
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Sorry to bump this, but I was browing Liquipedia, and noticed that this event is not even mentioned there. This was a huge and very notable event in esports history, especially for SEA. Yet there's no mention of all the drama here: http://wiki.teamliquid.net/starcraft2/IGN_ProLeague_Season_4/Pacific_Qualifiers
It's not that Liquidedia is anti-drama - after all, there's articles on the Naniwa and Stephano controversies (although the Puma contrversy is also oddly absent).
This is not against Liquipedia policy is it?
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EPT
